Okay, before I get into it, keep in mind that this is my own spiritual journal before it became a public post. Everything that I write is from my own reflection and my own personal journey with God – it is not so much an instructional blog as it is my way of pouring my heart out.
This post is no different.
So last week, I happened to be out of town for an over-the-weekend trip, and due to the schedule, I was unable to go to church on Sunday. So the night before, I was apologising to God for being unable to attend church, and I vividly remembered there was this sense of guilt gripping me that evening in my hotel room.
And right then, as I was doing my personal devotion, this thought came to me:
WHERE WAS THE GUILT FROM?
Should not going to church, or doing ministry while we’re at the topic, be the overflow/product of God’s love for you? Not the means for you to earn His love? Sure, this is something that we have heard numerous times, and sounding like a broken record is the last thing i want to do. But while we are familiar with the concept, that’s not really the case when it comes to its practice – we don’t live out our lives like that.
I believe that the two biggest enemies of dynamic Christian living, to truly living out the lives God wants you to live, are complacency, and routinely. Christianity, for most people, has been degraded into just a day of the week when it’s supposed to be all of your life. It has been reduced to following a dull system when it’s supposed to be unpredictable and dangerous. Church is now just a place we go to on Sunday, when it is supposed to be something that we become, and we live out. And the thing is, people are happy with just that – we have become complacent.
Let me tell you this; Jesus is a lot of things, but one thing that He’s not, is boring.
The guilt I felt was a proof, that for me, Christianity, and church, have become my way of earning God’s love. If I go to church, and serve there, then God is cool with me. If I missed a day of church, then God is angry with me. This could not be further from the truth. Call it a stretch if you will, but if we have a strong relationship with God, should not there be a sense of security in God’s love for us? Now, I am not advocating not going to church, I am a big believer that if you’re a Christian, we have to gather together with a group of believers to worship God together. That’s one of God’s will.
What I am saying that, it becomes wrong, when going to church and serving in a ministry become more an obligation that it is an overflow of your love for God.
“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” Matthew 15:8
That’s the last thing we want to be said of us. So here’s what I am learning, and what I am encouraging all of us to do: step out of the routinely, LOVE GOD CRAZILY, and let everything that you do be the products of your love for God. GO CRAZY.
Stop going to church, and start being the church.
Stop doing ministry out of an obligation, let it be an overflow
If there is one thing I am for, and if there is one thing I am advocating, to be a Christian rebel. To refuse to be a part of the ‘system’ and be different. There is more that I could say about this, but that would be a post in itself. Till next time.
In His love,
Kenan