April 8, 2018

The Easter People

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” – John 4:23-24

Last Sunday the sanctuary was full. The Easter people had arrived, dressed in their finery and lining up to take photos in front of the flower-filled cross.  Most, no doubt, had plans afterward for dinners and brunches, egg hunts and fellowship. It was a holiday, after all.

I attend a contemporary service that gathers twice each Sunday in the fellowship hall. It was full. There were no more chairs to put out. The traditional services in the sanctuary had very few seats available. It was truly a blessing.

Some of those seats were filled with people who were visiting from out of town. But many were filled with people who just don’t view attending worship services as a priority. It’s all about the beach or the lake or the ballgames. God falls far below the list of things one must do on a Sunday morning.

How sad. How would we feel if God only showed up for us on special holidays? How would we react if Jesus only saved us one day a year? Why do we think it’s okay to expect Him to always be there for us when we can’t even give him an hour or so once each week?

I looked up the definition of sanctuary. I wanted to make sure I could correctly use the word to explain how we use the church fellowship hall each Sunday morning. Some of the definitions I expected. Sanctuary means a church, a temple, a holy place.

But it also means a refuge. A sanctuary is a place of safety where people who are in danger can go to be safe. How powerful is that?

We all need His protection. Whether we realize it or not, whether we accept it or not, we are under attack 24/7, 365 days a year. Satan and his followers want nothing more than to derail God’s good plans for His people. We encourage that when we fail to surround ourselves with the most basic things, such as worshiping our Lord in the presence of other believers.

Faith in God, gratitude to Jesus, and being filled with His Spirit isn’t just something we can trot out on special occasions and call ourselves good. It’s a daily thing, a way of life. That’s true faith. It’s a life that worships our Risen Lord every single day.

We want that but we don’t. We’d rather spend our days living in the world, enjoying its pleasures. We want what God can give us but we don’t want to sacrifice anything, including our precious time, to give Him something in return. It’s all about us. At least that’s what Satan whispers in our ears. We fail to notice, to understand, that it’s never been about us at all.

Sunday services will be back to normal today. All the guests have returned home. All the Easter people are back about their business, doing what they do on Sunday mornings. Church is a distant memory. They’re good. No need to attend every week.

I wonder what would happen if we were Easter people all the time. I wonder how our lives, our world, would change if we truly embraced Christ every day. I wonder how our hearts might love others if we filled ourselves with the love that He gives so freely to us.

Where are you this Sunday morning? Are you worshiping God or are you embracing the world?

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

This column was written by Holley Gerth. Please check out her website at holleygerth.com. She's a simply amazing writer and a true inspiration.

 

What Feeds Your Heart

I walk through the door bone weary, head throbbing, searching for the nearest flat surface so I can sink into silence. I feel depleted, drained, tired in a way that makes my heart echo with emptiness.
Another day I walk through the door worn out but not worn down, ready for a nap but also ready to get up and go for it again, smiling even through the physical fatigue that tugs at every part of my body. My energy tank is empty but my heart is full.
One task depleted me–like a sugar crash after too much junk food.
The other filled me up–like a satisfying meal that makes you lean back in your chair and sigh with new strength.
Here’s the catch: both looked like great opportunities on the outside.
But one was not for me.
And the next time it came around, I turned down another helping. That’s hard for us as women {at least it is for me}. Saying “no” to what looks enticing and sweet even though we know it will ultimately not nourish us can be difficult to do. And yet discovering what truly feeds our hearts is essential.
“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish His work” {John 4:34}.
What God truly has for us to do on this earth will fill us up deep inside. Oh, yes, we will get tired sometimes along the way. We will have struggles and face obstacles. But what He has for us is not meant to leave us continually empty.
Be careful if you’re working hard “for God” and your heart feels hungry all the time.
Stop and ask Him, “Is this really, truly what You have for me? Have I taken in or taken on something You never intended?”
How do we even know what’s God’s will is?
Part of the process is that we are to “test and approve it” {Romans 12:2}. You might even say “taste and approve it” because just like your body knows what is good, your heart does too. But that only comes through experience.
So don’t be afraid to try what’s in front of you. Have a bite. Then see what happens.
Is it nourishing?
Soul filling?
Life giving?
Then have some more, my friend. But if it’s not, it’s okay to push the plate away or pass it on to someone else {because what feeds each of us is different}. You’ll know when you’ve found what you need. You’ll “taste and see that the Lord is good.” {Psalm 34:8}.
And what He gives is good for you.
“Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live.” {Isaiah 55:2-3}.
God offers something better than a busy, full life.
He offers life to the full.
XOXO
–Holley Gerth, author of You’re Made for a God-sized Dream

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Jesus Offers Living Water

“But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this is a very deep well. Where would you get this living water?” -- John 4:11

How easy it is to doubt! Oh, we believe Jesus is our Lord and Savior. We’re just not so certain He can or will save us from our mess. Whatever that might be.

Doubt has got to be one of Satan’s most powerful weapons. We look around and we can’t see a way out. We can’t see how Jesus could possibly fix whatever is going on. We forget that He fed thousands with five loaves of bread and two fish.

This woman was a Samaritan, an outcast, someone Jews refused to associate with. She was amazed that this man, this rabbi, this Jesus would speak to her. And then He offered her living water. She didn’t understand. How could it be any better than the water Jacob left for his people?

Jesus explained and still she didn’t understand. How could He offer living water so that she would never be thirsty again? Aren’t we that way? We don’t understand how something can be so we doubt. We try to fix it on our own. We fall into despair. We fail to believe.

But Jesus knows things about us. He knew the Samaritan woman had had five husbands and lived with a man she wasn’t married to. She was amazed. Jesus knows all of our secrets, good and bad. He knows the deep desires of our hearts and the fears that rest within us. He understands.

What are you afraid of today? What are the secret desires of your heart? What do you think is impossible? What are you doubting Jesus for today?

Jesus told the Samaritan woman that He was the Messiah. She wanted to believe. She did believe. Sort of. She left her water jar and went back to the village to tell others of this man she’d just met. People streamed from the village to see this man who might be the Messiah.

Jesus looked out and saw the fields of people, ripe for harvest. People who hungered for living water, for a secure haven, for a promise of forever. People like you and me. We all hunger with a yearning only Jesus can fill. No possessions, no job, no people, can fill that empty spot deep inside. Those things are merely misguided attempts to fill ourselves with living water. But only Jesus can do that.

We doubt what we cannot see. We fear what we cannot understand. Our faith wavers when we look around and see no way out. Faith. Jesus offers us living water and still we hesitate. What are we waiting for? When will we finally believe, understand and trust?

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Meet the Lost Where They Are

Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who I am, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” -- John 4:10

Have you ever wanted to share your faith with someone but really didn’t know what to say? Have you ever tried to tell someone about Jesus and what He means to you, but found yourself stumbling over your own words? Have you ever felt the Holy Spirit’s conviction as you watched a hopeless soul struggle but did nothing about it?

Well, join the crowd. All of us, if we’re completely honest, have faced that loss of words, that lack of action, that knowledge that we should do something or say something but we don’t know what or how. If we could stop holding ourselves back and meet people where they are, we’d understand better what God’s calling really means.

We’re so busy “knowing” stuff that we can’t be bothered with listening. Sharing your faith, your Jesus, your hope and salvation, starts with listening to the lost. Seriously. It means hearing what they say, not using their words as a moment when you can gather your own thoughts and launch more words at them.

Our Sunday school class has been studying how to share our faith with others. Last Sunday we discussed people and the needs we all have. Some folks thought it was boring and didn’t want to listen. They couldn’t understand why we needed to know that lack of food, shelter and sleep will keep anyone from hearing the message of Jesus.

Yet, it’s pretty basic stuff. In order for people to listen to us, we’ve got to listen to them. We’ve got to hear their desperation, their loneliness, their need to belong. Each and every one of us have a hole somewhere deep inside that only God can fill. Everyone has a button, if you will, that sparks an interest and the knowledge of needing more than they have.

And that’s the place where you share Jesus. That place of need, of desire, where questions and opportunity come together. It is meeting the lost where they are, rather than trying to drag them to the place where we sit on our lofty stages looking down on those not living to our standards.

We need only look to Jesus to see what we should do. Thing of Zacchaeus, who was an outcast because of his business activity. Jesus saw him in the tree and invited himself to stay at Zacchaeus’ house. Some thought Jesus was crazy to stay with a sinner. Others no doubt wondered what Jesus saw in the little man who had to climb a tree in order to see Jesus. But what happened? Zacchaeus repented and changed his ways, vowing to give half his wealth to the poor and, if he’d ever overcharged someone on their taxes, to refund them four times as much.

Or think about Peter. He was a fisherman and not looking for anything beyond a life with his boat and his family. Jesus offered to make him a fisherman of people and he left what he knew to follow a Savior to his death.

And, of course, there was the woman at the well. Jesus didn’t condemn her for having five husbands and living with a man she wasn’t married to. Instead, he offered her living water. Jesus changed her life and, no doubt, the lives of many others as she spread the news about this man she’d met at the well.

It’s just so easy -- and so hard -- to know what to say and do when we see ourselves as being better than the lost. We’re all God’s children and He loves each one of us just the same. So the next time you want to share Jesus with someone, get down from your perch. Meet them where they are, and the Holy Spirit will tell you exactly what to say.