Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Same-oh Same-oh -- Not

For a while I thought that if I heard one more confession from a pastor in leadership about how ingenuine their faith was and how little the rubber was meeting the road I was going to puke. Literally toss my cookies.

We've created two thousand years of enmeshed church culture that is so impermeable it is possible to be viewed by one's congregation as an excellent leader without an ounce of anything but lip service. It's possible to be a social worker with doctrinal language.

That isn't right on so many levels.

Please , please make the growth and development of your own faith the most important item on your agenda. Take an hour and go sit in that empty sanctuary and pour out the truth to God.

Yes, you can proceed, go forward, get the denominational pats on the back and awards for excellent and faithful service without being truthful about your own relationship with God. But why?  Why live like that?

Are you afraid of the sacrifice?

I can tell you from personal experience anything you give up will be returned to you washed clean by God ten fold, one hundred fold.

In return, God can send people to you who will change your life because of the witness of their devoted faith walks.

It's so worth. I'll help you get started. Open the doors to the sanctuary. God sit wherever you are comfortable in the pews and start... "God, Lord, Jesus...I have a confession. I'm empty, and I can't live like this anymore."  Then just keep talking. Pause and sit for the same amount of time you talked in silence. Listen to what is spoken in your heart. I'll bet the first words are something like, "Well done good and faithful servant". God loves the Truth. And it will set you free. That's the promise that helps you keep your vows.
Love
Deborah