Today I am reminded of the importance of operating around the person, the presence and the name of Jesus. He is our life....our hope....our model....and our Savior.
I was reading a very upscale brotherhood magazine this morning with article after article emphasizing the church; its pattern and its evangelistic call. Jesus---his story and his pattern---are missing. It made/makes me sad. At first it made me sad for the effort which this magazine surely multiplies without firm reference to him. And then it made me sad at wondering just how much of my life and ministry revolve around the minors instead of the majors; the ministry gnats instead of the life-giving Christ.
We are so prone to serve from the flesh. The church leans toward being its most intensely attentive during a church fight than over drawing the poor to the Master. The Bible and the Pattern and the "way to do church" has long overridden the essential basic of loving the Son of God. He has become a mere passenger in our great cargo of Bible knowledge and doctrinal core which we both promote and protect.
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Not the church's organization. Not the church's leaders. Not the depth of knowing Greek meanings. Jesus the man; he is the way, the truth, and the life.
For me, I will do well to continue to reach for him more than I reach for approval among men. He knows stuff. He does stuff. He is the way, the truth, and the life. While we tend to be a people committed to the right church I would encourage us that in order to truly be right we must be a people growing in love with Jesus who is building his church.
In all we do...Jesus must be in the mix for he is the main thing.
5 comments:
As usual, Terry, your article is right on! Thank you for your faithfulness to our Lord, not to secondary issues.
Spot on my friend!
It's all about Him.
Glory to God!
Jason
Reminds me of the old T-shirt: The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
thanks
Interesting and amazing how God speaks and works...we're dealing with this and your "taking a back seat" article right now. Oddly or ironically, some of us yung'uns feel like we're trying to get back to Jesus and simply let He and the Father drive the bus by actually being true to the Bible. Some of the older are looking at us like we have two heads. When we mention listening to the Spirit and actually doing a little bit of waiting on Him, they say "but, how do you do that? Aren't we supposed to step out?".
We're actually being looked at as "Bible bangers" not because of the usual reasons of trying to stick to the first century model, but because we're simply trying to be true to the Word. Amazing and frustrating turn of events.
Jay
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