Grace, peace, mercy, and love from God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit!
I just finished an interesting read: not a fan by Kyle Idleman. Kyle is a teaching pastor at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY. The book differentiates fans and followers with the subtitle: Becoming a completely committed follower of Jesus. I don’t I agree with everything he writes; however, several times during my reading I wondered: “Am I really a follower?” If Jesus asked me to go and do, as he asked Peter to go prepare the room for the Passover, would I drop everything and “get-er done!”? Or, would I respond selfishly saying: “Well, I would sure like to help – but – I am not sure I know how! And, you know I only have a couple of hours open on my calendar in the next couple of weeks!” An honest, periodic assessment of our relationship with God is a good thing. The purpose of the weekends we so diligently prepare for are for time away to nurture the relationship of fellow Christians with the God that loves them and desires a deeper relationship with them.
There are so many things happening in our lives these days. I know in the depths of my being that the God we serve, the creator of all that is seen and unseen, loves us more than we can imagine or ever know. We all know life is fragile. Think about the impact of the last perturbation to your schedule and what it did to your life! Even with a longstanding, deep relationship with God, we are distracted – becoming selfish because after all, it is really all about us!
I don’t know the “trouble you’ve seen, or are currently experiencing.” I do know that God, in and through Jesus, came to the created, to demonstrate love. God hasn’t left us alone. God: Holy Spirit is with us and those that love God are close by to encourage us in our struggles. Recently, I had the privilege, and honor, to witness a small group of God’s people work to encourage one another in a very difficult situation. The details are not important. What is important is they came together in God’s love to nurture and encourage one another to build up the body of Christ. The task wasn’t easy – it was down right difficult. However, they put aside their personal agendas with the goal of building up the body of Christ for God’s glory.
May the work of this ministry continue in and through each of us as we pray: “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in us the fire of your love….”
God bless you as you deepen your relationship with God and one another.
In Christ –
Ed
Eric is our current Webmaster and works on the NLS Communications Team. Raised in Judaism, he found Christ and the New Testament at age 16 in a Southern Baptist Church. He searched many denominations for the real church, only to find the Holy Spirit is present in all of them. He's worked for One for Israel, a group of native Israeli believers who are sharing the gospel in the holy land in Hebrew and is part of the only Hebrew speaking seminary in Israel.
