The lyrics in the header are from a song called “Asleep In the Light” that Keith Green penned a few decades ago.  I usually tend to write-off older songs (or older anything for that matter) as outdated.  I think Keith’s words still ring true for you and I today.

Too often, I see people settle down into their nice church communities and safe havens, becoming content, stagnant and apathetic.  Remember that part in Mark chapter 2 where Jesus mentions the healthy not needing the doctor, but the sick?  And I’m not trying to point any fingers, if anything, I am one of the worst at getting too comfortable.  My mentor and friend Tyler Thigpen (who was a pastor at the time), used to say that the day he became a pastor he left the ministry.  We tend to think of “joining the ministry” as signing up on church staff or becoming a missionary of some sort.  On the basis of English semantics, this “ministry” term does refer to “ministers”… but I think scripturally the ministry is more of a Acts 1:8 model.  Witnesses.  After all, if Jesus came for the sick… someone who works outside the church most likely hangs out with the lost more than a pastor would.

I love grace.  I’d be nothing without mercy.  But, I don’t think He died for us so we could live lives that produce no fruit.  Remember Romans 12:1?  Sometimes I take a step back and think about the reality that many of my close friends, at present, are not in the kingdom.  I often avoid thinking about the realities of it in place of, “oh they’re really great and honest people”.

…or, “i don’t want to ruin a friendship by offending them with God.”

But they need it.  Just as much as you and I need Him.  We’ve been given a spirit of power… not timidity (2 Timothy 1:7).  I think it’s time we begin to take the steps towards being intentional about the relationships we are building with our

friends,

classmates,

coworkers,

clients,

bosses,

baristas,

waiters,

maids,

nannies,

neighbors,

families.

I don’t think it means we have to start being Bible thumping, bullhorn holding radicals.  And I am not promoting simply loving people or friending people with an agenda.  One way I’ve started this process is continually asking God to make it clear to me any opportunities in which I can share truth.  Verbally.  But, also, being intentional about how our lives reflect what our mouths say we believe.  As cliche as it may sound, that is where the rubber meets the road: in our actions.

How do you live?

Is it congruent with truth?

As we continue living in accordance with the Spirit, our minds are becoming set on what the Spirit desires (Romans 8)….  for all men to be saved (I Timothy 2:4).