Today I am in Orlando for a church planters and pastors conference. The goal of this conference is to really understand God's heart to reach every man, woman and child and to take that heart and mandate and flesh it out in the context of our ministry. The conference has gotten off to a good start. I have to admit that my attitude about being here was less than godly to say the least. As my buddy Jordan always says, I just wanted to take my football and go home... The fact is I hate being away from my family and I had a fear that the time was going to be extremely lame. This morning I read the verses below and I have got to say that God convicted my heart over my bad attitude and narrow mindset.
“Behold how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, coming down upon the beard, Even Aaron’s beard, Coming down upon the edge of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon, Coming down upon the mountains of Zion; For there the Lord commanded the blessing—life forever.” Psalm 133,1-3, NAS
The very heart of God is that we, His children, His church would live together in unity. In John 17 we find one of the most heart-rending prayers recorded by Jesus, where He prays to the father that He would make us one. Today I was reminded that my role is to strive to live in unity with my brothers and sisters in Christ. Had God not changed my heart and attitude before I got here there would of been no way that I could have been any form of vessel that God could use to promote unity. It is interesting how easy it is to miss the purpose of God and His commands when you are so self-absorbed. Regardless of what happens over the next two days I pray that God will keep my heart and attitude right. I pray that I would remember that I need to strive to build unity in His body. The irony of all of this is one of the purposes of this conference is to build unity. I have got such a long way to go, but I appreciate God's grace. My advice the next time that you begin to whine about something, take a step back and ask yourself what does God want and what does God want to do in and through me in light of this thing? At least that is what I hope I will learn to do.
1 comment:
As you said, the hearts desire of the father is to see a body of believers visible to the world by their unity based on a sincere love for each other. We often display the 'church' to the world as a bastion of orthodox theology and then we wonder why they turn away. Our city is not a Calvin-controlled geneva but a Spirit-founded Zion!
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