Never Known

A few days ago I was talking with a friend who had recently been a customer in the store I work at. She happened to come in on my day off so she began telling me about her wonderful customer experience, and she mentioned who had helped her. I explained that the person who helped her was the store manager. My friend couldn't believe it. So I said, “Really?” to inquire about what made her say that. I smiled. I already knew. It was the first thing I noticed when I started working there. She explained how he was so helpful, took the time to help her pick out clothes for her grandchildren, and then even rang her up at the register. She said, “Most General Managers would have just had someone else do that for them. I would have never known.”

Wow. She would have never known. It hit me that that is the best compliment I could ever receive. Most of us work really hard to obtain a higher status. We place a ton of significance on our titles and we want everyone to know who we are and what we do when we get there. We get caught up in being defined by it and we forget that with an increase in position we actually gain more responsibility. Our titles don’t make us who we are, our behavior does. I mean just because you are called a leader doesn't mean you lead or that people are following you. You have to be willing to do anything for them, to support them and set the example of what you expect them to do. If you are not willing to live it out every single day, rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty, how can you expect others to?

Isn't that what God did?  The King of the universe, Creator of all things, the very breath of Life. He left His perfect home and put skin on to walk among His people. He came and set the example in His day to day life, coaching and teaching along the way. He stopped to dine with sinners to which I am the worst. He displayed incredible humility being born in a stable rather than the palace He deserves. He washed the feet of His disciples expecting nothing in return. He got involved in the messy lives of prostitutes and tax collectors lifting their eyes and clearing their name. He gave them a new identity at the cost of His own, right in front of some big name people that most of us would try to impress. He performed incredible miracles to which many of them He told them to keep secret. How many of us would turn water into wine and not brag about our amazing gift to which others should bow?

Many of us want the status but we don’t want the cost. We want to be teachers, lawyers, doctors, pastors and managers until the phone rings and someone has a problem. But isn't it amazing that our great example did nothing out of vain conceit, but in humility considered others better. He looked not to His own interest but to the interest of others. Jesus, being in the very nature God, yet did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of servant, being made in human likeness. He humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross. 

Every day I go to work I have to ask myself, “Who am I willing to die for?”  However, in order to answer that I have to first be willing to die to myself so that I can serve the people around me. It is not easy. I have to be willing to leave the throne of which I made myself the queen and walk among His people. I have to remember that I am the worst sinner and that I was not made a saint by my own doing. Therefore, when people are messy I will offer to wash their feet and when I perform a “miracle” I will not expect accolades or rewards. The price I am called to pay is a gift to which I give freely. I will endure the cost despite any title to which I pray most will have never known. 

 

Never Known

A few days ago I was talking with a friend who had recently been a customer in the store I work at. She happened to come in on my day off so she began telling me about her wonderful customer experience, and she mentioned who had helped her. I explained that the person who helped her was the store manager. My friend couldn't believe it. So I said, “Really?” to inquire about what made her say that. I smiled. I already knew. It was the first thing I noticed when I started working there. She explained how he was so helpful, took the time to help her pick out clothes for her grandchildren, and then even rang her up at the register. She said, “Most General Managers would have just had someone else do that for them. I would have never known.”

Wow. She would have never known. It hit me that that is the best compliment I could ever receive. Most of us work really hard to obtain a higher status. We place a ton of significance on our titles and we want everyone to know who we are and what we do when we get there. We get caught up in being defined by it and we forget that with an increase in position we actually gain more responsibility. Our titles don’t make us who we are, our behavior does. I mean just because you are called a leader doesn't mean you lead or that people are following you. You have to be willing to do anything for them, to support them and set the example of what you expect them to do. If you are not willing to live it out every single day, rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty, how can you expect others to?

Isn't that what God did?  The King of the universe, Creator of all things, the very breath of Life. He left His perfect home and put skin on to walk among His people. He came and set the example in His day to day life, coaching and teaching along the way. He stopped to dine with sinners to which I am the worst. He displayed incredible humility being born in a stable rather than the palace He deserves. He washed the feet of His disciples expecting nothing in return. He got involved in the messy lives of prostitutes and tax collectors lifting their eyes and clearing their name. He gave them a new identity at the cost of His own, right in front of some big name people that most of us would try to impress. He performed incredible miracles to which many of them He told them to keep secret. How many of us would turn water into wine and not brag about our amazing gift to which others should bow?

Many of us want the status but we don’t want the cost. We want to be teachers, lawyers, doctors, pastors and managers until the phone rings and someone has a problem. But isn't it amazing that our great example did nothing out of vain conceit, but in humility considered others better. He looked not to His own interest but to the interest of others. Jesus, being in the very nature God, yet did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of servant, being made in human likeness. He humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross. 

Every day I go to work I have to ask myself, “Who am I willing to die for?”  However, in order to answer that I have to first be willing to die to myself so that I can serve the people around me. It is not easy. I have to be willing to leave the throne of which I made myself the queen and walk among His people. I have to remember that I am the worst sinner and that I was not made a saint by my own doing. Therefore, when people are messy I will offer to wash their feet and when I perform a “miracle” I will not expect accolades or rewards. The price I am called to pay is a gift to which I give freely. I will endure the cost despite any title to which I pray most will have never known. 

Never Known

A few days ago I was talking with a friend who had recently been a customer in the store I work at. She happened to come in on my day off so she began telling me about her wonderful customer experience, and she mentioned who had helped her. I explained that the person who helped her was the store manager. My friend couldn't believe it. So I said, “Really,” inquiring on what made her say that. I smiled. I already knew. It was the first thing I noticed when I started working there. She explained how he was so helpful, took the time to help her pick out clothes for her grandchildren, and then even rang her up at the register. She said, “Most General Managers would have just had someone else do that for them. I would have never known.”

Wow. She would have never known. It hit me that that is the best compliment I could ever receive. Most of us work really hard to obtain a higher status. We place a ton of significance on our titles and we want everyone to know who we are and what we do when we get there. We get caught up in being defined by it and we forget that with an increase in position we actually gain more responsibility. Our titles don’t make us who we are, our behavior does. I mean just because you are called a leader doesn't mean you lead or that people are following you. You have to be willing to do anything for them, to support them and set the example of what you expect them to do. If you are not willing to live it out every single day, rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty, how can you expect others to?

Isn't that what God did?  The King of the universe, Creator of all things, the very breath of Life. He left His perfect home and put skin on to walk among His people. He came and set the example in His day to day life, coaching and teaching along the way. He stopped to dine with sinners to which I am the worst. He displayed incredible humility being born in a stable rather than the palace He deserves. He washed the feet of His disciples expecting nothing in return. He got involved in the messy lives of prostitutes and tax collectors lifting their eyes and clearing their name. He gave them a new identity at the cost of His own, right in front of some big name people that most of us would try to impress. He performed incredible miracles to which many of them He told them to keep secret. How many of us would turn water into wine and not brag about our amazing gift to which others should bow?

Many of us want the status but we don’t want the cost. We want to be teachers, lawyers, doctors, pastors and managers until the phone rings and someone has a problem. But isn't it amazing that our great example did nothing out of vain conceit, but in humility considered others better. He looked not to His own interest but to the interest of others. Jesus, being in the very nature God, yet did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of servant, being made in human likeness. He humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross.

Every day I go to work I have to ask myself, “Who am I willing to die for?”  However, in order to answer that I have to first be willing to die to myself so that I can serve the people around me. It is not easy. I have to be willing to leave the throne of which I made myself the queen and walk among His people. I have to remember that I am the worst sinner and that I was not made a saint by my own doing. Therefore, when people are messy I will offer to wash their feet and when I perform a “miracle” I will not expect accolades or rewards. The price I am called to pay is a gift to which I give freely. I will endure the cost despite any title to which I pray most will have never known. 

American Idol: Season I (love my Church)

Idolatry has always been a hot topic especially when it comes to religion. It is certainly not new when it comes to the church. But I see a new season of American Idol taking over our nation: the idolatry of simply loving your church.

There are countries where freedom of religion does not exist and people risk their lives to gather with others to collectively worship and celebrate all that God is and all that He is doing. I have been to church services where this is so evident and it is an amazing and rare find. You enter into a place of being surrounded with redeemed and reconciled lives crying out to their Rescuer. Whether praising or lamenting they are joined together offering adoration to one; the only one worthy of any praise. It is intense and emotional.

I have also sadly been to church services where I have not experienced this. Sometimes I wonder if it is because they have never tasted and seen the God worthy of the kind of worship that shouts, “Take my life. I want nothing of my old self and only what You have for me.” 

Like the woman who wiped her hair on Jesus’ feet or the men who dug through a rooftop just to be with Him. They were not there to draw a crowd. They were not there to make everyone who came feel comfortable and they were not there to convince others to say the sinner’s prayer. They were there to meet Jesus in their desperation and despair; to receive life and hope. They had nothing to offer and they risked everything just to be with Him. They laid it all down and went against every social norm because they believed He was worth EVERYTHING. How are we doing as a church?

Are we laying it all down because we believe He is worth EVERYTHING? Or do we need numbers on Sunday morning to feel like a success, a building of our own to feel like we can effectively minister to the masses, or a dynamite children’s “program” to draw people to our church? Do we exist to make our church known? If we do then I would say we aren't doing too badly when we hand out t-shirts to proudly proclaim our church name and slogan to those that serve inside the church. And just maybe these great servants will proudly wear them out in public to the malls and restaurants around town after church and they turn into wonderful conversation pieces. About what though? 

Will it be a conversation about a loving Father who died for all of humanity whether Jew, gentile, gay, straight, black, white, rich, poor, popular or outcast? How He rose again to give life to all of us who are dead? Will it be a conversation about how the One and only Savior of the world came to bring light to our darkest places when we had no hope? Or will it be a conversation about how great your church is? About how your church saved your life? That the speaker really challenges you on Sunday’s or that the music is just like going to a concert.

The speaker may challenge you on Sunday because he is speaking truth from the Bible. However, the Bible was written by God not your pastor, and his amazing gift of teaching, well, that is from the Father as well. When a person claims their church saved their life or their marriage I am left to wonder if they encountered the same Jesus who invaded my heart. 

Sure friends of mine that gathered at buildings called churches spoke truth to me. They even brought me to those buildings a couple times a week. And I am thankful for them. But the church never saved me. A how-to guide and a cool youth program didn't change my life. The Holy Spirit through His people gave me a glimpse of who He was and I wanted more. More of Him. More of His truth to replace the lies, more of His light to invade my darkness, more of His rain to pour heavy on my impurities, and more of His faithfulness to flood my doubt.

There are a lot of churches that speak truth. You only have to open the Bible on Sunday morning to do that. But what is seemingly more difficult is for the church to lay down its own idolatry. I fear it has fallen in love with itself as the savior and rescuer. It is beginning to think it is the way the truth and the life and is allowing people to worship it rather than being a collective gathering of people declaring who they are because of who God is.

So, I will not worship a church brand. I am in love with my local church body because I am reconciled to them through Christ. I will serve my local church because I believe in pouring out all that He pours in. And I will be grateful to my God for providing the pastors, programs and people that are willing to participate in all the He is doing. When we as a church decide to lay it all down and live as if there is nothing better out there than more of Him, our lives will declare what no t-shirt could ever say and no church building could ever hold.