God's Great Passion

It's important for me as a follower of Christ to be passionate about the same things that Christ is passionate. And as I'm getting older, it is becoming more and more important to me to make sure my passion is aligned with His--and His passion is in seeing people who are far from Him become His followers, which He has called the Church. And the Church's mission is to make disciples of all nations, to be fishers of men.

The Church--the good, the bad, and the ugly of it--IS His passion. No matter how messy it gets. And it boy, howdy--can it get messy! But you know what? God loves us just as much in the messy times as in the "clean", pure times. And He never takes our mission away from us, no matter how badly we botch it at times. Like when we hurt someone's feelings. Or we fail to respond appropriately to someone's pain. Or we don't discipline where it's needed. Or when we are just unlovely. Fortunately for us, God accepts us on the basis of HIS grace and mercy, not on OUR behavior or lack of it.

But I have to admit I struggle with Christians who have no tolerance for the Church because of her shortcomings. Not that I don't believe in pointing out where we've gotten off base, or are in error, or need to change, but it seems that those who have the least amount of tolerance and love also have the greatest amount of criticism and distaste, especially for those in leadership of the Church. They are the ones who say they love God but simply have no use for the Church and don't feel they need the Church to have a right relationship with God.

So this is my encouragement to those who feel that way: 1) Stop lying to yourself, and to others within earshot. (I John 4:20) Check your heart and make sure it's really God you love, and not just the idea of God. 2) Ask God to forgive you for your lack of love for fellow believers--including those whom you think are not doing the job they should be doing (especially leaders) ; 3) Ask God to give you a deep love for the brethren, the kind of love He has for us; 4) Don't be afraid to show that love through serving those around you, which means you may actually have to rub shoulders with real live people now and then. You'd be surprised how rich your life becomes when it ceases to be about you and becomes about God and His people.