Often, as we come to church, we forget our mission, our history, and our present. Especially in times like this, when our economy is shaky, we miss forward thinking. When our life gets upset, we turn inward, seeing how we are doing and preparing ourselves for the situation. It’s almost like hiding from the reality, to escape the strife, whether real or created, and to think only about ourselves.
Our scripture paints a different picture however. Jesus speaks in verses 25 and 26 saying, “The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.” Jesus always has a way of pointing us to service doesn’t he? It is one of those messages all throughout scripture…to look beyond ourselves. I believe it is one of the things that really draw us to him. Never does he just leave us where we are at, but he extends us, directing us to a whole new place.
Often, I wonder why He does this? Why does Jesus push us to serve, act and have a vision beyond our own? The first answer that I get, and probably the easiest to come up with, would be that we can’t do it on our own. We need a savior and guide. I, personally, am constantly reminded of this. My moments of being a buffoon warn me harshly.
Still, even further, I believe that we live into a deeper context when we look beyond ourselves. When we look to serve others, we are empathizing. We are taking steps to walk in another’s shoes. When we can see the larger picture of the world around us, we can see a bigger vision…a bigger context. Our vision changes, and the images that God would have for us, may begin to creep into view. Maybe, and I can only say maybe here, we begin to view the world how Jesus did?
Imagine what it is like to be God for a second (don’t try too hard, or you will hurt yourself J).
God has such a large vision of the world, not only seeing my endless needs and struggles, but something like 8 billion peoples’ needs and struggles. Wow…(I hope you didn’t hurt yourself).
Maybe Jesus is pushing us to look beyond ourselves because we get to see with that different vision. Maybe it directs us deeper into the life he has for us, to see beyond some of the financial worries of today into the mission that God has for this world. And maybe, by doing this, we will begin to reside deeper into the life that God has for us.
The time is always ripe for God to move in a powerful way. Sometimes, that movement is small, like a single rain drop falling to earth. Other times, it is like a lighting strike, powerful and humbling. Our church has great potential to be a community that does not get caught up into the worries of this world, but a community that only gets caught up into the worries of God’s world.
Are we this church? Probably not, because we humans are a part of it.
Still, what would look different if we were 100% vested into God’s mission for this world? What would change? How would we act, think and live differently? (These are not rhetorical questions)
I ask myself these questions and I hope that you do too! We need to always be reminded that we should be a growing and teachable community, probably not always getting it perfect, but perfectly aware that we should always be striving to be headed in that direction.
And so, may we, as a community of believers following Christ, live deeper into a life of service and vision beyond the here and now and into the movement of God beyond our very selves.
Grace and Peace!
Micah
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