Relationships

Lately, I have found myself thinking a lot and pondering some of the simple, yet complex, realities of life.  While this would often be an advantageous thing, in my case it can lead to even more confusion than I began with.  I'm sure this effort to articulate some of it will be a jumbled mess.  My apologies.

One question that has come up is that of the significance of relationships.  How is it that I so often find myself busy with tasks that relationships with those around me, the beautiful image bearers of God, become secondary to accomplishing my to-do list?  Better yet, why do I so often allow myself to drift into a state of service that neglects the central component of life...that of a relationship with God?  As the Shane & Shane lyric asks, "When did my serving You replace me knowing You?"

I hate that this is a reality of my life.  I imagine it is a struggle we all face.  It is often so much easier to conform to religious forms of morality that give the appearance of godliness (and allow our selfish desires to go unchallenged) than it is to actually walk in a soul-satisfying, all-encompassing relationship with Jesus.  Truly, it is easier to "be religious" than to love mercy, live justly, and walk humbly with the Lord.  Daily, I struggle with the choice to stick with my pride or let His perfect love drive out my fear and open my heart to real relationships.  

But you know what?  I don't want religion.  I don't want fulfilled task lists.  I don't want my insecurity, fears, and selfishness to dictate my life and decisions.  I'm ready for the walls to come crumbling down.

People around the world have never heard about Jesus.  Orphans, widows, victims of disease, and those that suffer unspeakable injustice are present all over the place.  War is being fought. People are slaves both physically and spiritually.  Starvation is real.  Yet in the US, we are obsessed with an attitude of consumption.  We spend countless hours debating "what did Jesus really mean when He commanded us to sell all of our possessions and give them to the poor" instead of actually expending our wealth on the needy.  The nations are at our doorstep and we aren't reaching out to them as we should.  We daily justify our selfishness choosing to keep our $5 instead of giving it to the homeless guy we pass on the street.  We live in the image of the Church at Laodicea far too often.  

I want to know Jesus.  I want to be constantly captivated by Him.  I want to be so intimately acquainted with Him that my face visibly shines with the radiance of His presence.  I want to be a prayer warrior.  I want to love beyond my ability and value relationship with others in a way that recognizes the great value inherent in every individual. I want to be vulnerable. I want to live in a community of accountability.  I want to be the hands and feet of Jesus.  I want to grapple with difficult passages of scripture and be a "doer" instead of disregarding them with some sort of knowledge/culturally based justification. I want to be labeled "radical" as I recognize more and more that what is acceptable in man's eyes is far from the perfect plans God has for my life.   

It is time for more.

Let us choose to really know our Savior.  Let us choose to bow down now and invite the nations to do the same.  Let us choose to come together in love and display our God as the Body of Christ He created us to be.  Let us choose to recognize that we can accomplish nothing on our own.  Let us rejoice in our weakness.  Let us overflow as we encounter His lavish grace and mercy.  Let us encourage and exhort one another on to further Christlikeness.  Let us speak the hard truths in love and accountability.  Let us throw aside everything that is hindering us each moment of every day.  Let us step aside and in our submission allow God to change the world through us.