Let Us Be Awakened

In 1994, God began calling me to Himself. Or, better said, I began to recognize what was happening. I think He'd been calling me all of my life, long before that time. A full decade later, I turned toward Him and agreed to follow. I have had good days and bad, have said and done things in ignorance; I have walked with Him through difficult seasons and taken off running in those times I was pretty sure I had things under control. I have rebelled. No matter how many times I got it wrong or where I landed over these twenty years, He has never abandoned me. That brings me tremendous comfort, and I say this that you might find comfort as well. The love of God is immeasurable. 

As a nation, we have been through an election like no other. It is not our ideas that divide us, but our attitudes. God, through Paul tells us our attitude should be that of Christ's and our conduct "worthy of the Gospel." Jesus tells His disciples we are known by our love for one another (John 13:35), identified as His by the way we treat the other members of His body! As a Church in this hurting nation, are we following the standard set forth by our Lord and Savior? Are we setting the example? The Church needs to be a place of healing and wholeness because its people are committed to healing: 

• Healing and wholeness because of our faith in Jesus Christ and His work on the cross. 
• Healing and wholeness because of our practice of spiritual disciplines and our continued trust in the work of the Holy Spirit. 
• Healing and wholeness because of our love for others, becoming the best versions of ourselves in order to serve them better and encourage them along their journey toward the same goal. 

Those who have chosen to be led by their emotions rather than God's law should repent and be welcomed into fellowship. Those who have passed judgment on others should repent and be welcomed into fellowship. Those who have withheld forgiveness or fallen away or treated others contemptuously or allowed divisions should repent and be welcomed into fellowship. The Church should not respond in the same way the world responds to offenses. We should not choose self-indulgence, self-promotion, and self-centeredness over self-lessness, self-examination by the Scriptures, and self-sacrifice.

This morning, a song from those early days of my awakening came to mind:

A preacher shuns his brother

Cause his bride's a different color

And this is not acceptable

His papa taught him so

It was love that he'd been preaching

But this was overreaching

The boundaries stretchin' further

Then his heart would choose to go...

What have we become?

A self-indulgent people

What have we become?

Tell me where are the righteous ones?

What have we become?

In a world degenerating

What have we become?

~ What Have We Become, DC Talk, 1995

Let us lead by example. Let us love one another. Let us work with the Spirit of our God and King leading the way, that our fellowship and our nation might be awash in healing and wholeness, and that it might forever continue. Let us be identified by our Christ-like attitudes and not our ideas.