In church yesterday, Pastor Ryan was preaching on Galatians 6:12-16, in which the apostle Paul is speaking to the believers in Galatia, refuting the heresy that believers must "do more" than just trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for salvation, but must also follow Jewish customs such as circumcision.
Gal. 6:14-15 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.
He challenged our little congregation with the question, "What are we known for?" What is our boast? Are we "the church that teaches home discipleship"? Are we the "family-integrated church"? Are we the "church with the great cooks who share a pot-luck lunch every Sunday"? Or are we the church that teaches Jesus, and loves like Jesus, and acts like Jesus?
How about your church? Are you the "church with the great children's ministry" or the "church with the beautiful building" or the "church with the
great preacher"? Or are you the "church that teaches Jesus and loves like Jesus and acts like Jesus"?
How about our families? What is our boast? Do we boast or take pride in the fact that we homeschool? that we live in a certain neighborhood? that our kids have good manners? that we have x number of children? that we host great parties? Or is my family known for the way we teach Jesus, love like Jesus, act like Jesus?
Now to bring it down to the personal... what am I known for? And what do I WANT to be known for? Do I boast in the cross of Jesus... do others see Jesus in me? Or do they just see ME? If so, I need to get out of the way...
1 comment:
Beth, I did a devotional a couple of years ago about this very thing! I have friends who gave up being vegetarians because they were known as the "vegetarian family" more than they were known for loving Jesus. As they would acknowledge, it's ok to have these other passions, but our identity should be in Christ and Him alone. Thanks for the reminder.
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