I keep running into a certain line that Christians keep using, “I really need to find time to serve my community.” And yeah we do, but we need to ask a different question.
Lets just be honest, we don’t find time to do anything, we MAKE it. Because it actually doesn’t exist! If your life is anything like most then you won’t look through your schedule and all of a sudden find time. “Oh my gosh! Time! I found it! Thursday the fifth between 3:06 and 3:27 would be perfect for loving my neighbor!” Nah-ah! It’s just not going to happen that way because all of us are too busy for that. We don’t have blank spots in our calendar.
The job that you and I have as the followers of Christ is to be on mission for the gospel wherever we are. What that means is that we have to be intentional about making and creating opportunities to know and love the people around us. We have to see the place that we live as the mission field that God has brought us to and then orient our lives around that.
We usually do it the other way around. We work and strive to build our lives with education, careers, families, and silly hobbies and stuff, and then we try to fit God into it. We need to flip that don’t we? When we make a desire to glorify God primary, we build our lives around that.
So, the better question to ask is, how can I make time? And lest you feel preached at, don’t. I am pretty much talking straight to myself; but if you are feeling it too than great, we can work on it together.
For me the thing that has summed that up the most is, Luke 6:45 “…for out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”
When God is overflowing in my heart I don’t need to find or make time. I don’t need to think about being missional. It just flows out. It’s like a waterfall, gravity brings it. It happens it’s natural. It’s difficult to stop.
The first part of verse 45 I find interesting as well, “out of the good stored up” Good comes from God. It needs to be “stored up” in order to overflow out.
If it’s not overflowing from my heart, am I storing it up? Do I know how to store it up?
Totally Bob, I couldn’t agree with you more. Your response made me want to clarify. It would be an atrocity if it appeared as if mission rather than worship was my central paradigm.
I have been listening to Tim Chaddick preach and he drives home that point about Making time rather than finding time because we christians get too comfortable and stop making it a point to know our neighbors. He uses the term being on mission because we view missions as something that we go somewhere else to do instead of doing it right here. If we do missions right where we are, we act like the missionaries that are away: We plan, we engage, we walk through our day with the gospel as our soul purpose for everything we do–whatever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Col. 3:17; the gospel is on our minds, our lips, our hearts, and it becomes the motivation for every interaction in our day.
That being said, all of that only comes out of a heart that is overflowing with the good born out of time with the Lord–the fruit of the Spirit. Mission flows from worship. “Missions (in the city) exists because worship doesn’t exist (in the city)” John Piper- In other words we desire what God desires, that all would come to worship the Lord.
I think we are in 100% agreement. What do you think? Anybody else with me?
Good point man… Make not find, I like it.