Matthew 15:29-31
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
29 Jesus
left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside
and sat down. 30 Great crowds came to him, bringing
the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at
his feet; and he healed them. 31 The people were
amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame
walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.
Why do you think
Jesus came to this earth other than paying for our sins at the cross? I would have to say that when Jesus was on
this earth, He showed us how to worship.
Take a look at the passage above and look closely at what Jesus
did. He climbed a mountain and sat
down. As He sat people came to Him. When they came to Him he healed them. When they were healed, they praised the God
of Israel.
When we do church,
we go to a building and try to get people to come with us. Prior to people coming we decide how we want
our church to look, who we want to attract, we even write mission statements
and set goals. Sometimes we sigh when
another needy family walks in the door.
After all, they can’t contribute to the worship service or the programs
we have planned. They are just time
consuming and frankly bothersome. The
ideal groups to attract are the ones who have young families and have no
financial needs, the ones who have been raised in Christian homes and have
Christian values.
After we get our
target group chosen we then have to decide what kind of music we are going to
play and we have to have practice to make sure we sound perfect on Sunday morning. We spend time preparing for this one hour
church service and get upset when people don’t like the way we do things. After all, it isn’t about them.
This is quite a
stark contrast from the church that Jesus conducted. He climbed a mountain and sat down and they
came. Not the workers of the church but
those who were needy. He didn’t have to
practice before they came. He didn’t
have to plan before they came. They just
came but they came because He went to where they were and they followed
Him. I don’t know about you but I have
to wonder if maybe we are doing church wrong.
If we use Jesus as our example, as we should, why aren’t we being His
hands and feet and going out and ministering to others instead of changing the
way we do things to get people to come to us.
Listen to this song
and consider where God wants to send you.
Seek Him with all
your heart but don’t forget to share what you find in Him with others.
Seeking Him with
all my heart,
Sheila
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