community

during quiet time today i began listening to our pastor's sermon and began thinking to myself... wow, its so easy to listen and enjoy the sermon yet compartmentalize all areas of my life and instead of truly having a 'radical heart change' like Pastor Matthew mentioned at the beginning of his sermon, a lot of us tend to piece a part the sermon and begin sprinkling areas of our life we can work on... those areas that we can 'work on' are likely areas that we've already allowed Jesus to begin His work and we're comfortable with Him continuing to dissect and transform those situations...

our neighbor who annoys us, my desire for an SUV because i'll never be seen driving a van, the fact that i can't afford a Starbucks run but i keep doing it, desiring a larger home, and the list goes on...

aren't these the areas that most of us assume the position of humility and ask God to transform us?

yet what about the areas that are so deep rooted and have become such an innate part of who we are?  those are likely the areas that we are unwilling to own, and likely oblivious to, that need the transformation... and then as a product of that transformation all the other situations just seem to align with God's heart.  its seems to me that too many of us are willing to ask God for help with the symptoms but bar Him from the disease.   

currently, i feel i am coming face to face with what to me is just that - an unwillingness to see one's own depravity as any deeper than that which is easily accessible and just as easily transformed by a good sermon.  it seems that at that depth, or lack thereof, that God is not allowed the accessibility to deeply transform a heart.  that instead of complete humility there is a guarded and calloused wall that will save face at all cost.  and it has caused such destruction. 

... and so i sit here today.  trying to figure out how we can create community with friends and fellow local church members that looks not unlike what Jesus wanted to bring as he walked on earth.  the very reason Kyle and i chose the current church we're at is because God had already created in our daily life relationship with these people.  the Jones', the Emersons, the Savages and others that seemed to infiltrate our life because we spent time together aside from a beautiful Sunday sermon and a community group each week.

we did life together.

when doing life together becomes dangerous is when you incorporate Jesus into the mix... and THAT is what excites Kyle and me with being a part of this community at The Journey but also makes us weary as time after time the introduction of the one another commands of Christ have been met with malice and offensiveness.  no, i'm not talking across the table at community group - its easy to look like you've got it together on that evening.  i'm talking the daily life of living out with our children and friends and spouses what it means to be obedient and continue to render our hearts.  that's when it becomes... unstable.

are you willing to check your heart when someone asks you tough questions about the decisions you're making?  are you open to others' concerns about your parenting, your marriage, your haughtiness or self-deprecating behavior?  are you surrendered to His heart so much that you almost thirst for such opinions be they substantiated or not just for the opportunity to wrestle with what it is that God has for you?!

i don't know... maybe all this is too idealistic and you're wanting to tell me that it will never happen where a community of people will be this authentic and desirous of a deeper relationship with Jesus in every aspect of their daily lives.

but i'm not giving up.  the reward is too great.

if someone told you that you had a 1/1 chance of winning the 10 million dollar Lottery jackpot, would you not buy a ticket?  such is the life of authenticity and community... the glory of God will be revealed and His work on the cross will transform even the deepest, and sometimes the most simple, sin we find ourselves in - then we will partner with the Creator God and experience what it is to be alongside Him as He fulfills His indescribable plan.