DEFINING THE RELATIONSHIP

In Jesus' day, being in relationship with Him inevitably involved having some spiritual D.T.R.   You most likely know what this is if you're under thirty.  The letters stand for "Define the Relationship."  Jesus was constantly calling for this in His relationships on earth.  Nobody ever went away from an encounter with Jesus saying, "That was a good [speech]."

-- John Ortberg in God Is Closer Than You Think


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OUR HIGHEST FOCUS

God is everywhere, but He doesn't turn His face and His favor everywhere.  That is why He tells us to seek His face.  Yes, He is present with you every time you meet with other believers in a worship service, but how long has it been since your hunger caused you to crawl up in His lap, and like a child, to reach up and take the face of God to turn it toward you?  Intimacy with Him!  That is what God desires, and His face should be our highest focus. 

-- Tommy Tenney in The Heart of A God Chaser


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ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN

Where do you experience an authentic level of passion about things down here not running the way they are up there?  Maybe it happens when you look at people who suffer from poverty or illiteracy or abuse in families.  Maybe you find your heart stirred when you come in contact with people who have deep emotional hurts or children who have no homes or marriages that are falling apart.

Internally, most of us want to experience the feelings of God's presence; a deeper sense of peace and assurance, a stronger surge of joy, a clearer word of guidance.  Is it even possible for the practice of the presence of God to become a thinly veiled pursuit of emotional comfort?  But ironically, none of these feelings are strictly necessary for us to become agents of God's presence for other people.  All that is necessary is a single intent: "Lord, where do You want to use me to help things down here run the way they do up there?" 

-- John Ortberg in God Is Closer Than You Think

 

 

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KNOWN FOR GRACE

You can become someone who gives grace away so freely that when people far from God think of you, they immediately think of "grace" next.  "What do I think of Tom?  Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that he's full of grace.  I could honestly say that if I messed up in a big way, he's a guy I'd call.  If I landed on his doorstep after a huge mistake or tragedy, I could count on him giving me compassion instead of judgment and understanding rather than a tongue-lashing."

I would love for that to be said of me!  In fact, I'd love for it to be said of all Christ-followers.

-- Bill Hybels in Just Walk Across the Room


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BEARING WITNESS IN ALL THINGS

What is it about your life or mine that would make someone else want to be a follower of Jesus Christ, a person of faith, a part of a congregation?

The purpose of inviting other people to follow Jesus is to help them rediscover love – God's love – and to provide a community that gives sustained focus, energy, and resources to developing the spiritual life.  No other community besides the church has as its purpose the deepening of such elements of the human soul as hope, forgiveness, generosity, service, joy, peace, justice, gentleness.  Love is the key to unlocking the door to ultimate reality, and in the community of Christ we intentionally practice receiving God's love, loving God in return, and loving others.  We invite people into a life of love, surround them with the everlasting arms of God, and encourage them to do the same for others.  We love because God first loved us.

To bear witness to Christ involves more than inviting people with words.  It means living with such grace and integrity that our lives themselves become appealing to others.  The second chapter of Acts reports that people were drawn into the way of life of the followers of Christ.  They found Christian practice utterly compelling and irresistible appealing. 

-- Robert Schnase in Five Practices of Fruitful Living


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