Coming from someone who grew up in church, and knowing I am not quite in the place that I should be with my walk. I still have that closeness to the Lord. He still pulls on my heart strings and gives me desires or aspirations I would have never thought of on my own. And know that it his voice saying, “this is my plans for you”. Over the past couple weeks I’ve been having well let’s just call it a stirring. And last night it became more, clear. After travelling the world and visiting more churches than I can count, I have seen one thing more than I care to. Why is it that Christians only want to hang out with other Christians, or the majority of outreaches are out of the country? What about the city or state we live in. We are surrounded by people who need help. Physically, emotionally, and spiritually right in the towns that we live in. I watched a couple movies last night both Christian based with a really good message. They always have that one person in there that we see more often than not, the holier than thou, you have sin I can’t be around you, and you’re not welcome in this church. The best part of one of the movies I watched last night was the fact that they confronted her about it and backed it up with scripture. I have never seen in any scripture where any sinner was turned away or not welcomed by the Lord for their past sins. Who are we to judge does it not say “he who is without sin cast the first stone?” Why do we not ever look at the passage saying “be in the world but not of the world?” I know that this can be hard and the more it thought of it, the more that it lined up with a battlefield. Soldiers (us) spend time in their camps preparing for battle. They then go out into the battlefield trying to conquer the enemy until they are beaten and tired. They come back to camp to rest and recover, and head right back out. This is the example that we should be following. When we are feeling beaten down and tired we head to church or our time of prayer for our recovery. But we don’t stay in camp or only associate with other soldiers. Yes we keep them close and always take them to battle with us, but they are back up and accountability. To me and to so many others out there seeing a multitude of Christians gathering is not awe inspiring. It’s more of a military base. But to see a person walk out of Mcdonalds and hand a homeless man a bag of food… This, this is what makes a person stop and think. This man shows love. He didn’t have to say a word, he didn’t tell the homeless man about all his sins or why he’s in the place that he is in. He just showed him that God loves you and somebody does care. These are just the thoughts and the “stirring” I have been having. Please do not think that I am knocking or against foreign missions because i am not in any way, they were some of the best experiences I’ve had. I know that to me, I serve a better purpose here, volunteering locally. So take these thoughts, pray on them, ask about them, and use them to change the world around you.
