I've done a lot of things in an effort to impress God. I want Him to be proud of me. I want Him to think well of me and for Him to know that I appreciate everything He's done for me. As you might imagine, I've received counsel from various people on my journey with Christ and the one message that has been constant is that He deserves my very best.
"About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, 'Cornelius!' And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, 'What is it, lord?' So he said to him, 'Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God.'" - Acts 10:3-4
While reading Acts recently, I thought to myself, "what does God remember about you?" Well, I enjoy serving God through giving, so naturally, I began to think about what I've done over the years, including what I'm doing now that the Father is keeping record of. Truth is I've been in ministry a lot longer than I realized. My very first role was serving as the College Student Contact for the church I attended while pursuing my Master's degree. Since I made personal connections with many of the families in that church as a grad student, my pastor probably thought I would be effective at keeping other college students connected to our assembly. I won't sit here and pretend that I was successful at it because it's not like he formally evaluated my progress. I did, however, take my role seriously because it allowed me to contribute to the church in a meaningful way.
My pastor was also grateful for my efforts at rallying the college students together for various ministry events and he would often compliment me on my growth, which meant a whole lot to the twenty-something year old sassy, strong-headed me. It wasn't until my 30s that I realized that what he, his wife, and several other men & women of God were doing at the time was discipling me and it worked! The way they poured into me made it almost impossible for me to relocate and not serve in ministry again. So, when I returned to my hometown in 2014, I began serving in the youth department at my previous church alongside a woman who would eventually become one of my closest friends. Together, we not only learned the importance of feeding Jesus' sheep but also caring for the poor.
"But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean." - Acts 10:28
One of the things that the LORD has opened my understanding to within the last year is the lack of discipleship in many churches across the USA as well as the lack of sincere consideration for the poor, widows, and orphans outside of the big community giving events that some churches organize 2 or 3 times a year. Although we've become adept at paying tithes & offering to an earthly storehouse that most of us haven't seen let alone know what's in it under the direction of Malachi 3:10, many churchgoers are secretly ashamed or might I say even afraid to ask their church for financial assistance in their own time of need. And for anyone who's offended by my statement, I have a question for you: If you needed help paying your rent or mortgage, would your local church be one of the top 3 people on your list of folks that you feel comfortable reaching out to? If not, then it's probably because you subconsciously don't view the church as a place where you & your family should be able to get provision such as food, shelter, and clothing despite the fact that the foundation of the early church was built on the disciples lacking nothing because everyone shared what they had (Acts 4:34-35).
Regardless of one's tithing record, we've all been guilty of hesitating to feed a person on the street or giving them money due to fear of being scammed or the possibility of helping feed a drug addiction. In a culture that's obsessed with self, Christians have unknowingly created a doctrine that disregards the least among us and in some ways fear the very people that the LORD commands us to help. We claim that we want to see more Christ-centered friendships, marriages, businesses, schools, movies, TV shows; etc but only a few are willing to disciple other people in order to help make this a reality. By the way, I'm fully aware that some Christians believe that ministry isn't for everyone despite the fact that we were saved to serve unless you think Matthew 28:19-20 only applies to the disciples in the Bible. The Greek word for ministry is diakonia, which is defined as "those who by the command of God proclaim and promote religion among men" (Strong's NT 1248). So, if you're not promoting the good news of Jesus Christ, which includes showing mercy to the poor and helping the weak, then what exactly are you promoting?
If we're being honest, it's time for us to reconsider the template of church in America that we've embraced as God's standard when in reality it has been infiltrated by man-made traditions that are being passed off as biblical doctrine. I'm not saying we've done everything wrong but anyone that has an ounce of the Holy Spirit in them can see that there is something wrong. However, all hope is not lost. We can each do our part in helping to correct our course as a body by seeking the LORD in prayer daily and reading the Bible for ourselves with the Holy Spirit as our guide and listening to sound teaching from other men & women in the faith. Whether you fully understand your calling or not, we owe it to ourselves and the people assigned to us to make sure we're not promoting anything that's not rooted in Christ. Time is of the essence and Ephesians 4:15-16 tells us to walk in wisdom and redeem it.
