Perspective

Sometimes I need to be care about the lens through which I see the world and the Body of Christ. Too often I focus my attention on what isn't happening. I see North American church people finding every conceivable reason not to participate in worshipping God, while people in other parts of the world walk for miles to gather with the Body of Christ. I see church folks in our country complaining that churches talk too much about money, while poverty stricken Jesus followers in Mozambique dance with joy to the altar, in order to give what little they have to the work of the Lord. I see congregations on our continent stressing, struggling, and battling to maintain their buildings as if preserving museums, while churches without roofs over their heads grow like wildfire elsewhere. There's no shortage of discouraging stuff on which to focus.

I need to be careful, though, not to focus so much on what isn't happening that I miss what God is doing. The Holy Spirit has directed my attention to some things I've seen in just the last few days. There's the middle school student who said that encountering Jesus in a Confirmation class changed her life. There's the young couple with limited experience with the Bible, who have just completed their first in-depth group Bible experience, and they're hungry for what's next. There's the man who has answered the tug in his heart for the church to reach to those in need outside its walls, who has taken the leap of faith to be a leading example in this. There's the woman who came to a recent small group experience scared to death, who has now decided to learn about conversion. As Henry Blackaby says, God is already at work.

Thank you, God, that the living, transforming power of Jesus finds a way, no matter how much discouraging stuff seems in the way. Keep me focused on what you're doing. Help me to spend more time rejoicing over what is than complaining about what isn't.

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.