You don't have to be a Pastor!

You don't have to be a Pastor to serve Christ! There are many people who feel that the way to respond to God's calling on your life is to become a Pastor - and this couldn't be further from the truth. God has need of his disciples in every avenue and community in the world. God needs people to serve him in schools, hospitals, police stations, commercial enterprises, prisons, old age homes, grocery stores, banks, taxi ranks, shopping malls, gyms, and so on.

Of course, there are some people who are called to serve Christ in the church, to equip the saints for service and to encourage the body of Christ - but this is not everyones calling. Perhaps we should stop worrying about what other people are called to do and ask God to reveal what he NEEDS us to do for him.

Ephesians 4:16 - "He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love."

·         “Each of us can reach out with Jesus in our own ways, through our vocations.” – Scot McKnight 

Living in Grace

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Climbing uphill to change the world

They had to do it the hard way. There were going to be no short cuts or easy options. Life was already tough and they knew it. It seemed that all the odds were against them and that they had only just begun the steep climb UPWARDS!

Who am I speaking about? Well, the answer is - Mary, Joseph and Jesus. From their rugged journey back to Bethlehem, to the birth of Jesus in a borrowed stable, as well as the fear of angry Herod. Life was getting harder and harder. However, it was through all of these hardships that this little family began to change the world.

 "On one evening, Joseph, Mary, and the child Jesus step out the front door of their humble dwelling, face the wind, and somehow know that this was just the beginning. Just the three of tehm. Three who would change the world, but who would have to do it CLIMBING UPHILL." - Scot McKnight

Changing the world is never an easy task, but one has to start with the first step.

Know that whatever uphill task you face today, Jesus understands.

Genesis 35:17 -  And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, “Don’t despair, for you have another son.”

Living in Grace
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Reputation versus Identity

As a society we have become obsessed with 'Reputation' and social media has just added to this whole hype. We can 'make or break' our reputation by posting something dodgy onto one of the social platforms or by speaking out of turn. I confess that on some levels Reputation is important, but it isn't everything. The reason I argue for this is because sometimes 'Reputation' is tainted by others who will do all they can to destroy our reputation - and again social media aids in this process.

Scot McKnight offers us an alternative to REPUTATION and that is the word IDENTITY. In sharing about the story of Jesus' earthly father, Joseph, he writes:

"Joseph learns that who he is before God (his identity) is more important than who he is in the circle of his pious friends (his reputation)."

And this is so TRUE. Who I am in the eyes of Jesus is far more important than who I am in the eyes of the world. It is my IDENTITY in Christ that sets me apart from others and ultimately will be the deciding factor in eternity.

Luke 6:35-36 - “I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never—I promise—regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind.

Living in Grace
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Embracing the stories of others

"As an expression of loving God and loving others, a spiritually formed person embraces the stories of others who love Jesus." - Scot McKnight

I found this quote deeply profound because it challenges me to love others, especially those "others" who love Jesus. It is a call not just to love others, but to also listen to their stories. In fact, it is probably best to listen to the stories of the "other" first - this usually opens the heart to love them more sincerely.

It is easier to ignore someone when you don't know their "story", but it is compelling for us to care for people when we know something of their story.

What do you think?

James 1:19 -  My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry

Living in Grace
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Sacred love

"Sacred love once learned .... converts acts of sin to acts of love." - Scot McKnight

In retelling the story of Zacchaeus, Scot McKnight reminds us that when the "sacred love" of Christ enters into our world, we are changed forever. The acts of sin, that once we found so easy to live with, now become harder for us. In this process we are moved to practise acts of love instead. (One can read Zacchaeus' story in Luke 19.)

May the Spirit of Christ moves us all to acts of love during this period of Lent.

"One new perception,
one fresh thought,
one act of surrender,
one change of heart,
one leap of faith,
can change your life forever." - Robert Holden

Living in Grace
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Recenter everything

In his wonderful book "The Jesus Creed", Scot McKnight, mentions how our encounter with Jesus can end up 'recentering everything.' It is my prayer that this season of Lent would be a moment for us all to recenter, refocus, remember, renew.

Are you doing something intentional about going deeper with Christ this Lent or are you just going through the motions? I have found that I need to prepare myself for this spiritual adventure, as the rest of life readily threatens to rob me of this encounter with Christ.

"A scribe asks Jesus about the essence of spiritual formation, and Jesus gives him an old answer with a revolutionary twist: Love God and Love others, and love God by following me. The scribe realises that he will need to recenter everything." - S. McKnight

Ephesians 4:24 - "And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you."

Living in Grace
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Gladness and hunger meet.

I love stumbling across inspiring words or quotes. I find that they can be the gem in my day, challenging me as well as speaking into my life. This morning I had one of those moments when I was reading a chapter from "One.Life" by Scot McKnight. In this particular chapter I came across these deeply moving words:

"The place where God calls you is where your deep gladness meets the world's deep hunger" - Frederick Buechner

Wow! How often do we struggle to try and discern God's call for our lives, waiting for the writing on the wall, when it could be as close to us as this? So the very things that bring us joy could be our offering to the world's deep hunger?!

For example, we may love music and be skilled in an instrument - perhaps this is what we need to offer the world right now. Or we may have a love of crafts, baking, knitting, writing, poetry, sport, photography - all of these we could offer to the world as our "gift" to a hungry world. Had you thought about that?

Don't try and offer the world what you don't have - offer what God has already GIVEN to you.

This is what Jesus was trying to explain to the disciples when they were faced with feeding the 5000. The disciples kept thinking of how they were going to get food (or pay for it) from the outside, when Jesus knew that they already had what they needed amongst them.

Living in grace
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