Jesus is Calling

I’ve read and heard many people say that we won’t reach people in the church…that we have to move outside the church in order to reach people.  I think I understand what they mean but I’m not so sure I agree.  
 
Mark 1:45 says, “However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to Him from every direction.”
 
This man went out and told others what Jesus had done for him.  The people knew of his prior condition but now they were seeing a different man.  When we allow Jesus to transform us into His image, when we truly live as Christ, then people will take notice and want to know what happened–how that transformation came about.  They will want to know where we go to church, where they can find that for themselves.  And when they show up at a church where true transformational change is taking place, they will desire to be part of that fellowship and come to know who Jesus is and what He can do in their lives.
 
Our issue is not the modern day church; it is the modern day version of a walk with Christ.  Our issue is not offering a better program, but rather offering a better display of who Jesus is and what He can do and has done in our lives.  Invite Jesus into your life, your church, and your fellowship and watch Him draw people to Himself.  He is faithful.

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Come to the Well…

I am a needy person. I need food, lest you face my wrath. I need sleep, lest you face the same. I need good relationships, good times of relaxation, good conversation with my wife. Right now, I need a haircut, and, on occasion, I need a new pair of shoes. The only thing that I don’t need is more needs.

The greatest need that the world has is Jesus. But I think we often forget in the church that our greatest need is the same. Sometimes I wonder that we assume, “Well, I’m saved, I got baptized; now I just need to make it through until I go to heaven,” when, in reality, we need Jesus now, right now, in this moment.

And we don’t need Him to fix our country, or fix our finances, or fix our marriage. We need Him. That’s it. Our souls crave and long for Jesus; not what He does, or even what He has done, but just Him, in His person.

At the risk of waxing boring, I’m going to reiterate the point. What the Christian needs, more than anything else, is Jesus. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” “Draw near to Him, and He will draw near to you.” “Abide in me, and I will abide in you,” Jesus says. And you know what’s great about that last promise? Jesus tells us to abide, “so that our joy may be full.”

Jesus brings joy, and isn’t that we long for, joy? Jesus said, “Apart from me, you can do nothing,” and nobody wants to do nothing. We want to be useful, and purposeful. Call it legacy if you like, but we want to know that we’ve contributed to the whole, that our lives have mattered, and that we left things better than when we found them. That brings us joy. So if having joy is contingent on abiding in Christ, the Christian had better find a way to linger in the presence of Jesus, and bask in the glory of who He is.

Your greatest need today is not healing. It’s not peace, or lack of stress. It’s not even the basics, like food and water. Your need is Jesus, and that is true regardless of where you find yourself on the spectrum of faith.

The unbeliever may not know they need Jesus. The new believer may know all too well that they need Jesus. But my fear is the greatest for the believer who has walked with Jesus for some time. We are so quick to forget that we can’t simply cruise on autopilot. All that requires is our own strength, and that will amount to nothing. Instead, tap into the presence and power of Jesus by sitting at His feet as Mary, tying your life to Him as the disciples did, counting all things as loss for the sake of gaining Christ as Paul did.

But, whatever you do, don’t persist in your neediness. You’re dry and famished, and are drinking at cisterns that are not of His making. Come rather to the well that never runs dry, to the streams of living water that refresh the soul, the mind, and the body.

Have your needs met in Him. “And all these things will be added unto you.”
–Jeremy Luman

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