Even some of those who profess faith and participate in Christian community look to faith as another good or service to consume, rather than looking at it as something to give themselves to. They want to enjoy the benefits of church or faith, without the commitment and contribution that it demands… But in doing so, they miss out on the real blessing of the Christian life.
The benefit of faith is not only in what we receive from God, but also in what we give to Him and His Kingdom.
Acts 20:35, “It is more blessed to give than to receive…”
Because our lives are busy, we often outsource our spiritual growth and connection to God to books, classes, podcasts, and worship music.
John Mark Comer writes, “Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life… Both sin and busyness have the exact same effect - they cut off our connection to God, to other people, and even to our own soul.”
A slow, intentional spirituality filled with opportunities for relational connection to our always present Saviour is what we our souls need in order to live wisely in our day and age.
I believe that in order to abide in Jesus, we need to remain fully present in attentive relationship and ongoing connection with Him. We commune with Him, are taught by Him in His Word, and our actions and words are shaped by His influence.
One of the most remarkable things about our faith, is that we serve a God who is eager to speak to us. The Bible is filled with stories of God who speaks to mankind – who instructs and corrects, and warns and directs, and comforts and protects people who tune their ears to hear Him…
Our friend and mission partner Dave Berdan, who is the executive director of 37 Frank, a ministry of Strathroy YFC, comes to share his passion about the work that God has called him to.
Our friend and mission partner Megan Ratnam shares about what it means to make a difference as Jesus followers in the context that He has placed us in.
Just because our outer world may be in order, sometimes our thoughts and mind get away from us. It’s possible to turn off our computers, put away our chores, turn off our phones and take a break and still wear ourselves out on the inside. Anxious thoughts, work-think, negative thought cycles or overthinking can have the same stress response in our bodies as busy activities can. We may be resting from outer work while our internal world is physically torturing us. It's important to properly process our inner world by exposing our thoughts and emotions to truth – objective truth, as well as God’s truth.