Readings for the day: 1 Chronicles 3, 4, 5
There is an old story about a pastor who went to visit a parishioner whom he had not seen for a while. It was a cold morning so when the pastor showed up, the man had the coffee hot and a roaring fire going in the fireplace. They both sat down and the pastor asked how things were going. The conversation ranged from work to family to health to life in general. The man was doing well. Finally, the conversation got around to faith. And the man started to talk about how he didn’t need the church to worship God. He was doing just fine on his own. Praying. Reading the Bible. Walking through the woods. As he spoke, the pastor didn’t judge. Didn’t condemn. He simply reached over and with the tongs, took a coal out of the fireplace and placed it on the hearth. As the man spoke, his eyes kept going to the coal. At first it burned nice and hot but as time went on it began to grow cold. Having lost it’s connection to the fire, it eventually burned out.
Life with God is like that. Life with community is like that. I cannot tell you the number of people I have spoken with over the years who have experienced this loss of connection. Their lives are so busy. Their feelings of isolation and loneliness so strong. The pain they carry is so great and my heart breaks for them. So many of them have nowhere to turn. Their relationship with God has grown cold. Their connection to community is tenuous at best. They have no one to call when they are in crisis. No one to lean on when times get tough, as they always do.
The people of God have always drawn so much strength from one another. The people of God have always felt this strong connection both to those who came before them and to those who come after. The genealogies of the Bible may seem dry and boring at first glance. Just a bunch of names on a page. And yet each person represents a story. Each person represents a connection to God and His promises. Each person has a testimony to share about the faithfulness of God in action. Maybe it’s Jabez who prayed to God for protection. Or it’s Reuben who experienced the loving discipline of God for his mistakes. Or it’s Judah who experienced the grace of God covering His sin. Over and over again, these names tell a story. The story. Our story. This is our family history. Our family tree. And as we tap into this story, we experience a deep connection to the One who made us. The One who loves us. The One who has come to rescue us. Even Jesus Christ.
How are you connecting to God today? How are you connecting to God’s people? How are you helping others connect? It’s not complex but it can be difficult in the midst of all that life can throw at us. I always recommend four spiritual practices to those who wonder how to begin building connection...
- Daily Devotional Time: Spend time each day in prayer and reading/reflecting on Scripture. Find fifteen minutes. Thirty minutes just to be with God. Use your commute. Use your lunch hour. Use your break time. You won’t regret it.
- Weekly Gathered Worship : Find a local church and plug in. Gather with God’s people for worship each week. Don’t approach it as a consumer experience (i.e. what did I “get out” of it today) but rather trust God to create a “cascading” effect in your life on a subconscious level through His Spirit as He draws you to Himself.
- Join a small group: Find a few Christian friends and start meeting together intentionally for encouragement, vulnerable sharing, and accountability. Pray for each other. Talk to each other. Intentionally do life together. Will it be messy? Yep. Pursuing authentic relationships always is because we are all “authentically” sinful! :-) Press through the difficult conversations. Practice forgiveness and grace. You will find deep connections building as you do.
- Find a place to serve God’s Kingdom: Don’t just build this “connection” for yourself! Find a way to share it with others. As you go out to serve Christ and His Kingdom, you will become someone else’s point of connection to God and to community. Isn’t that awesome? God will use YOU to be His hands and feet in another person’s life.
Do these four things over the course of a lifetime and I guarantee...GUARANTEE...you will grow a deep, abiding relationship with Christ and with God’s people. Will there be disappointments along the way? Yes. Will you feel hurt at times? Absolutely. Is it easy? Nope. Not in our world. But nothing worth doing is EVER easy and that is particularly true when it comes to the most important relationship in our lives! So place your trust and your hope in Christ and let Him lead you to the abundant life He promises!