Sunday, May 24, 2009

Friends: Dead or Alive?

Ok, I'm pretty tired but I wanted to finish off this prayer week with another entry in this thing. Now there is certainly much more I can and want to say about prayer. However, I'm going to try to refrain because it's 2:00 in the morning and I would not possibly have enough space to cover it all. With that said, I wanted to share a pretty cool story that just happened and was happening these past few hours.

I went over to my friend's house tonight to catch up. We had not seen each other for quite some time and really haven't spoken all last semester. Which is weird for us because we are pretty good friends, actually we are really good friends. But we both live separate lives at college and things get busy. Understandable. But tonight we finally got a chance to catch up. And we did for a few hours tonight. But my story begins as I was driving over to his house. You see we are church friends. We became friends in and through the church. It was great. Really. But today especially I just really wanted a time where I could talk to someone about Jesus. I mean I don't get to talk about Him enough with others. Which is my fault. But I love Jesus with all that I am. And I love talking to Him and about Him, especially with others. So that's what I prayed in the car on the way over to my friend's house. I asked God for the courage and for an opportunity to talk about Jesus. And knowing our incredibly amazing God, guess what we talked about tonight. Yep. We talked about Jesus. We talked about the church and preaching and Scripture and passion and Love. It was really good. In fact, it was just what I needed. An answered prayer. What a Savior we have!

But that short short story is only the beginning. This conversation I had with my friend got me thinking, which sometimes is a bad idea, but this time I think it was good. As we were talking about Jesus and preaching and the church and pastors and about how I see some pastors who have lost the passion and the excitement of their ministry. We talked about how some pastors simply don't have an alive relationship with God. And that got me thinking. And I just want to share this idea and then maybe expound upon it in a later entry. But let me ask the question, where is your relationship with Jesus right now? Is it alive or is it dead? Is it thriving or is it becoming routine? Has your relationship with Jesus sparked a passion and excitement within you for His Word and Bread of Life or has it slowly been withered down into a set of meaningless feelings and rules that govern the way you live?

How bout another series of questions: What kind of Jesus do you worship? Do you worship a risen, living Savior or do you worship a dead Savior? Do you worship a Savior that is living and breathing inside of you and all around you in such a way that simply gives you a courage you may not otherwise know without Him because He has risen and claimed victory of death? Because of physical and spiritual resurrection of Jesus, nothing is impossible with God meaning you can do things you could never imagine if you're in it with Jesus. Or is your Savior dead and still lying in the tomb unable to ignite both power and passion in your life?

The Bible calls us friends of God. Which is a crazy idea in itself. But we are His friends nonetheless and I wonder in our churches and pastors if Jesus has died. I mean this identity as being friends of God carries some weight. But what if our greatest Friend has been killed all over again by routine and complacency and fluff?

I have thoughts but I don't have the answers. Jesus does though. Go to Him and talk it out with Him. May He come alive in our churches and in ourselves and in me. Release Him from your cages and routines and safety and let Him be the God He is. It may be scary. It may be uncomfortable and it may cause your heartache. But let me tell you, I guarantee if will be worth it. You will have such a more fulfilling, satisfying relationship with Jesus because instead of worshiping a dead guy, you are worshiping a living, breathing God. Amen. More to come later on this.

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