What would it take?

 What would it take?

What would it take for you to come and worship the Lord?

What would it take for you to put God first in your life?

What would it take to commit to learning the ways of the Lord and to put them into practice?

What would it take?

For some, it takes the loss of a loved one and the inconsolable hurt that the world cannot heal.

For some, it takes hitting rock bottom financially.

For some, it is being evicted from your home.

For some, it is being owned by an addiction with no earthly way to be liberated.

Guess what?  All of those things hurt. Those are painful things. Must we wait until the pain of living without God or just giving lip service to God is greater than accepting the blindness that has kept you from God has left you no recourse but God.

God beckons you to come to him and receive his peace and learn from him. That does not mean that you will not have trouble in the world. You will but that’s not the end of the story.

It means that you will never navigate this world alone. This is the world that tells you that you are your own god, to gratify yourself all that you can, and to always put number one (yourself) first.

But…

I don’t have the time to come and worship the Lord. Actually, you don’t have time not to worship him. Tomorrow is not promised. You are wise to choose this day whom you will serve.

The Bible doesn’t say that I have to go to church.  First of all, there is no such thing as going to church. It’s a nonsensical statement (those are very popular these days). We who have professed Jesus is Lord are the church.

We are the church! Most churches have buildings for worship or education or other things, but we—not the building—are the church.

We are told to never stop gathering together to worship the Lord.

But, I send my kids. That should count. They are my designated representatives. God will give me credit for that. I will use a term that’s not quite in the common theological vernacular:  HORSEHOCKEY!

If you send them but you do not lead them, you are sending a conflicting message. In the mature mind, this creates dissonance.  For the child, it creates confusion and frustration. Dissonance can be a good thing when it leads to further inquiry or it can just be frustrating and unsettling when left untreated.

Pastors and elders and teachers share the truth with your child but the kids see the value of the truth to be the same as the TikTok video with naked girls or the one with the bubble-blowing contests.  It’s just a thing. I don’t believe it but you should.

It’s that whole lead-by-example thing. The do as I say not as I do mindset is the crutch of the lazy.

If you send your kids to worship and Christian education because you love them, are they not worth enough to show them that you love them by leading them?

But, it’s hard. Yes, there is work in living a life that is pleasing to God. Yes, it seems impossible sometimes. Good things take a little work.

The salvation of the Lord is a gift. Worshiping him, honoring him, and bringing glory to his name often take work.  Good things take work. Better things take hard work.

Work focused on pleasing God brings good things.

But some of my friends might not like me or they might distance themselves from me or just give me the cold shoulder. That’s true but are they truly your friends if they would disown you for seeking the truth?

Would you rather be received as righteous and hated by people or be left unrighteous before God and loved by everybody?

But…

There is no shortage of excuses. They multiply and seem self-perpetuating.

The question is who is the master? Is it you or the excuse.

Are you seeking the truth?

Do you want to know the fulness of life?

Do you want to know what it is to enjoy God while we bring glory to his name?

Some folks will say, “I’m good. Don’t worry about me. I am not your responsibility.”

That’s the typical ambivalence that I encounter. It’s the tell-tale sign of a life void of purpose.

On the other hand, God gave me purpose when he commissioned me to take the good news to the world.

God gave me purpose when he called me to ordained ministry. That purpose calls me to put the truth before you and that truth is that life resides in Christ Jesus. The truth will always lead you to Jesus and through him to the Father.

So as you contemplate why you exist, consider the answer is not some esoteric secret. The truth is before you and it will set you free.

God created you for a wonderful and everlasting relationship with him.

The religions of the world often seek to eliminate suffering, seek an ultimate state of nonexistence, hope to come back as something better in the next life, or just offer a justification for living however you want to live.

Faith in God through Jesus Christ is about relationship.  That relationship is broken in much of the world but God made a way to restore it. He did everything needed to reconcile us to him. Jesus has atoned for our sins.  It’s a gift.

What must I do?

Repent and believe the good news.

Profess Jesus is Lord. Believe that God raised him from the dead.

Take his yoke and learn from him.

Put his words into practice.

Once you repent, profess, and believe, you should want to learn the ways of the Lord and put them into practice.

This discourse has reached beyond the attention span of most in this modern time, so I return where I began.

What would it take?

What would it take for you to receive Jesus as Lord and live your life to bring glory to God?

What would it take?

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In the time that you take to consider this simple question, know that the answers all abide in the love that God has for us.