There is a book of essays from the Center for Healthy Churches that detail the methods, the opportunities, the points of focus for churches that are seeking to be healthy. It is called, straightforwardly enough “Just What Is A Healthy Church?”
One of the essays that touched my heart is one that
liberated my heart from the mandatory thoughts of obedience. To God. We are
called to Obey. In fact, we sang the hymn “Trust and Obey” a couple Sundays ago, for there is,
and I agree, no other way. What is it that we obey? We obey the law, God’s law
as given in the Bible. And we put ourselves under the authority of the Bible.
But just what is the law? The Torah, the five books of
Moses, is the benchmark in the time of Jesus. But then Jesus reset that
benchmark. It was like he was asked to recite the law and he said, “No, it will
take too long, I will sum up.” Love God and love Neighbor. It is not just an
action but an attitude.
Do for others out of love for them. It is not enough to
‘obey’ because God said so. In God’s love, all things are possible. The future
of our church, our lives, our nation, all in God’s hands, in God’s love. We can
dream about the possibilities of the future.
And that is what we are planning to do, in Jesus.
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