As we sometimes do, us church staff people, put priority on our church services. We set aside a couple of hours, two or three times a week to honor God and inspire people to change their lives and follow Jesus. We fill these services with entertaining and inspiring praise and worship, a good word from God, and maybe an illustration or two to really drive the point home (all are very important); then we go home and send the church attenders home to do what? Come back when we open the doors for the next service.
God begins to tell us in Isaiah 58:6 the kind of special day he wants
- Free those who we have put in prison = FORGIVNESS
- Share your food and your homes with the hungry and homeless = LOVE, ACCEPTANCE & HUMANITY
Jesus then restates His Father's wishes in Matthew 25 (as talked about on page 2 of the Naked Christian) in a neat little story of Goats and Sheep. The two were separated by the "way they responded to the hungry, the thirsty, the strangers, the poor, the sick and the prisoners" (Naked Christian, pg2). We've been challenged to do more than honor God with a routine worship service and a good word. We've been challenged to forgive those who've wronged us and help those who are helpless.
When we do this "Then your light will shine like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal" (Isaiah 58:8). We are to be the light of the world, or more importantly a reflection of the One True Light. But if we concentrate on our service times as being the special days... then we are putting the bowl on our light. Sometimes we (ME ESPECIALLY) need to shift our focus from church service and to community service.
Change the world with your own two hands, starting in your own little town.
