Imagine having an ambition to build a beautiful house, and a costly investment to get started on the foundation… only to later get cold feet and bail without seeing the project through. What now?
About 6 months ago, I posed some questions to stir a calculated decision for each one of us:
1. Is your spiritual growth worth it?
2. Is your Christian community worth it?
3. Is your church’s mission worth it?
My prayer for and exhortation to each of you was that you take a step of faith and commit to a Life Group in our transition from traditional prayer meeting to small group prayer and discussion. The response was commendable and exciting as we gained quick momentum into regular attendance to our midweek groups.
So, I ask you again: to grow in Christ and be used as a church just as God designed us to be… is it worth it?
There are many areas in life in which we may eagerly burst from the starting line, only to grow weary and lose heart. Marriage. A new job. The Christian life (think about Revelation 2:4). There’s a bit of bliss and adrenaline starting out, but then as things become routine, without caution we settle in on autopilot or drop out altogether. There’s a danger in both!
I want to remind us of the rewards of pressing on during such a time. Yes, in a new marriage, you grow accustomed over time to your spouse and the marriage is no longer fresh. You learn each other’s faults and settle into familiarity.
But God is the God of the real.
God can give us fun and fireworks, but for Him to fulfill His plan through sinful people means that His modus operandi is far more often in the messy and mundane.
And so it goes with our Life Groups. They are not so new and fresh anymore. There may have been bumps along the way. Perhaps faults have been exposed, and people are not who we thought they were. Perhaps new rounds of busyness have sprung up, like the thorns of life which choke out the Word (Luke 8:14). But we must keep our eyes on the vision (see here) for which we first began these groups!
But we must guard the Word of God, being careful how we hear (Luke 8:18), and working to be doers (James 1:22). Life Groups are a great tool to help us foster great application and obedience of the Word together. As members, we have covenanted together to commit to church attendance. As disciples, we aspire to become more like Christ together.
When we persevere in the familiar, we nurture a deeper intimacy with one another. We know each other more deeply in order to better carry one another’s burdens and walk together through the seasons of life. When we are entrenched in life together, we are enriched in life together.