Yesterday started off the season of Advent when we get to expectantly await to celebrate the birth of Jesus and the second coming of Christ. I feel like Advent is the perfect time to discuss this topic of community. Sometimes I feel like people get so caught up in the manmade laws of the church that they forget Jesus’ words in the Bible. The Bible is the guide book for how our Father wants us to live our lives for Him. Lately I could feel God really putting this on my heart. Church communities can be a blessing but they also have some people sprinkled in that suck the love Jesus tells us to share right out of the air. I have experienced this more so growing up and I know many people who have experienced this same thing. If you are one of these people this one is for you. God has called us to be in community with others, that’s how we grow and learn in our faith. I know there have been things said to people, and they have walked away from church and not come back; it hurts me so much to see…
Lets talk about obedience in our journey with Christ. Being obedient to what He is calling us to do requires us to step outside of our wants and desires for something greater. The world that we live in asks us to focus on bettering ourselves, focusing on our self care, and when we focus so much inward we lose the greatest purpose God has called us to. Think about when you were growing up and maybe for some it was a sport you wanted to excel in or something in music, art whatever it was, it required discipline. It required you gathering all the equipment you would need to even begin. It required a lot of practice to be good at what you wanted to do. I remember practicing shooting for hours for basketball. My parents would send me to camps, get the best Swoop basketball shoes (those were popular back in the day) and my uniform to play. All of these things require preparation, dedication and consistent practice to keep your skills up. Why do we think it would be any different in our walk with Christ? “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not…