Wk 2 Day 3
Ezra 3:12 But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy.
“Rah. Rah rumble seats and running boards…”
Many of you may have grown up in an old country church like the one pictured above. The singing, the preaching, the social events, may be all a part of our fondest memories. Some in my generation began to question the direction and purpose of the church and many left to strike out on their own. Finding perhaps that the world had little to offer many made their way back, but everything was different. The old familiar songs were frequently absent, the social gatherings were more like lawn parties, and the preaching had devolved into what theologians call “therapeutic deism”. Vacuous and empty “pie in the sky” self -determinism had replaced God’s clear call to become “living sacrifice (s)” (Roman 12:1)
Many were left wandering in a quagmire of internal and external conflict wrestling with the simple question; “What’s a Christian to do?” So, we “did” things. We performed with all of our might and eventually we found ourselves exhausted and bereft of any sense of the presence of God.
In the midst of all of this despair God raised up an idea. It is the idea of discovering God’s purpose for you. Too many leaders want to make little clones of themselves among those who will follow them. Following them, however, we end up on the same treadmill of “good works” that alienated us in the first place. Finding God’s purpose is a matter of heart transformation. Here I would refer you to 1st Corinthians 13 and the great preamble to the famous “love passage”. The essence of serving God is; loving others as God loves them. You’ll not be left wondering what to do.
Larry M Lawrence- Mysteries 