Over the past couple of days I have been processing so many different thoughts and ideas that my mind is on the brink of a virtual explosion. I have so many different questions about life, relationships, purpose, calling and a host of other concepts. In my own heart I have taken the time to begin and question my own convictions on what truly matters, what was I created for, and what is my role to play in this journey called life? While I do not have the time or skills to communicate at this moment what each of those questions truly means to me, I would like to the propose one of my own for further thought. This is mostly a time for me to process on paper, but I would love to include whoever might read this in asking the same questions for themselves.
Just three days ago I was sitting on a brick wall in the mountains of Honduras with one of my teammates as we talked and looked out across the beautiful night sky. We were conversing over numerous topics including the role of the church in our world today. It was at this point she voiced out loud, “It’s sad that most of the people within churches do not live out the life Jesus has called us to live.” The statement itself is one I have probably made numerous times in the past, but for some reason it left me with a deep unsettledness in my own heart that night. I began to ask, “What would it look like if the Body of Christ truly lived out the life of Christ?” Could you imagine the impact? I believe the whole world would be turned upside down. But as I began to wonder, I realized my question was one step to far ahead of itself. I realized the real question was not “ what if the Body of Christ, but what would it look like if I, as a son of God, lived the life Christ has purposed for me to live in all it’s fullness?”
It is not very difficult for me to examine the Church and judge all of its victories and flaws, but it is my responsibility to allow Christ to search my own heart first. I could talk about the Church as a whole but if the lens through which I am looking is tainted and foggy, how will I be able to give a true answer. I must first allow for my eyes to be washed by the fingers of the Holy Spirit before I am able to see. “How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye’, when there is a log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
Even since I began writing this I have decided not to say much of what I intended to communicate. How can I examine Christ’s Body when I, a member of it, have not first examined myself in the same manner? I suppose what I purposed to say is “what if my life looked like Christ’s?” Not just what we think it should look like or what society says it should look like, but what if our very existence imitated the life of Jesus? This is the question I mean to answer. Not in words on paper, but through my very life. Through reading this you most likely did not receive any new enlightenments since I failed to answer my own question. Therefore, let this be a time for you to ask yourself, “What should, (or what does) the Body of Christ look like?” Then, . . . go and do likewise.
Journal Entry: October 2nd 2013
