Killing Apathy, Acting On Love

Curled up on my couch, in the living room of my apartment, trying desperately to keep my feet under the blanket, sipping on my first (of many) cup of coffee, I begin to listen to the heart of God. I’ve always been a church goer, at times more so than others, but always loved being at and serving in my local church (in this case, Overcomer Covenant Church, overcomercc.org). But is what I’m doing really enough?

I just got done listening to the final installment of a series by Pastor Jeff Knight, my pastor from The Rock Church in Monroe Washington, called “Serve”. He spent a large amount of time in the message talking about the visit Jesus had with a pharisee. During that visit, a young woman, known for her immorality, found out He was there and decided to go see Him, bringing with her an expensive alabaster box full of pricey perfumes.

Now bear in mind that the Pharisee probably didn’t extend a personal invite to this young lady, and she knew that he wouldn’t be very happy with her presence, but she didn’t care because Jesus was there. She threw herself at Jesus feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them with her hair. The pharisee saw this and mumbled to himself. Jesus turned to him and gave him a lesson in what it means to love and act out of love because this woman was doing exactly that, pouring out her love for Jesus.

I don’t know that people really realize what the local church does for our communities… What it does for our cities… What it does for our country…

Churches take up the call to feed the hungry and cloth the poor while still pouring in to the people directly connected with them. It helps shape and mold the youth and children as they grow in to the men and woman God has called them to be. It pores in to parents as they learn how to raise and love this new little life. The church has the power to pour into and save marriages!

Now, it’s a given that without God in all of those things, nothing is possible. that’s a given. but what I’m getting at is this, and this is also something that is really poking at me too… Where are you serving? Because without the servants in the house, nothing gets done! Your kids don’t have teachers, your services have no worship team, your church grounds don’t stay clean and kept, your canned goods don’t get passed out to those who need it, your drug addicts don’t have the council they need, your failing marriage has nobody to go to for help and wisdom. Are you serving? Or sitting on the side lines waiting to be served? I know I’ve been guilty of this! I sometimes get in to a state where my time seems to be valued above all else even when I don’t really have anything particularly important going on.

Now let me raise another point, and this was one that Pastor Jeff raised in his message as well (I HIGHLY suggest you subscribe to The Rock Church podcast on iTunes, SO tasty!). In all of the examples of service given, if love is absent, none of those areas are any help at all. In fact, these areas arent filled unless people act out of love to fill those holes. Do you really think that the childcare volunteers sign up to change your childs poopy pants? Heck no! But they love your kids, so they act on that love and volunteer.

So I challenge you,

Where is your love? Where are you serving your local church? Its time to stop making up excuses as to why you can’t take an hour out of one day during a single week to help pull weeds. And again, this is something I deal with too! So my friends, get off your duff and act! The funny thing is that even if you aren’t “feeling” love at the time, putting it in to action causes a shift to take place, and that love grows bigger. So take action and let God grow your love as you serve!!!