Find A Friend, Be A Friend
I know a variety of people that find it difficult to attend church regularly. Sometimes it's because of shift work or business trips or other responsibilities. Sometimes it's because they can't seem to find a church that's the right fit for them. Sometimes it's because family members are either against the idea entirely or it's a touchy subject. Sometimes people have good intentions and want to attend church and just can't seem to get around to it.
Good news: You don't have to go to church on Sunday. One service in a church building each week isn't so important after all. The important thing is to develop a friendship with somebody. For a lot of us, we have honest questions about Jesus, about faith, about the Bible, about our families and our lives. Find someone, a Christian that you know and like, and talk to them more often. Make excuses to hang out, have them over to your house or have some conversations on facebook.
Don't feel like you have to attend a local church regularly to be a Christian. Don't feel trapped by this requirement. Don't get stuck focusing on going somewhere for some reason. Just do normal stuff with good friends, ask those deeper questions and look for God in your life.
Secondly, take that example and run with it. Once you have friends like that and you do see God in your life, it becomes your turn to get out there. Look at how your friends were most helpful to you and then try to be helpful to someone else in the same way. We're not trying to attain some level of maturity or some deeper understanding of Christianity and the Bible. We're just trying to be friends. We're just trying to help people find the things that they are openly seeking.
If we have these friends, don't take it for granted. Life goes on, people change, maybe somebody moves to a new town. Live your life to the fullest while you can. And once that time of your life is done, lift your eyes and start looking towards that next phase of life. It's not a big heavy burden or some ponderous Christian ministry. We're just looking for somebody that needs a friend, somebody that wants to ask about God, and then we're trying to be there for them.
Find a friend. Be a friend.
That's all, that's just what I was thinking about today...
2 comments:
Agreed!
Personality, character and actions speak volumes. Someone living the golden rule and treating people with kindness vs. someone who might go to church but doesn't always act or treat people as well is what we should consider rather if that person attends regularly or not.
You know what I like to think (before I'm about to lose my temper like when losing luggage at the airport)? What would Jesus do - and I'm sure alot of people who believe in Christ but don't attend Church regularly might think and act in this manner (try to) and that's a good thing.
Post a Comment