Tuesday, March 02, 2004
Ask Not...
John F. Kennedy once said, "Ask not what your country can do for you. ask what you can do for your country." Let's have a little fun with that famous quote. Let's take out the word "country" and substitute some other words and see what happens.
Neighbor
Ask not what your neighbor can do for you. ask what you can do for your neighbor. (After all didn't Jesus say "Love your neighbor as yourself"?)
Church
Ask not what your church can do for you. ask what you can do for your church.
And finally, God
Ask not what your God can do for you. ask what you can do for your God.
Ultimately this is what it's all about. Jesus gave us the example of serving others on many occasions. He tells us to be great in His kingdom we must become a servant. When it comes to the church, we are so consumer focused. What can the church do for me? What programs does the church have for me? Maybe the church down the street can do more for me. When did church become about you? I thought church was supposed to be about God. If the church you're in doesn't have a program that is really on your heart, maybe that's why God put YOU there. We've got to stop looking at the church as consumers and start looking at it as producers.
And lastly and most importantly there's God. We never pray until we are in dire straights and then if God doesn't come through the way we think he should, we whine and cry about how He left us down. He doesn't let us down. He disciplines us and trains us and lets us go through some things to strengthen us and straighten us out. When was the last time you asked God, what can I do for you? Why do we always ask God to bless what we're doing and rarely ask Him to let us be a part of what He's doing? Romans 12:1 tells us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices...this is your spiritual act of worship. When we give God everything, our whole lives, then we are worshipping. Worship is not about you. Stop receiving and start giving and you will learn one of the great truths of life. You can't outgive God.
John F. Kennedy once said, "Ask not what your country can do for you. ask what you can do for your country." Let's have a little fun with that famous quote. Let's take out the word "country" and substitute some other words and see what happens.
Neighbor
Ask not what your neighbor can do for you. ask what you can do for your neighbor. (After all didn't Jesus say "Love your neighbor as yourself"?)
Church
Ask not what your church can do for you. ask what you can do for your church.
And finally, God
Ask not what your God can do for you. ask what you can do for your God.
Ultimately this is what it's all about. Jesus gave us the example of serving others on many occasions. He tells us to be great in His kingdom we must become a servant. When it comes to the church, we are so consumer focused. What can the church do for me? What programs does the church have for me? Maybe the church down the street can do more for me. When did church become about you? I thought church was supposed to be about God. If the church you're in doesn't have a program that is really on your heart, maybe that's why God put YOU there. We've got to stop looking at the church as consumers and start looking at it as producers.
And lastly and most importantly there's God. We never pray until we are in dire straights and then if God doesn't come through the way we think he should, we whine and cry about how He left us down. He doesn't let us down. He disciplines us and trains us and lets us go through some things to strengthen us and straighten us out. When was the last time you asked God, what can I do for you? Why do we always ask God to bless what we're doing and rarely ask Him to let us be a part of what He's doing? Romans 12:1 tells us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices...this is your spiritual act of worship. When we give God everything, our whole lives, then we are worshipping. Worship is not about you. Stop receiving and start giving and you will learn one of the great truths of life. You can't outgive God.
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