What remains is greater than what is destroyed

When I was a kid my family would often indulge my desire to one day preach the Bible by sitting through my sermons. Sometimes I would even put in the effort to "build" a make shift church and invite everyone who lived on our rural gravel road to attend. Yes I was a strange kid.

On one particular occasion I gathered up every lawn chair and tree log I could find and put them in nice neat little rows on my grandmother's front porch. My grandmother was especially supportive of my efforts, and welded a special kind of influence upon the rest of the family when it came to matters of religion. A psychologist might call it guilt. So she would see to it that the inhabitants of our community we affectionately referenced as "Loydville" would be there for my church service. Like any good pastor I enlisted some of my friends to help with the construction of this neighborhood church. We worked all afternoon in the heat of the Mississippi Delta to insure that those attending the service that evening would be as comfortable and receptive as possible. Finally everything was in place, and I returned home to change into my "church clothes", excited that everyone was coming to hear the Word proclaimed.

Has the church lost influence?

There was a time in American history when the Christian church was a respected institution of influence. Those days have passed. The United States has fundamentally changed in the past several decades, and is now defined in many regions by its plurality of worldviews that does not include the Christian faith at its center. As people of faith in Christ this fact is troubling. But in the midst of changing and challenging times is also a time of great opportunity for the church. It was the Apostle Paul who declared in Romans 5:20 “…where sin increased, grace increased all the more” When the culture darkens it presents the light of the gospel an opportunity to shine brightly.

Can you love those different than you?

Relationships are complicated. Deep, meaningful relationships are very complicated. We live in a world that isn’t conducive to meaningful relationships. Our world is fast paced, superficial, and often hostile to the work that is required to develop substantial authentic relationships with others. But the gospel serves to transform every aspect of our lives, even the way that we relate to one another.

"When the gospel truly impacts our lives, it will move us from the place of simply loving those who love us, to the place where we are capable of feeling genuine compassion even for those who hate us."