“Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at something that doesn’t REALLY matter.”

This quote by DL Moody struck me when I was preparing for a preach on Ephesians 2 where we read that we were created “To Do” good works that have been designed for us long ago.

As a proviso, I know many great churches with many great people doing great things and I also know of many great churches filled with great people who are doing very little, so this is not a bash at the church or at people, remembering that the church is Jesus’s bride and we are so important to Him that He went to the cross for us, so who am I to take a position of judgement over either.

Having said that I find myself in a place where I am asking am I afraid to move? Am I willing to pay the price? Do I want more of him at any cost and do I take the Gospel literally or do I take it seriously?

I am wrestling with a sense that God is stirring something in me that will require more of me. I sat with my wife last night and said I feel something is shifting, but I don’t know what. I feel I will need to move, but I don’t know where. On top of this I have a great sense of inadequacy for the task. So I don’t know what or where and if I can. In my place of vulnerability my beautiful wife looked at me with deep compassion and understanding and said “GOOD” now He can do his work.

I have been realising through various readings, sermons and conversations that our lives are far too concerned with us. We talk “others” but do we truly make an impact? Do we effect our communities? Does the presence of our church affect the neighbourhood within which it stands beyond traffic congestion on a Sunday?

When Jesus speaks to Peter in Mathew 16 about building the church He goes on to say that the gates of hell will not prevail against it. This speaks of the church taking an offensive position, it speaks of a church thats moves that keeps pushing, keeps charging against the gates of Hell and eventually those gates will succumb to the pressure of the church. The church is built to be victorious against hell, against the powers and principalities. The church is meant to be light and salt, to effect change, to demand social justice, to protect the widow and take in the orphan. The church was never meant to sit and take a beating. The church was meant to be the one waging war not raising white flags.

I am asking myself, is my posture one of defence or attack? Because I have never seen a defence that results in forward motion, and if we are not moving forward what are we doing?