We seem to be caught in a vortex of articles on the internet suggesting what the church needs to do differently or better, to remain relevant. They often sound vague and like there’s someone, somewhere else that needs to do something differently about the problem. But when we talk about the church, we’re not talking about a building or somebody else we’re talking about ourselves.
Everyone has something to say about leadership. Many people pursue positions of leadership while others actively avoid positions of leadership. We as people each individually need to be led. Whether we know it or not we will follow something or someone because we are creatures who follow.
Think about the time and effort it takes to grow plants in a garden. In order to get the fruit from the plants, the soil needs to be tilled and the plants require water and sunshine. So it is with spiritual growth.
It’s so easy to let your self-worth be based on how you esteem yourself. When we self value and esteem our worth of who we are based on what we think we have the tendency to either think too highly of ourselves or too little of ourselves.
Jesus is resurrected. His body healed, complete, perfect in all ways except one. His scars remained. His scars remain to prove that He went through that awful ordeal on the cross. His scars remained to tell a story. His scars remained as proof, as evidence of who He was and the miracle to top all miracles for all time.
We know that knowledge alone won’t make us better Christians. We won’t love God more by just knowing more facts about Him. We won’t love our neighbors like Jesus by just understanding that it’s something we “should do”. We need to apply the Bible to our lives. We need to live out the Bible. So today I want to give you some keys to putting God’s word into action, to applying the Scripture to your life.
We hear inspirational speakers say “You know best, just follow your heart.” This idea exists (even in Christian communities) that we should follow our hearts. We hardly question it.
Highlighting your Bible is not something that you’ll read about in your Bible, nor is it a tool the Jewish Teachers, Catholic Priests or early Protestant Pastors ever thought about. I highlight to help me interact with the Bible.
It seems everyone has an answer as to why people are leaving and there are a myriad of people who know how to fix these issues. I’m not sure that the issues are as simple as we’d like to believe. We have to understand that church attendance is on the decline in part because the social expectation of church attendance has eroded, people are more busy and active now than ever before and their priorities are elsewhere.
Instead of turning to a commentary or a devotional, the best way to interpret the Bible is to use other Scripture. So the first tool I recommend when it comes to diving into a passage is the cross-reference tool. If you don’t have a Bible with a built-in cross reference, I recommend you get one.