One of the things that I have really struggled with over the last few years, is how focused the church seems to be over worship style, who the pastor is, what books they have read or written, the number of people attending vs. losing, what color the walls are, what you can or can’t say, do think, or preach about in church, if God lives in the Altar, etc… It seems that we spend ridiculous amounts of time worrying about the NON-essentials.
So what SHOULD we be focusing on? 2 things: God & people. Don’t believe me, check out this passage, Matthew 22:34-40. Go ahead, I’ll wait….
We’re supposed to be focused on LOVING GOD and LOVING PEOPLE. PERIOD!! Shawn Lovejoy, the Lead Pastor over at Mountain Lake Church in Cumming, GA said,
“This is why, as churches, we MUST hold up RELATIONSHIP as the number one value in the life of the Christian. Not service. Not holiness. Not standing up for what is right. Not having the right friends. Not coming to church. Not reading the Bible. Not attending lots of Bible studies. Not abstinence from sex, alcohol, tobacco, and rock music. Relationship. Relationship has got to be the most important thing. And of all the relationships in the world, our relationship with God has got to be the most prized one.” Read the rest of this article HERE.
If you would like to explore this idea a little more, you can listen to my message on Reflecting Community by clicking HERE.
If you would like the message notes click: reflecting-community-message-notes
