We Were Made To...

Do you survive or thrive in your Spiritual Walk?  I think that is a great question.  Most of my life I have been a SURVIVOR....barely fed enough to be alive in my faith.  I believed I got fed at church on Sunday and it all depended on whether the pastor was hearing something from God that would resonated with me in some way.  Now, as a pastor's wife, I hear something like this a lot..."I am just not being/feeling fed."....referring to church services or pastor's sermons. I understand the feeling...totally....and it's true....but, most of us are not feeling the fullness of Christ because we are anorexic in our faith.  We starve ourselves and then try to binge eat on Sundays hoping it will get us by...and the problem is...individually, we cannot stomach what we are fed because we do not have a healthy diet with which to begin, not to mention what this lifestyle can do to the body of Christ.

One time, we had an African Children's Choir come and visit our church and we were able to host some of the precious kids from the choir.  We had to be incredibly careful what we fed them because their little bodies were not used to our rich foods and large portion sizes as a part of their diet and they could get very sick if we offered them, say Cheese Pizza....so we bought fresh fruit, veggies....things they were accustomed to.  As with any diet change or pursuit of healthy eating.....it takes time and lots of effort to make a change.  We have to train our bodies to accept new foods or new habits of eating if we have grown accustomed to unhealthy ways of using food.

I am admitting here that I have had a difficult time being faithfully devoted to the spiritual disciplines throughout my life...but, we all have to keep at it.  We will also encounter different seasons, but we still must remain faithful.  There is this incredible feast available to us all the time if we will open God's Word and begin with one bite.  Our pastors and other church leaders are not responsible for our emaciated faith....we are.  If we are restless and hungry, it is probably because we do not look for our desires...our cravings....to be fulfilled in Christ.

Brad has chosen to challenge our youth to go through the Casting Crown's, THRIVE, Bible study over the summer and to invite their parents to go through it with them.  I know the analogy in that study relates to a tree planted by the water.  In this case, I would say we are trees that can walk ....we really can choose where we are planted.  We can be a tree somewhere out in the middle of a plain hoping that rains will come and water us....so we will survive.  OR, (side note....notice how I capitalized OR...it's always funny to me when people offer a second choice to someone and they make the first one sound really blah and then they raise their vocal inflection for the second choice to make it sound so much better....just an amusing observation of human interactions...I always smile at that occurrence.)  Consider my vocal inflection raised....OR, you can walk your little tree right over to a river's edge...park it.... and never again thirst.  What would it be like to never have to wonder when the rains will come to water us....to not be dependent on another person for our sustenance?  

Your tree will be connected to your source of nourishment and you will flourish in your faith!  Instead of worrying about being fed, you will produce fruit enough to feed many!  

THRIVE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ71RWJhS_M