Life 180

Love. Serve. Grow. - Simplify Your Life!

Life gets pretty complicated. The church, of all places, should be able to simplify life for us all. However, we tend to complicate church, but it is really very simple. Jesus spoke to his disciples in plain terms. He said, “Follow me.” There is not a lot of room for contemplation at that point. You either follow or you do not. Stay or Go - there was not a middle answer.

Allow me as your pastor to help simplify your life a bit. I have come to understand that for our church, we must simply do three things. We must love, serve, and grow. In fact, it is not only Christ’s command (Luke 10:27; Acts 1:8; Matthew 28:18-20) for us to do this, it is also our hearts desire. We truly want to follow Christ at First Baptist. Those three little words are simple enough for our youngest children to grasp and yet deep enough for us to spend a lifetime fathoming their spiritual depths.

Love. “For God so loved…” (John 3:16) Everything we do should begin and end with love. Loving God and loving one another are the two greatest commands according to Christ. First Corinthians 13 reminds us that serving God or speaking without love is worthless and empty. Maybe your life feels empty right now. It is time to recapture your love for Christ. You can diagnose your love relationship with God by examining your relationships with people. If you have strained relationships with people, that is a good indication that you have a strained relationship with God. Jesus encourages us to resolve our differences before we can worship (Matthew 5:23-24). It takes two people to resolve a conflict, but you must at least do your part.

Serve. We purposely put serving as second in the list of Love - Serve - Grow, because, at First Baptist, believe that serving can and should happen before you grow, but not necessarily before you love. In fact, while serving is part of growing, it is an expression of love. There will be times that you will have to serve those you do not love. In that moment, you will be serving Christ (Matthew 25:40) and offering a sacrifice of love for Him.

Grow. Healthy things grow. Are you spiritually healthy? I want you to be. I want you to be healthy enough to find answers to your questions in God’s Word and to live a spiritually mature life. Here are some diagnostic questions that will help determine your spiritual health:

1.       When a problem comes your way, does it draw you closer to God and His Word or do you slip farther away from Him?

2.       Are you enjoying a daily time of conversation with God and reading His Word?

3.      Have you allowed God to identify and remove anything from your life in the last month that he didn’t approve of?