reasons – The Jesus Chick

Where are you? There are people on my heart daily. This morning as I made up the bed, and I placed the squeezey bear that I got on the day of my heart surgery from the hospital on my pillows where she lays everyday, I thought about friends that are going through the struggles of life. Some are in church and some are out; some would be there if they could. There are days when I get less than godly thinking about people who walk out on God. I get in the flesh and I’m angry. I am not Saint Shari. I will not tell you there have not been times in my 26 years of salvation that I have not thot of leaving Victory Baptist Church, but I can honestly say it’s not even five fingers worth of counting. It’s not a perfect church. If it was, I wouldn’t be allowed to attend. What it is, is a church of personality. Strong personality! For which I am one. And strong opinions. One such opinion that is shared by many of us, is that we are committed to the cause of Christ. You’ll note I said many, not all. As I said, we’re not the perfect church. But when it comes to the time that I stand before God, I stand before Him accountable for the life of Shari. Nobody else.

So I ask you that read this today, when you read Hebrews 9:27 what is the thot that comes to mind:

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

Yes, I know for many of you your response would be, “God knows my heart.” Yes He does. That always scares me. I don’t know who Frank is, but he must have been a straight shooter, so let me be “Frank” now. If you say, “God knows my heart,” and you are not serving Him, (and I mean serving) from wherever you are, that’s almost, if not really, smarting God off. And that my friend is dangerous ground.

I say friend because you are my friend. The only enemies I have are enemies of the cross. And that’s a true story. There are people I don’t really care to spend time in their presence, but they are not enemies. I would sing at their funeral. That may not have sounded very nice. I would sing at their wedding too. I don’t spend time thinking about them and allow them to take up free space in my head. I only think about people I care for. So if you are someone who is out of church, let me be the first to say to you, you are missed by someone. Maybe me.

My whole reasoning behind saying all of that was to remind myself of this, a few of the man reasons I go to church:

Because I love God and it’s His house. We are His children, but the church house belongs to God. I’ve been in churches where that was not the case. “So and so” in the church thought it was theirs and treated it as such. The people in that church would ask that person before they’d ask God if something should or should not be done. I told you I was going to be “Frank.” I may identify as him all day! That comment was pure comedy…. After all, these days you can identify as anyone you want too, right? I identify as Frank. In a girls body, just saying.
To learn the word of God. The Bible says study to show thyself approved. I need study buddies and the church is filled with people who enjoy the word as much as I do!
The fellowships of the saints. These are my brothers and sisters every bit as much as Sheila, Sarah, Richard and Leonard, my siblings by blood. They were born of another mother and father, but the blood we share is the blood of Jesus Christ and it causes us to love like family. If I don’t speak to, or see my siblings I miss them dreadfully. The same is true about the family of God. Many of those who I miss, visit God in another house. But their still my brothers and sisters. I do not care what is over the door of your church, I only care about the God you serve and if He is mine, we’re family!
It’s where I’ve been called to serve. Every believer inside the house of God has a purpose for being there. And it’s not likely just warming their pew. Although, if that’s all you can do, do it! But do it with purpose. You can say Amen, lift a hand, encourage another believer and especially the preacher. There is something you can do. For 25 years I’ve done the bulletin and taught Sunday School, for 15 or more years I’ve lead the youth ministry. Have I grown weary? You betcha! But I continue on because I was called to it, and God does not “un-call” people. People walk away from their calling or they never step out for it to being with. Refer to Hebrews 9:27
Because I need it. If I’m not in church (which is rare) I’m struggling both spiritually and physically. This world wears me out. Today, I’m struggling physically. I’m hurting because of the fibromyalgia and an overdoing it around the house (although there’s no evidence.) But I can walk in the church, or do the Lord’s work and the breath that is breathed in me cannot be explained. It must be felt. I love serving God because He makes me feel good. And these are just a few of the many reasons I go to church.

I would love it if you would share yours. Or, if you’re not in church, let me know that, and let me pray about it for you. And if you just need to vent, vent to me! But don’t walk out on God. He’s so worthy to be loved on.

The story goes of a young woman who has another broken relationship in her life finalized and she’d concluded in her heart that she’d had enough. There was no way she’d have anything to do with God again. But, not long after this she finds herself standing in the Jewish Holocaust exhibit and before her the pile of Holocaust victims bones. That settled it, no loving God would allow that to happen! If she’d ever doubted it before she knew it now. But then she heard a still small voice whisper in her soul, “Don’t leave Me… This is what happens when I’m rejected, darkness reigns and lives are destroyed, please… don’t leave Me.”

The story hit me like a ton of bricks as I was driving down the road yesterday listening to a podcast. I’ve asked that question myself. “Why?” Especially over broken relationships or harsh conversations when a dull knife stabbed into my soul and twisted would surely have been less painful. But looking back on those experiences they were nothing in comparison to the Jewish Holocaust. Not even worthy of being in the same sentence.

It is said that Ezekiel 37:1-14 the story of the dry bones, is a prophecy of the Holocaust and the rebuilding of the Nation of Israel. Whether it is or not, I’m not a Theologian, so I’ll leave it to their debate, but regardless the similarities are there.

Verses 1-5 ~ The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:

Those bones that God brought back to life, rewrapped them in muscle and breathed life into their bodies may look like something out of a science fiction movie but it’s very much how God works in our lives. Only God can take broken lives that are shattered beyond recognition and restore them. It wasn’t happenstance that God revealed Himself to the woman in the story at the Holocaust exhibit; it wasn’t happenstance that he revealed Himself to me at Victory Baptist Church in 1996. God manipulated the circumstance in my life that caused my dead, dry bones (that did not know Jesus) to walk into a valley of restored bones in a church that was alive.

Perhaps that’s too “churchy” of a conversation for us to have this morning. Maybe God manipulated your bones into this cyber place this morning because He wanted to conduct a little science experiment on you. Have you all but given up on God, life, love, or family? God’s telling you right now, “Don’t leave me. Without Me there is no light to be found, only darkness.

That morning that God manipulated me (and that’s a whole other story!) into Victory Baptist Church, I didn’t realize that there was no life in me, until the Spirit of God began to stir in my soul. I didn’t know what that was either, I just knew I felt “something.” And as I heard the Word of God preached it was like there was an inner strength welling up inside of me. I found three things in that valley that caused me to never want to leave it again.

Strength (the struggles were not over, but I had the power to fight)

Connection (my bones knit with the bones of other believers and I had stable support)

Breath (I found air to breathe that had not been there for years. The pressure of the world on my chest more often than not felt like a literal weight shutting down my ability to breathe and move. I just existed)

That’s what God does. He takes a weird concoction like me and makes sense out of it.

Listen… are you in that valley this morning? Hear the Savior calling… Don’t leave me.

I can promise because I’ve experienced it, He’ll never leave you!

Tag: reasons

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