Committing Our Work

This week was a crazy one, but it seems that they are all crazy, right? At least in my world, that's the way it is.

My family was all spread out this week with a lot of activity. Judi, my wife, was volunteering as a sponsor for my son's school at a local competition. She took my daughter, Kate. Drew, my son, and I were all alone, and then I left him with his grandparents to attend the state meeting of our denomination. So, we didn't see each other much all week, but finally, as of last night, we are back together. I am certainly glad for that, because I love being with my family.

The meeting I attended this week was pretty cool. Each year I enjoy the fellowship, because I see and meet people there that I do not normally have a chance to be around throughout the year. I had the chance to share about our church plant with so many people. That was great in itself, but the real blessing for me was to see God working all over the state of Texas through local churches. I loved to hear the heart of leaders in those churches as they share what God is doing and how He is working in lives.

Then, this morning, as I read in Proverbs 16, the Lord brought me to verse 3. "Commit your work to the Lord, and then your plans will succeed." (NLT) It was as if He was reminding me that I need to surrender myself to Him every day as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1,2) in order to experience real success in His sight.

This verse in Proverbs brought back to mind something I read by Wolfgang Simson this week about our perception of building the church. He stated in his book, Houses That Change the World, the following possible interpretations of what we mean by the statement "building the church."

"We will build our church."

"We will build His church."

"Jesus will build our church."

"Jesus will build His church."

Obviously, the last interpretation is the only biblical option. However, we need a constant reminder of the fact that it is His work. In fact, we are "His workmanship" (Ephesians 2:10), aren't we? He just asks that we commit ourselves to Him and let Christ live in us. "I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. So I live my life in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20, NLT)

It is His work in us individually, and as He works in our hearts He will build His church. So, as we sit at the feet of Jesus, as we grow in Him, and as we let Him minister through us, let's not forget that it is His work in us. It is His timing and His plan, because we are His.

Just starting up

This blog is created for the purpose of inspiration and conversation as we at The Exchange Community Church and others seek to make disciples in our area. Stay tuned for posts.