Faith & Work
Most are familiar with the passage in James 2 that reminds us faith without works is dead. The juxtaposition of faith and work has been impressed upon me as I reflect on the week that was leading here at Christ Community..
Faith to get to work
For the first time that I'm aware of, we invited our previous Pastor/Elders (From here on PPE!) who are still a part of our faith family to come and speak into what they are seeing the Lord doing at Christ Community. Our current Pastor/Elder team learned so much from them in the hour we were together!
More than that, it was super encouraging to see those leaders embrace one another, remember past times of serving and leading, and take joy in all that God continues to do in the people of CCC!
In reflecting, I found myself incredibly thankful for leaders who had the faith to get to work back in 2009 as they came to our official launch on 10/10/10.
With these leaders still leaning into their God-given callings, the best is yet to come for CCC.
Faith despite Lost Work
As the Lord would have it, he is using and timing up people's stories to minister in ways we couldn't have foreseen! Larry Porter shared how his father, who Larry led to Christ, is now comforting him as he faces potential job loss. It came on a Sunday when I know several in our faith family have experienced that and/or fear that could be coming.
Larry shared well how his father was the one now reminding him of God's plan and the security he has in him. Faith despite lost work.
Working with Faith
I was inspired by a story one of our Community Group members shared last night. She shared that she was working in her second stint at her current place of work.
But this time was different.
The first time, she had yet to come to faith. She shared how her perspective on the tasks she has to do and the interactions she has with people are completely different working with faith.
Work with faith this week. That's a challenge for me, because recently I've found myself..
Working without Faith
It's far too easy for me to get sucked into droning through a week of work driven by the tasks on my list instead of the God who ordains the tasks! The Lord used a lot of different people, pieces of Scripture, and his Spirit to smack me in the face with the reality that I was working without faith in God. I had plenty of faith in myself, but my "self" is pretty limited. This Monday, I'm working to repent of that.
And in that repenting, I'm being reminded that repenting is turning to a person, Jesus, instead of a program or content. In moments where I'm lacking faith, I need time with Jesus.
The Spirit brought me back to one of my favorite apps to help in that this morning: The Pause App. Check it out!
Faith that leads to Work
Someone was passing around a photo from church yesterday that showed a whole row of people looking on as a young man took a next step. One of the people who typically sits in that row made comment that they aren't aware of the stories that are being written in their lives right now! It was the vision and faith to recognize that God is doing a lot of work in people's lives at all times. It was also a reminder to me that we can look down the "rows" of our lives, believing that God is writing stories that are waiting to be told, and join him in the work that he's doing to make those peoples disciplemakers in his kingdom. Faith.. that leads to work.
