Should churches be a place for those who are saved to come together and honor God, or can it also be a place for the broken come to be healed? Jesus said, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. (Mark 2:17)

How will the broken feel safe enough to come if they are not welcome? They are not welcome when they’ve been given labels. They are gay. They had an affair. They do drugs. These lifestyles indicate brokenness somewhere. They need healing and love. They need a place where they can talk about God and receive His compassion. What about all those young people who grew up in Christian families then left the church as soon as they got older? How will they come back if they don’t feel welcome?

Sometimes we don’t need to fix people, we just need to love them. God can do what we cannot. He  needs us to extend His love and mercy, not His condemnation. Maybe the broken need a place to come that is not church. Maybe it’s a home or a park or a coffee shop. God can meet them anywhere, and so can we.

Get help when you need it. I don’t care who you are, if you are the pastor or the leader, everyone runs out of steam at some point. The worst thing is to retreat into exhaustion and stew in your miseries. Exhaustion will come, but you don’t have suffer through it alone.

We are a family. The reason Jesus said the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself was second only to loving God is because His plan for us is to live in family, community — to help each other when we need it.

But people may not be aware of your need. You have to be open enough to ask for help. Go to the ones you trust. Allow them to minister to you. If they can hear God for you, you may get the exact encouragement that you need.

That’s the wonderful part of our family. If we can’t hear God ourselves, because of stress, pain, whatever, the people who love us can. Let them help you. Let them love you. Take the step that you need to take to allow your friends to do what you need them to do. You will all be blessed in the process.

Later on, you will be able to see the signs in other people who need your help. You will know how to pray and be there for them. That’s what friends do.

We are all family

If we can agree that salvation requires our acceptance of Jesus’s death on the cross for our sins, can we give the rest a break? All the denominations and forms of church are not that big a deal. What if the “other guys” are actually ok? What if God’s just fine with how they do church? What if we’ve been just a tad Pharisaic in judging other churches?

The formality, or lack of formality, in a service doesn’t change who God is. I think He’s fine either way, as long as the expression of worship is heartfelt and not rote repetition without personal meaning. It may be the same prayer read every single time, but if the meaning and expression of it is sincere, then what’s not to love?

We want to relate each other based on preconceived ideas of how things are done. That’s helpful for basic understanding, but not for creating a community of believers. We don’t need an “us” against “them” mentality.

Stop and consider if there are worship or teaching formats that you don’t approve of and ask yourself why. If the heart is right, why would that format be wrong? Be open to other believers and how they love God. We are family and our differences are wonderful.

The kingdom of God requires active participation. You can’t sit and listen and assume that you don’t have to do anything as long as you believe. Whatever you hear and learn, you are required to act on.

Jesus said that whoever hears His word and acts on it is like the man who built his house on solid rock. The man who heard but did nothing built his house on sand. When the storm came, great was the ruin of the house. (Luke 6:47-49)

But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? (Luke 6:46) There is a reason why we have to act on what we learn. It pulls us out of complaisant apathy to faith. Will God do what He said He would? Once we act on our faith, God will move. He will do nothing if we sit on our hands and do nothing.

Acting out of faith builds our foundation because we begin to believe for greater and greater things. If you have never walked in real faith, it’s time to get started. Jesus said very clearly that the ruin of the house built on sand was great. Don’t let that be you.

Meditate on the word.

There is only so much you can learn about God from going to church and listening to other people. Don’t get me wrong, you can learn a lot. You can learn the basics that you need to develop spiritual growth. But to really grow in the Lord, you have to hear Him yourself. You have to learn to meditate on His word.

We live in such a fast-paced world now. Everything has to be done on the run, while we’re driving, or scheduled into our day. God doesn’t live by that clock. In fact, He can be pretty inconvenient. He requires our full attention, regardless of what we think has to be done. The mystery is that when we slow down and give Him our time, our meditation, He makes all the other stuff work out.

Don’t think you can’t meditate on His word because you don’t understand it. Ask Him for help. Make me understand the way of Your precepts; So shall I meditate on Your wonderful works. (Ps 119:27) The Holy Spirit is our teacher. Quiet your heart. Think about the word and ask Him to explain it to you. He said He would make us understand, and He will.

Slow down and meditate. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening; and he lifted his eyes and looked, and there, the camels were coming. (Gen 24:63) And Rebekah came to him.

Let people be human and love them anyway.

There is a lot of pressure in the church for Christians to be perfect, and it’s hurting everyone. The reason we have to pray “on earth as it is in heaven” is because we’re not living on earth as it is in heaven. We are still human whether we like it or not. We will make mistakes and bad choices and fall down.

Unfortunately, every time we make a bad  choice or fall down fingers get pointed. Assumptions are made. Judgement is given. When that happens, walls go up. We lose connection and we definitely lose love.

Look at all the major players in the Bible and find one that lived perfectly their whole life. Everyone was human, and God loved them. God used them in their imperfections to show His own greatness. Why are we so shocked when people act like people?

When Jesus said, He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first, He knew no one could do it. It’s only by God’s mercy that our sins are covered, not because we are perfect. We all have planks in our own eyes. We have to stop judging each other for being human.

The world is supposed to know us by our love. Love is not judgmental and does not point fingers. Love simply loves, even through the mistakes and bad decisions. Let people love your humanity while you love them in theirs.

What will you do with the power that God gave you? Jesus described the kingdom of God in many ways, but when I think about it, it looks like a Ferrari. Once we come into the kingdom, we are filled with all the power and authority that Jesus had so we can do the things that He did. It’s just that we don’t recognize that we have it.

What will you do with that power that God gave you?

It’s like we have a big, beautiful Ferrari parked in the garage, yet we choose to walk to work, no matter how far it is. We walk because everyone around us is walking, so it seems normal. We’re not even aware that we own a Ferrari, even though the keys are in our pocket.

Some have come to know about their car and sit in it, wondering how to make it run. They dream of the day when they’ll back it out of the driveway and take off. And others are fully functional freeway drivers taking advantage of all that power.

There will be a day when you will stand before God and He will ask, what did you do with what I gave you? Where are the people who you healed and delivered from oppression? Show Me the mighty works that you did in My name. I gave you the keys to do it.

Ask God to help you be who you’ve been called to be. You’ve got everything you need already.

Our bad decisions can be be redeemed. I can’t help wondering what it would have been like if Moses had been allowed to enter the Promised Land. If the Israelites had believed Joshua and Caleb and gone straight in. If Saul had remained faithful to God. If Solomon had not followed after foreign women.

Let grace cover your bad decisions.

God allows us our own choices. He doesn’t strike us down when we make bad decisions, He just makes us live with the consequences. Thank goodness for His grace. Thank goodness that He forgives our worst mistakes and can redeem what had been lost. Nothing is impossible for Him.

But I also see how important our decisions are. How amazing God would be for us if we trusted Him. Ask Him to give you perspective on your life. Is there a place that you stopped believing Him? Do you need to go back and repent? It’s not too late. He can forgive and put you back on the right track if you let Him.

Don’t get to the end of your life and mourn lost opportunity. Allow God to be God for you today. Trust Him. Believe Him to be who He says He is. He’s waiting for someone to believe Him so He can do great and mighty things. Let it be you.

The kingdom of God is all about loving each other.

People are important to God, so they should be important to you. Yes, the greatest commandment is to love God above all else, but the second one is to love other people. (Mark 12:29-31)

It’s not good enough that we’re nice to people at church or at work. We need to be connected in community. Everyone should know who they can call in an emergency, when they’re lonely, or when they need someone to celebrate with.

We are family — brothers and sisters with the same Father. Not the dysfunctional family you may have grown-up in, but a healthy, lively, growing family. That means that we forgive each other easily. We help when we’re needed. We celebrate victories we’ve been waiting for ourselves.

It takes effort to be in community. You have to open yourself up to other people and let them in. But that’s what the kingdom of God is all about. It’s a kind, loving place where we love each other and celebrate God.

If you are not connected with other believers, then you need to work on that. Go out of your way and learn names. Say hello. Find out what’s going on with people. Share some food and make friends. The kingdom is a friendly place. Don’t be left out.