If we want to be truly loving followers of Christ, and love others the way God has called us to, we have to refine our focus.
Related episodes:
- Ask Good Questions: Invite Authentic Community (episode 20)
- A Case for Biblical Hospitality (episode 1)
- Salted Honey: The Words We Eat and the Words We Speak (episode 13)
- Be Kingdom Minded (episode 9)
Four ways we can change our perspective and pursue intentional community:
Look up.
Love God with all your heart; we do this through studying Him in scripture, prayer, and obedience. Multiple times in scripture, loving God is tied to obeying Him (See John 14:15-31). Continue to intentionally turn your eyes toward Him; the more we study Him, the more in awe of Him we will become. The more in awe of God we become, the more we can’t help telling others about Him, pointing them to His glory. Likewise, the more we know God’s character, the more determined we will be to pursue community in truth and love. Ezekiel 13:22 has a searing reprimand to false prophets, who “encouraged the wicked, that he should not turn from his evil way to save his life,” and it is a reminder to us as believers that God invites us to be part of the process of others coming to be saved; salvation requires repentance. We cannot pursue genuine biblical community without modeling and sharing about the need for repentance.
Look around.
What is God doing? Who is He bringing into your life? Study what’s happening around you, who’s around you. Ask Him to open your eyes to see whom He’s calling you to pursue. This may be fellow believers which whom you can develop intentional relationships for mutual benefit and for the benefit of the body. It may be others who have not (yet?!) come to be Christ followers, children of God through the trust in Jesus.
Look in.
Ask God to seek your heart (see Psalm 139). Turn the lens to yourself and see what areas He may be calling you into deeper obedience. What has He taught you, how has He refined you, to prepare you to love and serve another well? What gifts, knowledge, and resources has God given you to share with someone else?
Look ahead.
God has promised us that His Spirit will indwell and empower His children, both to obey Him and to reflect His glory to a world that needs to experience it. Study to know His promises, and act in trust of those promises. Because of the great hope of your salvation, you can offer that same hope to others through Jesus! (See Ephesians 1 and Ephesians 5.)
Questions to ask today:
How is God challenging you to refine your focus –
- In how you devote your time to knowing God and growing in worship and obedience
- In how you see (in THAT you really work to see) those He brings into your life
- In how you look at yourself – do you seek to see yourself through the lens of God’s love and truth? Do you seek to use what He has given to love and serve others well?
- In how you focus on what God has promised and provided, for you to live a life of worship and welcome?
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