We Are the Body???

Last night, my wife Ali and I attended a Casting Crowns concert in Cedar Rapids along with like 3,000 other people. I have to say first of all that I love Casting Crowns and Mark Hall! I feel as though they are extremely down to earth and they sing truth in every one of their songs. The concert started out with the song until the whole world hears which is a new song of theirs that I really neither like nor dislike but as I sang the words with those 3,000 people, the question began to dawn on my mind, "Do we mean the words that we sing?" The song says that we'll keep singing until the whole world hears and yet so often it would appear that we could care less if the world hears the gospel! After this song they began to sing one of my favorites, We are the Body and as they sang the words "Jesus paid much to high a price for us to pick and choose who should come, and we are the body of Christ." I couldn't help but feel a mixture of extreme conviction and anger. The truth of the matter is that we are the actual Body of Christ, His ambassadors on this earth and yet what we portray to those around us is NOT love, is NOT acceptance, is NOT understanding but rather indifference at best and down right hate at worst! I am increasingly convinced that we are, for the most part living in ignorance at the call God has placed on the hearts of those who call themselves His disciples. Oh God, that we would actually begin to live like we were the Body, that we would actually begin to reach with His hands, see with His eyes, and love with His heart!

sacrifice?

This past weekend was Acquire The Fire in Minneapolis, MN where we joined 5,000 other people in seeking to encounter the love of God. These events are always high emotion and high energy and as we began the weekend the MC screamed to the crowd "Are you ready to see God move this weekend?" The crowd yelled back in agreement. Then he yelled "Are you ready to have God change your life this weekend?" Again the crowd yelled in agreement and as I watched what was happening I couldn't help but ask myself if those youth actually knew what they were agreeing to. I don't think we comprehend the life that God is calling us into, we don't grasp the fact that this isn't just another religion, not just another job, not just another list of rules to try and keep. We don't get the fact that God want's to give us everything but in turn we must give Him everything. We must give everything we are, everything we think we have, everything that we might be, we give it all sacrificially and then walk where He tells us to walk. We wrongly assume that this is a price to high to pay but in reality all that we really have to offer is brokenness, pain, confusion, and death. In return God gives us hope, joy, peace, and life.