Tuesday, April 23, 2013

What Should I Focus On?

The 2 letters to Timothy written by Paul are letters to a friend and fellow worker in the Kingdom. Timothy was trained by Paul so they kind of have a father to son feel to them. Timothy is leading a church now without Paul so Paul wants to encourage him. He knows that Timothy will make mistakes, but he is very confident that Timothy will do a good job.

One of the first things that Paul says to him is that he needs to keep the people focused on things that matter. It is amazing how the only thing that really changes is the date. People don't really change that much. We still focus on things that don't matter, check out what Paul says:

"Tell them to turn away from fables and endless genealogies. These activities just cause more arguments and confusion which end up stalling God's work. Instead, they should concern themselves with welcoming in and bringing about the reign of God, which is all about faith. Our teaching about this journey is intended to bring us to a single destination-a place where self giving love reigns from a pure heart, a clean conscience, and a genuine faith."

Ok so maybe you haven't overheard (or been a part of) and argument at church about genealogies lately, but you get the point. We get worked up over the craziest things! Music, carpet, paint, you name it, we've got an opinion on it. It's stupid really. 100 years from now the only thing that will matter is your relationship with Jesus. I don't think He really cares what color the carpet is, so why should you? When you start focusing on the Kingdom, it's a lot easier to let the little things go. At the end of the day, there is only 1 Big Thing: making disciples who make disciples. How do you do that? Relationships. It's hard to have a relationship with someone when you're busy arguing with them about whether or not we should do some touch up paint.

I was listening to Francis Chan speak at the Exponential Conference earlier today and he said, "A lot of what we call church isn't really church. A lot of what we call Christianity isn't really Christianity." Wow. What is my focus? I think that is what Paul was saying to Timothy too, and I think that is what God is asking me.

Enjoy the Journey





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