New Morning Mercies #233

Corporate worship is meant to so enthrall you with God’s grace that you want to be an instrument of that grace in the lives of others.

Life in a fallen world is hard. Ministry to fallen people is hard. Together they leave you exhausted, discouraged, and tempted to be a tad cynical. You simply cannot live with sinners and not be sinned against. You cannot live with people without seeing their true hearts revealed.

I understand why people, after experiencing the hurt and disappointment that so often mars our relationships, decide to live in isolation or in a comfortable collection of terminally casual relationships. I understand why people say to themselves, “I’ve been taken once and I won’t be taken again.” I understand why married couples choose to live in long-term cold-war relationships that lack intimate friendship and unity. I understand why ministry people often choose to live in functional isolation from the body of Christ. I understand why adult children choose to live a great distance away from their parents. I understand why many people dread the extended family gatherings that accompany the holidays. I understand why people hide their hurt and refuse to talk about painful topics with one another. I understand why people don’t want to ask for help or give help when asked. I understand that none of us have ever lived in one single relationship that hasn’t disappointed us in some way. I understand that relationships are hard.

But there is one other thing that I understand. It is that, for the believer, relationships are not a lifestyle option. No, they are an essential piece of God’s calling between your salvation and your final resurrection. Biblical faith is fundamentally relational. It is shaped and driven by two primary communities. First and foremost is the community with God that is the whole reason for our existence. Life is found in community with the Creator. Then there is God’s call not only to live in self-sacrificing love of your neighbor, but also to be a tool of God’s work in your neighbor’s heart and life. You and I just don’t have the choice of opting out. We are relational beings who have been called to lifelong community with God and others.

We need help to face the often overwhelming call to relationships, following God’s high standards and not giving way to the desire to run. Part of God’s purpose in corporate worship is to correct your vision about those relationships. If you’re not looking at your relationships through the lens of God’s amazing grace, you’re not seeing those relationships accurately. So gathering after gathering is intended to so enthrall you with the grandeur of God’s grace that you can’t think of anything better than being a tool of that grace in the lives of others.

For further study and encouragement: Romans 13:8–14