Theology Blog

Its easy to readily admit that we, as Christ followers are called to mission and service to others. We are called to care for the least, last and lost and bring God’s love, hope, grace and Kingdom to the world. While we know this as individuals and as churches, it is very hard to live out. While there is an abundance of need, finding the desire, resources and means to serve can be a challenge. We know theologically we are called to care and serve and most of us want to, but do not know how. That said, we can all readily admit that we are not doing all that we can and for the most part Christians and the church are not serving in the way that we can or are called. I know most of us mean well, so I have been thinking about what might cause the challenge between what we believe, desire and hope to do and the reality that we are not doing it.

There are two things that stick out to me. First, I think that while we want to serve and reach out to others and our community, we do not make this a priority. So often our own needs and comfort become our priority. In our churches, we know we should consider the external, but it is often secondary to the internal, which is at best backwards theologically. Jesus cared for the disciples, but they had already bought in, their focus was serving others and sharing the love of God with them.

Secondly, while we might want to do a better job minister to those that we are not currently reaching (both as individuals and as a church) we want to be able to do so without any sacrifice. We are willing to change, to give time, energy and especially money to efforts to reach others, but we resist when we are called to sacrifice, to give something up, to suffer so that others can benefit. While this seems natural (and most certainly is) it is not Biblical and is not consistent with the life (and especially death) of Christ.

Perhaps the stumbling blocks between our desire to serve and actually serving are theological. Maybe, we as individuals and the church need to recognize that it is others that are the priority and that we must embrace sacrifice and suffering to serve, just as Christ has done for us.