Living Outside of Ourselves

One of the things that I personally have been learning and, I think, my church along with me is that of reaching outside of ourselves and our church body. The church is a place of fellowship and we get a lot of encouragement from having that base, that family. But the church's purpose isn't to bless ME and to feed ME: the purpose of the church is to reach out to the lost and dying.

Think about it. While Jesus walked the earth, did He only go to the church? No. He taught in the synagogue a few times, but the majority of His ministry that He saw fit to have written down was spent with publicans, sinners, prostitutes, and hungry people. He came to seek and to save those who are LOST; He came to heal the sick, not to hang out with those who are "well."

No, Christians aren't necessarily well in the way we think of it. But we have all the necessary ingredients to be healed--Jesus. Now it's time to look outside of ourselves and start fulfilling God's purpose for our lives--helping others find the Everlasting Father, the Wellspring of Life, the Great Physician, the Wonderful Counselor, the Prince of Peace.