Recently I attended a conference regarding online ministry
in Dallas, Tx and had a great time learning from and hanging out with people
across our country doing things for God that I am only beginning to explore at
Bayside Community Church. And as
much as I valued my time there ~ I am completely confident I was there for
another reason all together. On
the first night we had the opportunity to worship and hear a message by Todd
Phillips, one of the teaching pastors at Lake Pointe church where the
conference was held. And he shared
this “some of you thought you were coming to Texas for online ministry, but God
brought you here to hear this message tonight” ~ He couldn’t have been more
accurate.
For the next 30 minutes I couldn’t write fast enough as God
used Todd to speak directly to me ~ about areas of my relationship with Him
that I had neglected and areas I needed to emphasize immediately. I don’t yet know the full impact of
what God shared with me through Todd ~ but I have already seen the fruits in my
family, in my relationships, and in my quiet time with Him. So I decided to write some of the
points down, if for no other reason but to be obedient to God, since I feel He
is prompting me to do so ~ and for the 2 followers who I convinced to subscribe
to my periodic ramblings :)
Todd’s primary point was the value and necessity of spending
time alone with God ~ something every Christian is sure to know, even more so when you are a pastor. But the
difference in knowledge and application ~ well, we all know a lot of things
that we should do, but simply don’t.
For me, spending time with God – intentional time, soul making time,
time for God to speak to me and not be interrupted by my need to tell him what
to do for me ~ that practice had fallen to the wayside of life. As I was contemplating this, I felt
like God was whispering to me, “What are you modeling?”
As a father, and husband ~ I have no greater responsibility
than to shepherd my family well. Beyond providing a secure environment, or
physical place to lay our heads ~ my greatest responsibility is the spiritual
leader of my household. I could
lead thousands of people to Christ, train future pastors and leaders, and
effectively change the spiritual climate of my world ~ and yet it would amount
to nothing for me if I arrived in heaven without my family. As much as I love people, and I do ~
they don’t hold a candle to my wife, and two daughters. And I realized that I had not been
modeling a life that reflected spending quality time, alone time, with
God. And I cried …
But I do that often.
I tell people all the time I am the biggest cry baby on staff at Bayside. I cried because I had been modeling a
life reflecting “works” rather than “relationship”. I was “doing” all kinds of things for God, but I am not a Human
“doing”, and I am a Human “being”.
God was and is calling me simply to “be”. On top of that, the time I was spending with God ~ wasn’t being seen by my wife, or my
kids. I was doing it late at
night, after they had all gone to bed.
In other words, it wasn’t being modeled. And as I write this even now, God is encouraging me to be
more intentional about my quiet time with Him. I have so much more from that single night ~ in a room
listening to God, through the voice of Todd Phillips. And I’m sure future posts will be birthed, but for
today this is my question for you:
What are you modeling?
Is your relationship with God public? Are you worshiping Him in such a way
that others can see you, and emulate you?
Are you being vulnerable with your family? Friends? Co-workers? So much
so that they can see not only how much you love God, but also how much God
loves you? It is true that God is
“always watching” – but even more importantly for me, so are my kids :)
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