Be Real

BE REAL.

Staying power.  That's what authentic community gives us as followers of Christ.  But it comes at quite a cost.  It comes only when we sacrifice greatly.  We must be real with each other-with our struggles-our deep, dark secrets that we are embarrassed or ashamed about.  Because the reality is-as a body of believers-when one of us suffers we all suffer.  We mourn together.  We rejoice together-worshipping joyfully to our Giver or Life.  We rejoice together after we have come alongside a brother or sister and helped to carry their burden.  When we have sacrificed our time to sit and listen to their pain.  When we have prayed fervently together.  For everything there is a season and a purpose under heaven. 

To be quite honest, it is EXTREMELY difficult to live in close community.  We live in very close quarters with our team in South Sudan.  Because of this reality, it is impossible for any of us to have a bad day without all of us knowing it.  It is hard to lay down your pride and live transparently.  Living this way it is impossible to maintain your mask.  But what an opportunity to grow this gives us!  When my team members see all the ugliness that lies in my heart-that overflows on rough days-the REAL me, my default setting, I am faced with a choice.  Will I swallow my pride, be humble, confess my sin, ask for forgiveness, and embrace the  unconditional love and accountability they offer me?  Or will I pretend like nothing happened, brush it aside and hope they forget about it?  Of course, the first choice is the most difficult.  Yet when I accept the community that my team offers me, this is when I grow the most.  My team sees me at my best, my worst, and they hear me pour out my heart about how I long to be.  They mirror God's love for me-they forgive me and love me even when I don't deserve it. Colossians 3:12 says "we are God's chosen ones, holy and loved..." and God longs for us to rely on Him to make us all these things.  To mold us into the image of Him so that our ugly default setting slowly turns to a beautiful thing and no matter how much we're shaken, JESUS comes out!

How my heart is so thankful for the words of Paul in 2 Timothy 1:9, "He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began."  We have a HOLY calling as followers of Christ!  And holiness cannot and will not be achieved if we are left to our own devices, if we try to do it alone.  We MUST have the accountability of fellow brothers and sisters of Christ.  For we are in a war here on earth.  C.S. Lewis said, "Enemy-occupied territory-that is what this world is.  Christianity is the story of how the rightful King has landed...and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage."  

So BE REAL!  Join hands with your brothers and sisters in Christ-confess your sins to one another and worship our God joyfully-following Him with all your heart, soul, and mind.  It will shake this world to its core and call people to the heart of God!