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 God recruited his first human partner in that rescue mission and
said, "I WILL bless you; BE a blessing!" And after working through
those people for over 2000 years, God came into the world in the
person of Jesus to fulfill His rescue mission.
That's the best news the world has ever received; the Bible makes it
clear that "God did not send his son into the world to condemn
the world -- He sent his son so that the world might be saved
through Him." (Direct quote from the account of Jesus' life
written by John, found in the Bible in what we call John 3:17) That
mission continues now and will continue until people and the world
are restored to wholeness.
Sadly, too many people in the world don't see THAT as the face of
God to the world. Instead, people see God as a shamer and a bully .
. . mainly (and devastatingly) because that's how too many followers
of Jesus have presented themselves or have presented God in that
way. While Jesus has revealed the way to wholeness -- a life of
following and trusting him and what he taught -- God came to bring
that news to people who know they are broken and imperfect.
The Bible says that God showed his great love by seeking us while we
were fighting and kicking against him to keep running down roads
that lead to further brokenness.
God's mission goes on. YOU are the mission . . . the people you go
to school with are the mission . . . the people on your softball
team are the mission. The coworker you don't like is the
mission. How will YOU bring light and hope into the world?
That's the kind of community local churches are called to create
-- a group of broken people in recovery, a people who are seeking
through the power of God to lose behaviors and habits that harm
themselves or others. We're local chapters of Sinners Anonymous.
Just like any recovery group, people in churches will continue to
flub it up, but like any recovery group we're committed to growing
beyond that. And we're committed to seeking out and welcoming any
who wish to be healed and made whole to gather with our Sinners
Anonymous meetings. Because that's what God did. That's who Jesus
is. That's His Christmas gift to us every year, and every day. We'd
love to share that gift with you.
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