Dear Southcity
Privilege! A complete privilege! That's what it is to carry
the name of our Father in this world. As most of you know, Paul's words to the
Philippians are freshly challenging me, and I trust all of us, as he summarizes
his philosophy of life on earth: to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
(Philippians 1:21).
For any of us who have been around Christian community for
a number of years, this almost becomes a saying, without much thought into it,
while for those of you new to Christian community, a right understanding of
this can set your foundation in Christ so it does not need to be dug up and
reset later on, like so many of us 'older' Christians.
So what does 'to live is Christ' mean? Yes, yes, we all
know the response is to give of ourselves entirely to Jesus while here on
earth, and our lives are to be fully for him. But what does that look like? We
love to soften things with words like, 'yes, but you mean that in a figurative
sense,' or, 'we don't want to be seen as radical, so we will just go in the
comfortable zone,' or, 'yes, but we need to bring a balance.'
What if it actually meant restructuring your budget so you
could give more away? What if it meant giving away one for one: for every one
shirt, give one away; for every pair of pants, give one away; for every one
jersey, give one away? What if it meant fasting a meal, and giving it instead
to someone who does not have food? What if it meant giving one Sunday in ten to
serve in the community context in a way you have not done before? What if it
meant... Would you be up for that?
I would like to ask you today to consider one question:
have you become immune to the voice of God in areas involving your personal
comforts?
Southcity, as we foresee the day we join the rest of the
bride being caught up in the marriage ceremony with Jesus, may I urge us to
keep maturing in God as a community, and keep being open to the big challenging
questions of life in Christ.
Just a reminder to you all about our community central time
on Tuesday (5th Feb) at 18:30. If this is new to you, these are great times for
all who are a part of Southcity to come along for an evening together so the
community of Southcity may deepen its roots together. I look forward to seeing
you there.
Much love
Rich
