My Kingdom Come?
I tweeted this earlier this month: there is a fine line between "my kingdom come" and "Thy kingdom come."
Can I be blunt? I think it's easier for some pastors to pray for a church that is four states away than a church that is four blocks away.
I feel like I'm living in the tension between two verses this week. They are stretching me like one of those medieval torture devices that dislocated the limbs. I think they were actually called The Stretcher. Sorry for the visual image but that is what is happening in my spirit. Two verses are pulling in opposite directions.
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How do we "increase" as in I Cor 3:6 and "decrease" as in John 3:30?
I desperately want God to increase National Community Church as we plant and water, but I also know that I need to decrease like John the Baptist. Bottom line? I want to stay out of the way of what God is doing at NCC. It's just hard to do both of those things at the same time! Thus the tension. I want us to grow but it cannot be about the numbers.
Word to pastors: it better not be about you. In fact, I think we need to find ways to intentionally decrease. How? For starters, we better not take any credit for what God is doing. God will not be robbed of His glory! Unless the Lord builds the house, we labor in vain! I think one of the greatest dangers that growing churches face is this prideful temptation: "look at us." Why? Because we've been saying "look at me" since we were two years old. That is our default setting. But when we follow Christ there is a paradigm shift: look at Him.
May His Kingdom come. May His will be done.
