the church

Awesome excerpt from Tammy Strait…

We were made for community. We were made to live our actual lives in community with other people. People who’ve gone before us, stand beside us, and come up behind us. If we’re going to run this race keeping our eyes on Jesus, it’s not going to happen by accident or in isolation. We need to be brave.

We need to say yes to God. Yes, where He is leading us. Yes, what He is asking us to leave behind. Yes to truth. Yes to being transparent and honest and humble. Yes to the fact that we need each other. Yes. We need honest, whole-hearted, humble, Christ-dependent people in our lives who offer their own imperfect stories so we know we are never alone. So we can be accountable, interdependent and committed to living our lives as an over pouring of His amazing grace, mercy and undying love.

In so many ways we need to stop. Stop judging. Stop fighting. Stop seeing who’s wrong, who’s to blame or how to be right, and simply BE the Church.

Jesus said in John 13:34: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

By this everyone will know. Not by how big your church is; how large your platform can grow; how impressive your things are; or how perfect you pretend to be. By your love.

– See her full post and blog here…! A good woman to read and journey with…

As religious tensions grow over the coming presidential election and domestic cultural issues involving perceived legislation of morality, the media will find more zealous Christians reacting to the issues of the day whose extreme positions will further divide the evangelical church into radical positions, and turn away seekers looking for a peaceful resolution to the churning in their own souls. In other words, the devil will play a trick on the church, and the church will, like sheep, lose their focus on the grace and love of Christ and wander astray. Those who seek peace, then, will turn to liberal ideologies.

–Don Miller, Christian author whose books include “Blue Like Jazz”

Read all… 11 faith-based predictions for 2011 – CNN Belief Blog – CNN.com Blogs.