We are now in our second month here at Family Life Church at Cypress. Our group has averaged 50+ people and we are close to meeting our monthly budget, factors most consider benchmarks for measuring success. I guess I find myself measuring our success as well. However, I am encouraged not so much by the numbers as by the people they represent. And not so much by the budget as by the generosity of his people.
Christ has brought to us some incredible families to join in this journey. They represent infant to senior. Some are young in their faith, full of questions and maybe even a few objections, joy plus confusion, seeking to understand what it means to fully trust Christ with their lives. Some are further down the road with a few tests and triumphs, mountains and valleys under their belt and still seeking to understand what it means to fully trust Christ with their lives. Some are seasoned followers, submitted and surrendered to the calling of Christ, still seeking to understand what it means to truly trust Christ with their lives. My greatest joy is to be engaged in all of these stages and visibly watching His people seek Him. There are not a lot of easy answers. Whether we are striving for a better relationship with a husband/wife, desiring to show our children a clear picture of faith, or hoping to live an authentic life before our peers we are seeking to find answers. And it is in the perseverance of faith that we find peace. Yes, Christ has accomplished the work of salvation on our behalf but the Holy Spirit is continually conforming us into the image of Christ. It causes a constant dissatisfaction with the imitations of this world and keeps followers of Christ in a perpetual state of longing for something better.
Oh, we still have some big holes to fill. (We currently are without a worship leader.) And we still have a ways to go financially in order to effectively minister to the needs of our community around us. Yet I am confident that He who began this great work is able to complete it! And through our effort to live authentic lives He will bring Himself glory.
I hope you can identify with this. I hope the Holy Spirit leaves you longing and wrestling and searching until perseverance in faith brings you peace in Christ. No purer, more authentic object has ever been. His people are promised rest through the comforting Holy Spirit.
And I am glad to be in the midst!
