Questions

Ephesians 4:1

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called…

Asking the right questions can be tough.

For the past couple of days I have been at a director’s conference for NieuCommunities in Malaga, Spain. It has been great to catch up with my friends and co-laborers from the other sites around the world (US, Canada & South Africa) but it has also been challenging. We have spent hours thinking through and processing how we are living out our community values and rhythms, how we are going to move with more force into mission, and how we are going to continue to innovate… big questions. But, one of the big centering questions that we landed on today has been both personally convicting and instigating.

Are we living out who we say we are… how? Or spoken personally… Am I living a life worthy of this great calling to which I have been called?

After we were done our discussions I was struck by what a great exercise this was for me. It is the difference between walking the walk and walking THE walk… the worthy walk… the steps of Christ. Often it can get so easy to get caught up in running from conversation to discussion to meeting to training to mentoring to parenting to leading… we forget to live let alone live on purpose. There is so much power in simply stopping for a moment (even once a week) and asking ourselves if we are actually living out who we say we are. If we are trying to change the world in which we live (which I believe we are) how is who I say Christ is in me changing hearts, minds and lives around me? Do we claim to be lovers of God, of people… how then have we done today with our children? Our spouses? Our co-workers? Our neighbors? Our enemies?

Asking the right questions can be tough… but ask we must!