It truly is amazing what God does to teach us schtuff. Last week, Noel taught on the same thing Joyce Meyer talked about last weekend: who are you keeping outside of your circle? As Christians, we are to go out into the world. Small groups are great but what is your small group doing to change the world and reach out to others? There are all of these little pockets of Christians who feel so comfortable they do the opposite of what the scripture says and hunker down together. Some of it is intentional…some of it isn’t. God painted a picture this past Friday night of what Noel taught the Sunday before.
We went to a party Friday night. I don't know why I was expecting an all Riverview/Christian crowd. I ate some of the food, reached out to meet some new people who go to Riv and actually enjoyed the keg beer. I headed to the backyard to hang out by the pool. It was then I realized something was happening right in front of me.
On the other side of the pool was another group of people. They were swearing, drinking excessively and...well....I realized immediately they were not Christ Followers. These people were on one side of the pool. We were camped out on the other. I don't know how many of us even realized it.
I realized it. I made a move to go over them and hang out. I wasn't going to talk about Christ or try to preach to any of them. I only wanted to reach out and meet some of these people because maybe I could know their story. Myself and two others went into the basement and mingled with a few of the guys. It wasn't anything too deep, just trying to get to know people. I went out the side entrance into their group. They were just as hunkered down as the Christians on the other side of the pool.
Now I ask...did my friends know this was happening? No, not necessarily. I didn't even realize it until I started people watching. No one was being intentional. They were just hanging out with people they knew. I even gave up and went inside the house but this experience has dogged me all weekend. I don't want to keep people out of my circle. I want to invite them in. But will I? Am I willing even when it feels uncomfortable? Can I go all the way and not turn in fear when I'm half way there? How far am I willing to go for God?
3 comments:
Maybe having to move away and losing friends are God's way of telling me to loosing the grip on my little circle.
Sorry I wasn't being intentional, thank you for pointing that out.
I am setting out to lose my big but :)
The post was mainly about me and God opening my eyes to different opportunities. It's funny. I was sitting in the service Noel was teaching in and I thought, "okay, it isn't hard to approach pre-Christians. I used to be one!" Well...now I know. Sometimes it takes a little more faith than you give it.
And would it be wrong to say I would fight God not to lose you? Yeah, probably. I mean, I know I wouldn't win. :o) Really, though, I don't know why He would take us to Germany to bond us together only to make us break up. He did that for a reason. I remember Noel teaching and asking us how many non-Christian friends we had. All of my friends were non-Christians...none were Christ Followers until that trip. Trippy.
It's funny that when I was reading your post something in my head just clicked. I am not saying to give up all my existing friendships, just maybe I am holding on too tight. Maybe I need to not have the comfortable little circle so I can venture out and making more friends that are out of my comfort zone. I can count my pre-Christian friends in one hand, one hand... Does that make sense?
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