Getting Engaged In Your Christian Life
"So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." ~ Revelation 3:16
In showing horses, the judges always look for our horses to be fully “engaged” whenever we enter the show ring. This means that we have our horse performing to the best of his ability, basically what we would call giving 110% instead of just going through the motions. How many of us can say we give 110% to serving God? Are we lukewarm like Sister Deb warned us about Sunday Night, or are we giving our best at service God, and not just going through the motions. But as hard as it is to get a 1200 pound free spirited animal to do it, it seems that it can be even harder for us to get “engaged.”
Do you remember when you first got saved? I do, I was like a little sponge just looking for more. More information, more preaching, and anything I could read to help me grow. Then we get slack, for lack of a better word. We are no longer engaged. It seems we are just going with the flow and basically going through the actions. This is where new and old believers become a mark for the Devil. It seems the Devil is searching for these types of believers and offers good excuses why you should miss a church service: “You had a busy week, you can miss one service to rest and sleep late”; “You’ve been to church for the last two months, you can miss one service.”; “That laundry is sure piling up! If you stay home from church today you can get that finished”. So, they skip that service…then it’s another service…then they quit going all together. We need to get back to that excitement and the fire for the Lord that we had at the beginning.
So how do we get engaged and stay engaged? It is a two-fold process:
First: We need to stay busy in the Church. Working in the church can mean a variety of things. But simply put, find something you are good at, or something you enjoy doing and get involved. If you don’t know what you want to do, go to a men’s fellowship meeting, or a women’s ministry meeting for ideas. Working together with other Christians is a great way to grow and learn. You hear their stories and experiences and amazingly it seems that what they share is exactly what you needed to hear at that moment. In addition, you find that working in the church gives you a purpose, and the more you do, the more you want to do.
If you enjoy working with children, ask to teach a Sunday School class, Children's Church, or to keep the nursery. We are always looking for volunteers with the kids! Even if you think you are not needed, you may be surprised. That Sunday School teacher that you see, may wish to have a break from teaching for a while, or maybe that Sunday School class really needs a split but there are no teachers available. Ask! We can use you somewhere!
If you are creative, help work on items for the Women’s Bazaar. Not creative but enjoy doing crafts with instructions, go to a Women’s Ministry Bazaar Craft Night. They will have items for you to work on and offer instructions on how to do it. Enjoy carpentry work? Help build sets for our Christmas Plays and Dramas or help repair things when needed.
If you can sing, join the choir, or sign up to do the special singing on Sunday Mornings. If you don’t mind speaking in front of people, join the drama team. We would love to have more people take parts in our Christmas Plays or skits. Or if you love studying the Bible, maybe you would like to teach a Bible study class. Don’t be afraid to express new ideas. Who knows, someone else may have that same idea and is looking for help to get it started. Whatever you decide to do, do it willingly and to the best of your ability and you will be blessed beyond your expectations. You will find yourself engaged!
Second: We need to encourage each other. Every New Year’s there are people who begin going to the gym and for the first couple of weeks they are faithful members, but by the second month very few are still going at all. Sound familiar? I have found that the ones that are still going are the ones that have friends or “workout buddies” to go with. These are people who say “I will meet you at the gym on certain days at a certain time.” Then even when you don’t feel like going to the gym, you feel like you need to go anyway because your friend is expecting you. We should be ‘that friend’ in the church. When someone misses a Sunday, let them know you are thinking of them, or that you missed them and look forward to seeing them at an upcoming service. Encourage them to where they feel like they are missed, and then they will look forward to being with their friends at the church.
You can also encourage others by volunteering. When I first started working on the Church’s website, I was so enthusiastic. I was constantly updating and putting new sermons and videos online. Then I became disengaged, Working on the website became more of a chore and one that I was not enjoying. Then Brother Jonathan came and asked to take it over. He was afraid that I would be offended, but he took that step of faith and asked me anyway. I was overjoyed! Seeing the new website and being able to be a part, has reignited that spark in me that I had lost. I am back to being excited and all it took was for one new person in the church to ask to help. Also when other people see others working together in serving the Lord it inspires them to do the same.
So you see it is takes both working in the church and encouraging each other to get us engaged and to keep us there. But it is only through working together that we will lift each other up. So now that you have your recipe for success, I expect each of you to get engaged in your Christian walk and to encourage people to stay engaged. It will create a spark in you, and who knows, that may even be the spark that starts the fire in the church that we are all looking for.
