I’ve been reading Ephesians a lot lately and have been working on some messages on the theme of what I see as the greater calling of God to MORE for today’s follower of Christ and His Church! MORE of HIS GRACE…HIS LOVE…HIS MERCY! Every great gift demands a great response. What is our response to the great gift of Jesus? “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him will have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

I celebrate 43 years of ministry this year (and 38 years of marriage to my wife Pegge). I’ve learned a few things along the way, most of them from my mistakes. Time and time again when I have been ready to throw in the towel, I have seen the hand and grace of God reaching down into my story….reminding me that even in my failure and sin, God is not done with me. Neither is he done with you! If you’ve still got breath in your body, that means you’ve got purpose in your chest. He has called you to MORE! Despite your failures and sins as an individual and we as a church, He’s not done with us! If He was done with YOU, you wouldn’t have gotten up this morning. It wasn’t the alarm clock that got you up. It was the GRACE OF GOD!

Jesus comes and calls you to MORE, not just from failure, but He also calls you from your comfort. In reflection, I see one of the biggest threats to our lives as followers of Jesus as well as His Church to walking into your Kingdom calling and purpose is not your failure, but your comfort. We have gotten so comfortable in our holy huddles that we have missed joining God as He is at work right around us in our Jerusalem.

Jesus didn’t die on the cross to give you comfort; He died on the cross to bring you into the Kingdom, to His purpose and mission. Our comfort was NEVER His goal or intention. We have allowed ourselves to become distracted by so many things that have NO eternal significance that we have missed the divine invitation to MORE. We miss the invitation for the GREATER because we have settled for the LESSER.

It’s time for us to be refocused as followers of Jesus on His mission and not our comfort, convenience, or the illusion that we are in control. GOD IS! HIS mission trumps our petty preferences and with so many lost and far from God around us, we have no room for being comfortable. I’m convinced that so many Christians have been Christians for so long, and in the church, that we have forgotten what it was like to be lost and far from God, without any hope of an abundant life today or an eternal life tomorrow.

God is ready to work. Every great gift demands a great response. What will our response as His church be?

It is a joy to be working alongside you in this mission!

Following HIM,

JIM