Sometimes you can't make it on your own

“Sometimes you can’t make it on your own”

I don’t know what it is about Bono songs from U2 but they often connect with my soul. I think the guitar runs always help. They always build up to this awesome climax of lyrics and guitar. They are classic for sure.

I was listening to “Sometimes you can’t make it on your own” . I must it admit it seems a bit like a throwback from the 80s or would have been made a great song in the Breakfast Club movie. It just fits.

So if I just take the "title" it speaks to me at this junction of my journey. There are two extremely important aspects of being a Christ Follower. I was reading the book of Acts this morning about the early church and Jesus followers. They desired so deeply to know him and to be with one another. Over 2000 years and we should still be at that same place. We need both community with God and we need community with other followers of Jesus. Practically speaking so many people evaluate this in church attendance but it is so much more than that. Simply speaking it is having a living and growing and real relationship with our Lord on a daily basis and it is sharing in that relationship with others .. spouse, children, parents, friends, etc…

I think there is a danger in the church today where we assume both of these are met on Sunday mornings. We can connect with God for our one hour a week and we can talk with some of our friends and even do business with them if needed. But there has to be so much more.

I think there are so many people who are living their life by themselves and are lonely and feel disconnected. Here is where this song comes in or I should say the title. The entire song does not fit my theme here but the title does. We cannot make it on our own. We cannot handle the stresses, pressures, disappointments, heartbreaks, rejections, failures, etc…. by ourselves. We should have someone to share the ups and downs of our lives with.

I really believe that God created us for community both with Him and with other people.
This takes some effort and some risk. It takes some discipline to develop that time with the Savior each day. It takes us for sure letting go of our independency and moving towards a dependency on Jesus. It is that independency that sometimes makes us falsely believe that we can make it on our own.

I think it also takes effort and risk when we connect with others. With have been back in the states now for 6 months and I can tell you just because you go to a worship service does not mean you will connect with others in community. You often have to take that first step towards community. It may not come to you but you may need to pursue it. Find some people you can share your life with you. You can share your heart and life with. You and I need this.

I would also say that you most likely will have several “community” groups. You may have one with your family as you spend time in prayer, devotion and talking about spiritual things. You may have community with some men or women in a small group. You may have community with your house church or a small group within your church.

I don’t know exactly where I was headed with this when I started other than this simple thing and it came from U2. We cannot make it on our own! We need community. We need Jesus. We need others who also share that same bond with the Lord whom we can connect with.

turning

I have been reading from my red letter version of the bible this new year. So far so good for 2007. I have started in Matthew the first book of the New Testament. As I mentioned before I am wanting to spend the year looking into what Jesus said and mediating on it and applying it to my life. I am not just wanting to apply His principles. I know that I must let the Holy Spirit do it's work in transforming me. I am wanting as it says in John 3:30 - To become more like Him. He must increase .. I must decrease.

So my first blog on this matter has to do with "turning". Before I start with that I must mention that my daughter is now "turning" a car. She was able to get her Driver's permit here in the states on her first try this past week. For some of you you can remember it took me 6 tries in Spain to get my license so I am proud. We are now driving and learning to turn those corners.

So what it is about turning? What turned my head as I read Matthew 4:17 ? Jesus said Turn from your sins and turn to God because the kingdom of Heaven is near". I think this a major. It is huge. When I read the parables of Jesus. When I read about his heeling's, teachings, etc... it really motivates me but where it begins is here. It is in the turning away from our sins and turning to God.

So often we do try to move towards God but we are not willing to truly turn from our sins. I think about my own devotion life. I think about how much time do I really talk to the Lord in confession? When do I truly turn from my sin and turn to God. I do not usually have a problem with this when I make some major mistakes. It is the little ones that trip me up. I think it is interesting how in Matthew 5 we move to the sermon on the mount and He teaches about the law and the fulfillment of the Law and how often we can fall in the trap as they did in that day of feeling okay about keeping the 10 commandments when we take them literally. However, when you go to the deep intention, the deep heart issues of the commandments then sin can become apparent quite easily. For example we may not kill someone literally but in this sermon it addresses other ways to "kill" a person without using a weapon. We can sometimes do this with our words or hatred in our hearts. The hard thing about the sermon on the mount is that he list quite a few things that we may feel like on the surface we are okay but in the end and as intentions and motives are involved then it gets messy.

This is where I have to take a close inventory or evaluation in my life and if it is not measuring up and I have sin in my life that I have to confess it to Him and turn from it and turn towards Him. I think this is true initially when we become followers of Jesus but it is also true on a daily basis as we follow Him.

So in 2007 are you turning from your sin and turning toward God ?