Have you ever been involved in a team sport? Have you ever been a part of a team sport where preparation is the most important part of the game? I am and have been for a long time. For instance, you go to a highschool football game and see two groups of 50-80 teenagers playing their hearts out. Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose, but either way they usually look like they know what's going on. Where does that start?
Well, on any given weekend football coaches exchange film from the next week's opponent on either Friday night or Saturday morning. They then spend Friday night and all day Saturday looking over film and coming up with scouting reports. They take those notes and scouting reports and put them into diagrams and put them on paper to pass out to the players on Mondays. The players take those as well as film home and study it all week long. Each afternoon at practice they have a group of players line up and run the opposing team's offense against the starting defense so they get used to seeing it. Then, they have the starting offense go against a set of players who simulate the opposing team's defense. All of this goes on every day until Friday night when they step out onto the field with the gameplan in their heads and hearts and they take on their opponents.
For the outsider, they just run and hit and throw and kick their way through practice. They show up on Friday and play hard. But there is so much work that goes into every game through out the whole week that most people don't even consider.
It's the same for Christian leaders in teh church. When you encounter a pastor, youth pastor, music leader, or any person in a place of spiritual leadership in the church you are encountering someone who does a lot of work. There is a lot of prayer, studying and living in God's will that goes into being a church leader. God clearly cannot use the person who is just in the groove on Sundays, who only acts like a Christian in church. He needs someone who works hard at it every day of the week in preparation for their chance to share the Gospel with maybe just one person, and to them it is well worth it.
Matthew 5:23-24 says, "If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has soemthing against you, leave your gift there before teh altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift."
What is JEsus saying here? Don't even attempt to worship on Sunday if you know you have some type of grief with someone else. You are in affect keeping yourself and the other person from fully worshiping. Go and be reconciled to them He says, immediately so that you can worship. It's twice as bad for a person in leadership, and what is the best way to avoid sitting down to worship, or to lead worship and finding out there's a hindrance? Living a pure life, and being a Christlike example in your daily life. It's far easier to maintain than to just live life your way, and try to clean things up on Sundays.
So be a godly example, allowing the Holy Spirit to work through you. If you don't then the Holy Spirit is turned into your conviction instead of your strength. The Holy Spirit will not both strengthen and convict, He will only do one or the other. And when He does convict, it's best to act fast or you may lose out on an upcoming opportunity to bless someone.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
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