Identity

I'm in this time of, like every other person my age, discovering who I am. But I can't find it. Not on my own, anyway. However, I am learning that the more I find my definition and my source in God, the pieces of Devin start to come together.

Like the more I ask God to break my heart for what breaks His, the more my eyes are opened to the church. The church, who has stood for thousands of years, who endures through the strongest persecution. The church-the beautiful bride of Christ. More and more God reveals the areas in my own life that I try to run away. And the ways the church is running away. I look around me and see poverty. People die on city streets. The world is ravaged by pain. Injustices such as human trafficking and exploitation mar humanity. And the church has closed her eyes. She's forgetting her purpose, forgetting her First Love.

Nothing in this world breaks my heart like the church does. The Body is wonderful, complex, beautiful, full of potential. But culture has infiltrated the Body in such as way that we have become our own hindrance. Pride makes leaders power hungry. The mind has become a breeding ground for corrupt ideas and the birthplace of every kind of evil.

The church must find her identity in the Lord.

We must never, ever forget who we are and Whose we are. We must never forget that God cares more about our character than our comfort. We must never forget that God is calling us to be in the world, not of the world. We must be the change we wish to see happen. We can talk all day long about how we think that the world is delivering itself to hell's gates. But what do we do about it? Faith without deeds is dead. Are we dying?

The world doesn't need a revolution. The church doesn't need a revolution. We don't need new ideas or better sermons or better programs or better pastors. We just need Jesus. We just need to fall in love with the One who wants to know us, the One who wants us to know Him. It's time to set aside our pride, that great stumbling block of humanity. It's time to humble ourselves and face reality. WE are the change. WE are Christ's hands and feet in this world. God has given us everything we need to fulfill His mission. It's time to do something. It's time to step up.

Oh God, bring Your church back to You. Turn our eyes from the unfulfilling things that cloud our vision. Turn our eyes to You. Break our hearts for what breaks Yours. Transform us into the people You've called us to be, as shown in Jesus' life. Bring us back to You.