100 Days to a Healthier ChurchSample

 

Day 3

Today’s Big Idea: Consider your motives. We live in a fast-paced world. Some people love that, so they jump on every innovation as soon as it happens, occasionally chasing fads and fleeting styles. Others are more change-resistant. They constantly push back against new things, as though stubbornness were a spiritual gift. That’s why it’s important at this very early stage to take a heart-check to be sure you’re not too far to one extreme or the other.

If you’re excited about the possibility of change in your church, ponder why you’re excited about it. Is it because this is God’s will, or because you love new things? On the other hand, if you’re resistant and skeptical about possible changes coming to the congregation you love, is it because the changes truly aren’t needed or because you don’t like new things, even when they’re necessary? The answer for both types of people isn’t to keep changing or to keep resisting change, but to slow down occasionally and ponder what’s happening, why it’s happening, and what role God may be calling us to serve in the middle of it. We need to make sure our ideas for the church don’t come first, but God’s ideas do.

Key Verse: Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart (Psalm 24:3–4).

Thoughts to Consider: Psalm 24 establishes that everything belongs to the Lord—the earth and everything in it. When you own something, you get to say what should happen with it. That’s why knowing and doing God’s will should be the priority of every church and every Christian. Everything is God’s. We’re the stewards (caretakers) of His possessions, so knowing His will helps us be and do what we were created to be and do.

In the Key Verse, the “mountain of the Lord” and the “holy place” are references to the temple, where God’s presence dwelt in the Old Testament era. Clean hands (right actions) and a pure heart (right motivations) are essential for those who want God’s presence to be active in their lives—and in their church. 

Today we need to consider our motives. What do we want for our church? Why do we want it? Most importantly, do our desires for the church match Christ’s desires for His church?