I recently attended the Banks High School graduation, which was wonderful in many ways, especially for the graduates and their families. There were so many people there it was heartwarming to see all the support. But one thing really struck me: there were so many people there I didn’t know! And I’ve been a Pastor here in Banks since 1988, before these graduates were even born!

I began to ponder some questions:
Is the Church doing its job, or do people just not care?
How can so many seem to reject the community of faith right in their own home town?
Is it a lack of evangelism? Discipleship? Prayer and faithfulness?
Is it that the church is no different from the world, and yet the world offers more fun?
Are we, the followers of Christ, not attractive? Is our behavior not inviting?
Worse yet, are we driving them away somehow?
Is it OUR behavior?
Are we too judgmental? Or too permissive? Too legalistic? Or too critical?
We talk about Love, but do we do it? Can we do it?
Or are we in Banks under a spiritual attack of some kind; with a veil over us, blinding us to the truth?
Has God abandoned us? Or has He turned us over to the enemy because of our sins?
Do YOU have some questions like these?????

Fortunately, there are some answers we can read in the Bible, when we get overwhelmed like this, and perhaps question our own worth or effectiveness:

John 3:16 Tells us that God is up to something, and has made provision for us who believe, no matter what we see or how we feel about the conditions here. It is not OUR worth and value that win the day, but that of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Who saves those who believe in Him. This, I think, is pretty good news!

2 Cor 3:5 tells us that whatever we think we have to offer, if it’s any good, comes from Him, not us. The Lord is at work, and our job is to cooperate as best we can, and then trust in Him for the results. I think our pride gets in the way, and we try to measure things and define success differently than He does. When things go well we puff up and try to take credit, which of course isn’t very wise. When things go badly we suffer in our confidence and think we’re worthless or failures, which is also not very wise. In both examples we are putting ourselves in the seat of responsibility, instead of God Almighty!

The lesson, then, is to return again to a place of trust in Jesus Christ and be patient with how He works things out. Really? Really. Let faith arise, and the enemies be scattered!

If you’ve been dealing with these kinds of things, I recommend to you a review of God’s Promises!