Jodan Spina
Being a follower of Jesus is… difficult. It’s not that Jesus’ call is difficult to attain… he offers it freely to everyone. It’s not that his love or his pursuit of us is something we attain… while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. But what I have found is that following Jesus—that is, daily walking in faith, allowing God to challenge me, to change my heart, to ask me to lay down my life for others—is difficult.
This past weekend at REACH, I found the words to one of the worship songs sticking with me. I found myself singing them as I walked between sessions and as I drove home at night. The song repeats:
“You can have it all God
You can have it all
You can have it all God
You can have it all”
You can have it all God
You can have it all
You can have it all God
You can have it all
And while perhaps you don’t like repetitive worship songs, I think sometimes they prompt us to pray the same thing over and over again until it is a chorus our hearts begin to understand. And I think this was true for me. I have known that there are areas in my life where I have struggled to give “it all” to Jesus—areas where I have wanted to keep a little of this world for myself. But while at REACH I found within myself a desire to lay down my daily, even hourly, desire to keep a little of this world for myself and instead to hand “it all” to Jesus.
During several sessions, I felt the Holy Spirit stirring me toward a life of love, to live into love and allow that love to overflow into the lives of my friends, family, and neighbors as I pray for them, speak kindly to them, and seek to serve them in Christ’s name. And when I am frustrated. . . to remember that it is not my love that can fuel such a life. As Greg Anderson spoke he mentioned that during his years at IPoint he would often counsel his summer staff who asked for prayer for patience and kindness to instead pray for love, because love is patient and kind. God’s love is patient and kind and when his love manifests within us he changes us into patient and kind people. When God’s love manifests within us we become the kind of people that begin to give “it all” to Jesus because we are first secure in his love. The song goes on:
“Pour out your Spirit on our praise
Come let revival fill this place
Stir up our faith for greater things
Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray”
This weekend at REACH, this is what God was doing. He was pouring his spirit upon his people, reviving us as he revived the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel. He was stirring our faith for greater things. Now, to be clear, I am not saying that a conference did it. A conference cannot do anything… but Jesus can. This weekend God stirred my affections for my neighbor. This weekend God stirred the affections of many for their neighbors. He reminded us that what we need is not a love for something of this world but a love for those God loves. What we need is the Spirit of the Living God to stir our hearts and minds with his love so that we might love others.
May we walk in faith. May we be challenged and be changed in heart. May we lay down our lives in love because you first laid down your life for us. Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray.
Jordan Spina is the Associate Director of North American Mission for the Church of the Lutheran Brethren.