what I learned today

And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. And when evening came they went out of the city.

(Mark 11:15-19 ESV)

Protecting and defending the integrity of the church is something I take very seriously.  Obviously Jesus did!

I question my motives often as ideas come and I pray constantly for clarity of vision and purpose within my daily ministry.  You see it's very easy to slip into worldly ways of accomplishing what you decide needs doing.  It's much more difficult and takes tons of discipline to 'wait on the Lord' as I should.

Leading in ministry is terrifying when you consider the amount of responsibility you carry in regard to God's church.  Today's scripture reading was a great reminder about the responsibility we all bear in protecting and caring for the integrity of Crossroads- the physical church.

I assume however, it refers also to the way our lives are to be set-apart from the rest of the world.  We are called to something different than the world around us understands. We should never be surprised when the lost have no regard or understanding of this.  Our lives are the church, and our relationships are the Body - we are called to a high level of living that only Christ can help us abide in.

Today I learned again to clean and purge and live a life that is a worthy representation of Christ in each word I speak today, in each motive I follow, we are the church.