The Business

Galatians 3:22-23 It's interesting how the world looks at Jesus following and how God does. The world tends to look at Jesus following as something ancillary if not tangential to someone's life. It's like a super important hobby or something. But if Paul is channeling the Holy Spirit, and I believe that here he is, God looks at Jesus following as the most important thing in the world. "Everything belongs to you." I'm not taking that to be about ownership, but about the tools and responsibility and authority to pursue or lives together for Christ's sake-our efforts at the rescue mission Jesus left us to continue. And then it's you (church), then Christ, then God (meaning the Father). What all this points to is that if we as Jesus followers have everything we need at our disposal to carry out the mission, then doesn't it follow that according to God the mission we are on is crucial-not only not marginal-not only more than a hobby-but crucial to the epic God continues to roll out on earth? This truth about the importance of true followers being crucial to the plan of God speaks to that old (and irritating) saying, "the church is not a business." If I hear God right the church is not a business; it's the business. When you think about it, is there really any pursuit human beings can make together more important than helping people find their way home safely to God?