Speaking with a pastor friend the other day, it seems we shared the same frustration. Trying to communicate the God of the bible to people is never easy, but we seemed to be having a particularly difficult time getting people to respond to the Lord’s call to serve. The consistency of the lack of time response suggested a need for a different approach. It suggested a need for a more basic shift in thinking and not simply a better appeal. The people with whom we labor certainly have God in their lives, but that just may be the problem.
For many, God and church are a part of our life’s routine. He is apart of our life’s make up; apart of our culture and our world. He completes an otherwise full and busy life. He is knit into the fabric of our lives but only as a piece of the bigger tapestry that is our life.The irony is that a god, any god, must by nature be bigger than a background. If there is a god, then by nature he must be all-consuming. Certainly the Lord God of the Bible, our creator, cannot be relegated to fitting into the lives of people. Our lives must fit into the tapestry of his being. This may be the essence of being in Christ. A god who can fit into the background of people’s lives is by definition not God.
The Point of Reflection 