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We live in a time where ministry comes before the message. Our world is so jaded, so disappointed, so full of despair, that people won't listen to anything you have to say until they've seen you actually do something. If you want your community to notice your church, fix a problem in your community — help kids read at grade level, take care of a park, build somebody a house. When you show up and serve, the gospel conversations will follow.
There's a lot of despair in church leadership right now with all the surveys telling us church membership is declining. But remember — people lie on surveys. What we're actually finding is that people have run out of what the world promised them. They've discovered they were sold a bill of goods, and now they're rediscovering the Bible, rediscovering small groups and home churches. It's not always showing up on the major surveys, but it's happening.
Buildings will get smaller. Churches will become community hubs used seven days a week. And a new generation of believers will become missionaries to their own neighborhoods and prayer warriors for their friends. Stay faithful — God promised nothing would come against His church, and He has been faithful.
When I turned sixteen, I got my first car — a 1969 black Volkswagen Beetle, purchased for about $300. It had a roof, it didn't leak too badly, and the floorboards were mostly intact. Like most first cars back then, it had quirks: the radio only worked with the heat on, only one windshield wiper worked (and it was never the driver's side), and — most importantly — the alignment was always off.
If your car pulled left, you had to fight it by turning right all day long, and vice versa. This was before power steering, so by the end of the day you were exhausted just from wrestling the car to keep it out of the ditch. If you ever let go of the wheel, it would run itself right into the ditch.
That's the same reason many of us go to bed exhausted every night. We've been fighting our lives all day long, trying to keep them out of the ditch, because our lives aren't aligned. Things won't get better until we find a way to get our lives aligned — and that's exactly what Proverbs 3 is about.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will bring healing to your body, refreshment to your bones. (Proverbs 3:5-8)
This is one of those proverbs we know by heart — quoted often, even by people unfamiliar with Scripture. Proverbs itself was a training manual for young men, sayings gathered by rabbis and fathers to guide life through memorable, sometimes startling teaching. But we often quote this passage lightly, without grasping the weight of what it's really asking.
