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By Darcy Mohr

The story of Joshua addressing the people of Israel at Shechem, as told in Joshua 24, helps illustrate the reality for us that God desires our complete devotion to a relationship with Him – He wants all of our heart, soul and mind. Each day we must choose first to seek the Kingdom of God in order to make God’s desire a reality in our lives. In theory, I want to give all of my heart, soul and mind to God. The reality is that I fall short of that desire. However, it’s difficult for me to identify what aspects of my heart, soul and mind that I withhold from God because all I see is the trees in the forest of my life; I can’t see the whole forest. But God can see the whole forest, and a whole lot more, and if I’m willing to spend time with Him, He’ll help me identify the things I need to let go of.

Part of building this relationship with God comes through service to Him – bringing His light into our world. Pastor Alan continually reminds us that by building community with other Christians, we can make God’s light shine far brighter than we ever could working in isolation. The community part is one area that I really struggle with. First of all, it’s easier to work alone than to work with other people. It takes time to coordinate with other people, and time is certainly an area of scarcity in my life, and probably in yours, too. Although I get along well with lots of people, I don’t get along well with everyone I work with – that’s just the reality of life; we like some people more than we like others. It does seem like God continues to bring me together with some of the people I find most challenging to work with. I suppose the challenge is good experience for me and helps me grow as a person; it also helps me examine where I can be challenging to work with and guides me to examine my own faults in an effort to remedy them. Examples of building community are all around us, but certainly our annual food drive and the plans for our property next door would never amount to much if they were undertaken by just one person.

I pray that God will guide us and give us the strength we need when we face challenges working with others. I also pray that God will speak to us in order to identify areas in our life that we need to let go of and hand over to His direction and control. Most of all, I pray that He will continue to guide us to open our hearts, minds and souls to a relationship with Him.

 
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4 Comments

Steve Rowley about 8 years ago

Thanks Darcy for your insightful and thoughtful response. Great caus for further reflection.

Mary Ann Blaksley about 8 years ago

Thank you so much Darcy for sharing this honest reflection which reiterates some of the common challenges that we face as we strive to love God with our whole hearts, souls and minds. Forgiveness is a major factor to "letting go" of what otherwise might impede our walk with God.

John Frogley-Rawson about 8 years ago

Darcy, your reflection captures the challenge on a day to day basis, of living out our desire to follow God's call for our full devotion to him. As you expressed, we must serve and support each other.

Osaro samson ogbeide about 8 years ago

Building a peaceful community is my desire as a Christian and we need to work together because we are members of one body in Christ Jesus.

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