Come Out of the Cage

Nowadays the norm for Christians has been getting up on Sundays, eat breakfast, get out of the car all smiles no matter what happened at home or on the way there, go to Sunday School, the 11:00 o'clock worship service (that absolutely has to end at noon otherwise half the congregation complains), and then going home to eat lunch and take a nap. And there is nothing wrong with that. Unless afterward you don't take what God has given you that morning and apply it to your life in a radical way. The sunday morning routine has become the cage that keeps us from doing God's work. There is a specific... idea... of how a person should act in church. "We'll sing this many songs standing, these sitting, don't you dare raise your hands when you sing, open your eyes look at the music minister and choir when you sing, sit quietly while the pastor talks..." There is no room for the joy of Jesus Christ when you're too busy worrying you're not acting like everyone wants you to. I tend to close my eyes and raise my hands during the music portion of worship. Sometimes I even do the choruses in sign language if I know the signs. But each time when I open my eyes I can almost feel the disaproving looks. For a while the thought of those looks was crippling. But I've learned to brush it off. I'm not there to worship them; I'm there to worship my awesome and powerful God and Father. These things put us in a cage but Jesus wants to take us out of the cages we're in and unleash on the world!! When we're inside the will of God we're the most dangerous things on the planet! With God's strength we can do anything in His will. But outside God's will is a place of complacency where Satan uses us to tear down God's kingdom instead of building it. Matthew 10:16a Jesus says "Look I'm sending you out life sheep among wolves." We are called to go out into crazy places. "The center of God's will is not a safe place but the most dangerous place in the world." Erwin McManus, Unstoppable Force.