James Duff February 7th 2016 ~ Seeking Him first

What is God currently doing in my life?What is God currently doing in and through St Philips?These are excellent questions and I believe they are the right type of questions to be continually asking and processing.There is a natural rhythm to our years. We celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas, we abide during January and then the machines - jobs, clubs, committees, churches - start firing up in February and we can feel like slaves sucked into their orbit and dancing to their demands of doing more.We live in a culture where doing more and being seen to do more is often seen as a sign of success and competency. Tragically this idea has not escaped the church, the leaders and people in them. It is tragic, I believe, because the majority of the time our motives for doing more are good.  We want to be producing good fruits (John 15, Gal. 5) and doing good works that God has ordained for us to do (Eph. 2) but we can end up burnt out and with no good fruit.Malcolm, the PC and staff team are all unified around the idea of seeing growth in God’s kingdom at St Philips. We want to see more people involved in Missional Communities that see themselves as on mission for God. We want to see more people in small groups that nurture each other - groups such as book clubs, sewing groups, art groups etc. We want to see more people in prayer groups and Bible studies. We want to see more people giving to the ‘red bag’ ministry that collects non-perishables for the struggling in the area, more people becoming passionate about stewardship of the earth’s resources through EcoChurch. There are many more ministries (stuff) that we do and we want to see more people participating in them. Will all of these pressures to do more help us answer the questions I posed at the beginning of this musing?Personally I have come to realise more and more that I need to first ask what God is doing in my life and the church before I run off and get busy doing more. I tend to be an activist and to begin by thinking about best strategy and ministries that we can implement in mission, instead of seeking what God is doing and then joining him.You may be wired in a similar way to me. You may begin your year asking questions such as: Where should the kids go to school this year? Can I stay in this job? Will we make enough money to cover costs? Will my marriage last? Should I go on an oversees holiday? Is it time to retire? I believe the answer to these good question will become clearer when we begin by seeking God.This quote from missiologist Neil Cole, helpfully clarifies this type of thinking: “The church is not sent on a mission by God; rather, God is on a mission and the church is called to join Him.”Every year we want people to draw closer to God, to know His love, to fix their eyes on Jesus and open their hearts to Him. It is not doing more that makes this happen; it is by seeking Him first. This is the most important thing we can do this year and every year of our lives.God blessJames