What if ...?

What if we stopped to take a look at our church and ask if we are truly doing what God has called us to do . . .?

What if when our council met, they prayed over the church, prayed over our leadership, discussed our worship, our education, our flock, our community—our mission . . .?

What if all our members were actively engaged in Bible study, eagerly digging in the Word, getting to know God better and His will for our life and for our church . . .?

What if we all knew God and His Word well enough to defend our faith in a world that is working so hard to tear it down . . .?

What if our families were teaching their children all through the week, prioritizing God over sports, activities, TV . . . using things that happen in this world as teaching moments to shape a biblical world view? What if fathers were the spiritual leaders of our homes . . .?

What if our young people saw God at work in our church in a way that spilled over into our everyday lives and desperately wanted that for their own lives . . .?

What if our worship was a glorious celebration of our God and Savior, people were free to stand, kneel, bow their heads, lift their hands as they felt moved by the Spirit whose presence was so tangible in the room that you couldn’t miss it . . .?

What if everyone was welcome—whether they showed up in a suit or ratty jeans, whether they were clean cut or had tattoos, whether they were "good upstanding citizens" or had a tawdry past . . .?

What if we saw people instead of suits or jeans—real people with names, with joys and hurts, with triumphs and struggles . . .?

What if people saw God working throughout the week in their lives and the lives of others, shared their testimonies, bringing that beautiful witness to support and encourage the others in attendance . . .?

What if people eagerly brought their tithe and gave generously beyond that to do the work that God was calling them to do or to support the work being done in our own church or in the community or at large . . .?

What if we started to see that some of our "needs" are actually "wants" and that there are so many others with real needs, unmet needs . . .?

What if we had a mission fund that was growing even as it was being actively drawn upon to keep up with ever increasing mission work of our church—locally and abroad . . .?

What if people were so excited about God and the work of our church—believed so strongly that what we were about was real, true, important, imminent—that everyone was eager to step up to do the work that needed to be done . . .?

What if we examined God’s word for all it had to say, not just what we wanted to hear? What if we valued truth over comfort . . .?

What if we were brave enough to stand up for the truth . . .?

What if we stood still in a busy world long enough to take time to start our day in the Word, turned down the volume of a noisy world enough to hear that still small voice . . .?

What if each and every day we were brave enough to ask, “Lord, what would you have me do today?”—and then we actually got involved, no matter what the cost . . .?

What if we saw the hurt in this world—and responded . . .?

What if we pointed fingers at ourselves instead of others and loved the unlovable . . .?

What if our church became more than just a building, and actually became the hands and feet of Christ . . .?

Sometimes I just wonder, what if . . .?