Last Sunday, we had a chance to hear from our Deacon of Kingdom Kids, Denise Lafayette. One thing that I loved about Denise’s message was how she brought together so many important parts of what it means to live with conviction. As Christians, we all share a calling to pursue justice, and to advocate and stand up for others. But we’re also called to the simple task of pursuing God daily. We need to establish good disciplines and habits in our lives that will lead to fruitfulness.
Denise reminded us that we need both in our lives. As faithful followers of Jesus, we need to cultivate our inner spiritual life. We need to keep working on disciplines like prayer, worship, and Bible study. But at the same time, we need to cultivate our outer spiritual life. We need to learn about justice, serving others, and being a good witness for God in the world. We need both an inner and outer spiritual life—to love God, and love others!
Daniel from the Old Testament is a great example of this, as Denise shared. Denise highlighted three lessons we can learn from the life of Daniel. First, Daniel was trustworthy and excellent. Denise shared a quote from Jim Rohn. “Successful people don’t do extraordinary things; they do ordinary things extraordinarily well.” At LifeSpring, I see a heart to do things well, and to the glory of God. I think of our Food Hub barbeque last weekend, where our volunteers worked tirelessly to serve food, and do it well. I think of our Greece Fundraiser on Sunday, where so many of our kids and adults stepped up to help in different ways just to make things enjoyable for others. I think of our Kingdom Kids team, who work tirelessly week after week to train up our kids. The passion for God is tangible!
A second lesson we can learn is to always follow God’s laws, and not man’s. Daniel was a political figure who served under the king and was a huge blessing to many. Yet, he had a firm commitment to follow God’s laws. It was Daniel’s faithfulness that allowed him to rise up and provide for so many under his care. But it was also his faithfulness that got him thrown into a den of lions! Through both the good and the bad, Daniel stayed faithful to God’s laws and God’s ways—a true example for us.
Third, we need to be consistent. “Long-term consistency beats short-term intensity,” as Bruce Lee said. Did you know that it takes an apple tree 2 to 8 years before it bears any fruit? Before that, it may seem like nothing is happening. But it is in the consistency of the growth of the tree that we finally see fruit. And if you’ve ever seen an apple tree in an orchard, you can see how much fruit a good tree can bear! Rich fruit only comes about by consistent growth, not relying on short-term intense moments.
I think Denise’s message was a great lead up to our next two weeks together at Lifespring. This coming Sunday, we’ll be hearing from Adrian about his ministry’s international work. The weekend after is our Family Weekend, where we will be learning about trauma care. Personally, I’m looking forward to cultivating our “outer” spiritual life as a church family. I think it will be a great opportunity to hear about what God is doing outside our four walls, and be connected to this in some way. As a church family, let’s allow God to speak to us about these things as the Holy Spirit reveals ways He wants us to be a part of what He’s doing.