Quick Thought: The Church of Today

After reading through a few church and ministry visions and goals...

I fear the day when our goals as the body of Christ is merely to be a 'positive influence' and to make people 'feel valued'.

Does that not undervalue the gospel of the Cross of Christ?

He came, He died, He rose, to be much more than merely a 'positive influence' and to make people 'feel valued'.

A Call to Men to take Responsibility

This is a call to stoop down and to take the responsibility to be a leader—a servant leader in the various ways that are appropriate to every different relationship to women. It's a call to us men,

• that we should take the risk of getting egg on our faces;
• that we should pray like we've never prayed for help in this tremendous responsibility;
• that we should be in the Word more than we ever have been to know what God expects of us;
• that we should plan things more than we do, and be intentional and thoughtful and less carried along by the mood of the moment;
• that we should be disciplined and ordered in our lives;
• that we should be tender-hearted and sensitive;
• that we should take the initiative to make sure that there is a time and a place to talk to her about what needs to be talked about—this "her" could be a friend, a date, a colleague, a wife, a sister;
• that we should be ready to lay down our lives in discharging this responsibility to be the leaders God is calling us to be.

(from John Piper: Desiring God)