Deal or No Deal

Our family has become hooked on this show. I don't know the whole story of the lady who was on Monday night but from the few comments I heard, it was evident she was living on a low income while working 3 jobs (yes, 3 jobs). The $1,000,000 prize was lost fairly quickly and then she went on a streak of good guessing. When the offer for her to quit picking was $189,000 I was hoping she would take it. She didn't and kept risking losing everything. In the end, she ended up with $402,000. That's a lot of money for anyone but for someone working 3 jobs, it had to be wonderful. I was excited for her and hope she will do good things in the future.
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I was reading some material written by a preacher from a church in Arizona. It is a newsletter that kicks around all the changes in churches of Christ and beats up on anyone who doesn't agree with his point of view. I think he has a right to do that and there is probably some merit in some of what he writes. Here's what bothers me about those types of newsletters. All they do is talk about what we need to do in church. I'm no Bible scholar and need to reread the Gospels but I just don't recall Jesus spending much time talking about what we need to do in church. In fact, I don't recall any of the New Testament books spending as much time talking about what we do in church as these newsletters do. However, I do read quite a bit in the Bible about what we are supposed to do outside the building - to show love, to serve, to be peacemakers, to show mercy and compassion, to teach and lead the lost to Christ.

I've grown up in a time where it seems much has been made about what happens in our corporate worship to the point I have lost touch with my duty to seek and save the lost. May God help me when I lose sight of the cross, when I forget the greatest command, when I turn inward and focus on myself. I pray I seek my mission of being outward focused on those who need Christ and that the church becomes a place of safety instead of a battleground, that our Christian family will be unified in the glory of a Savior who died for us while we were still in our sin and that we only share in the peace and love that is ours to claim because of amazing grace.