One of the most important lessons that God wants us to learn as His children is that we're to be part of His team. Yes, that means that we've got people who are part of the Church that we can learn from, turn to and rely on when we're struggling. Yes, it means that we can talk with God when we've got things we're struggling with, when people are on our hearts, when we have awesome things happen and when we're in need. But I think that Jesus' visit would have looked very different if God wasn't about team. What do I mean? I think Jesus would have come down all conquering hero and and revealed Himself to be who He is in a very real and obvious way (kind of what we now assume the Second Coming will look like). But that's not what happened. Instead, Jesus came down to Earth and lived as both man and God among us doing both the very normal including eating and sleeping to the very Divine from forgiving sins to feeding thousands.
So going back to being part of a team, specifically God's team, what does that mean? It means that sometimes God wants us to take the first step before He shows us the path, sometimes God wants us to talk with someone before they share what's on their heart or ask about God, sometimes God wants you to do the hands on work of building or moving or creating. Why? Because while He can, God isn't going to do all the work of making miracles happen, bringing people to Christ or resolving the problems in our world.
There are a couple of really important things to realize about this. First, it means that we can't get all stuck up and lazy about what it means to be a Christian, because pretty much every time we're going to have to get off our butts to get stuff done. We also can't act all superior because God isn't going to just make life a breeze for us so we can skip the challenges that the rest of the world experiences. Second, it gives us the opportunity to build a relationship with God. You have a much stronger relationship with people who all pull their own weight or are actively involved in the work with you than you do with people who just hand you stuff or walk in and out of your life in a matter of minutes. Third, it shows how much God cares about each of us. God won't ask us to do something we physically can't do as humans (like part the Red Sea or turn stones into bread) but He will ask us to do something we can do like hand out bread or raise our hands or take a walk or sing a song or build a house. Of course, along with those very human actions usually is a great amount of faith that God will work through those human actions and do the amazing things that need to happen.
So how have you been doing recently as a team player on God's team? Have you been pulling your weight or at least been giving it the effort that has been asked of you? If you haven't been doing your part, there's a good chance God's been waiting for you to step up, and there's no day like today to do what God is asking of you, however simple it may seem.
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