why are we putting ourselves through this?

From time to time, as I see people come and go from our campus - some who are just visiting, and others who head over (or back) to the Cedar Falls campus, I ponder this question:

"Why are we putting ourselves through this?"

Why, when there is a more comfortable, more attractive campus just 8 miles down the road, are we sticking it out at a middle school through the cold of winter and the heat of summer, up at the crack of dawn, hours after the service ends, serving in several different roles, on more weekends than off, and not seeing immediate results every single time we walk in the doors?

Why would we think that people who come our way will stay?

Is this really gonna work?

Is it all worth it?

I got a reminder from God today with the definitive answer.

As a staff, at all of our campuses, we are beginning to read this book called "Generosity: Moving Toward Life that is Truly Life" by Gordon MacDonald.  On Day 2 of his study reflections, he quotes 2 Corinthians 8:8-9:

I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

And then, he has this to say about the passage:

Imagine sitting in the congregation when Paul's letter to the Corinthian people was first read.  Are the Corinthian Christians squirming as he pokes and prods their spiritual resilience? They were a boastful, self-confident people.  They reveled in their size, their accumulative talents, the sophistication of their people.

But I don't think that's how those of us at Waterloo would feel if the letter had been read to us.  Rather, we'd say "Yeah... that describes it.  We became poor, hoping that through our sacrifice the people in Waterloo who lack Jesus might become rich with him."

I like being poor in this way.  Sure, I'd like to see more people becoming rich because of it.  I don't want to be poor for the sake of being poor.  Nevertheless: I like the poor version of me better than the rich version.  And I'm starting to see the results in my personal life: more desperate devotion, more natural evangelism, and a deeper hunger for mission.

So, today, take pride in your poverty, Waterloo campus.  God will (and is!) using it to make our community rich in him.

Comments

[Bev Bauer]

Thanks, Jesse! Spirit-filled thoughts; keep it up! I Cor 15:58!!!!!