What if . . .

There are lots of things that I'd like to change, both in my own life and in the life of the church in general. Among them are the following:

✓ What if being a Christian meant just being you?

✓ What if evangelism was more about exuding hope than spreading propaganda?

✓ What if we felt comfortable enough with the truth to simply live it?

✓ What if what truly matters was consistently out in the open and shared with others?

✓ What if we spend much more timing plumbing the depths of the things that are essential than we did debating over the things that are less than essential?

✓ What if our pursuit of truth was unhampered by the pressure to be politically correct or fittting in with any particular group?

✓ What if authenticity governed our lives more than maintaining our self image?

✓ What if we lived in society instead of trying to escape it?

✓ What if we cared more about people’s relationships with God than their affiliation with our favorite groups?

✓ What if we were mature enough to recognize error without always feeling it’s our duty to point it out?

✓ What if church was a comfortable place to be but also a challenging place?

✓ What if we actually believed it’s good to be joyful?

✓ What if we allowed ourselves to grow instead of to stagnate?

✓ What if the rules for the community were based on being real even if that sometimes made us feel exposed?

✓ What if love truly governed our hearts and lives?

✓ What if we actually lived in genuine unfaked ways?

✓ What if the bible were treated more as a place where history, our lives, and God intersect instead of like a battleground for disagreement?

✓ What if we were simultaneously governed by convictions and openness?

✓ What if we learned lessons more quickly than we normally do?

✓ What if we were so determined to be right before God that we were something other than defensive?

✓ What if we truly felt the pull of eternity in our lives each day?

✓ What if . . . ?