Are we comfortable with this?

Sometimes, it's easy to do ministry from where we're comfortable, isn't it? It's easy to stay within the walls of our church. Our homes. Our Christian bubbles.

But that isn't what the Lord has called us to do. I was struck by these words from the book of Ezekiel the other day: "'Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost . . .'" (Ezekiel 34:4)

Can that be said of us? Let's not think of our churches as a whole, but of each one of us individually. Am I seeking those who are sick - both physically and spiritually? I am seeking for lost souls, to bring them to Jesus? His love for them is so great - how can I keep it to myself?

Later on in that chapter in Ezekiel, the LORD says, "'I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken and strengthen the sick . . . '" (34:16). When Jesus walked on this earth, He told His disciples and the Pharisees that questioned His behavior, "'It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'" (Mark 2:17)

I love Christian fellowship - but do we stay within our walls and within our walls only? Do we believe that we literally are the hands and feet of Jesus? Or do we just think it's a nice metaphor? I pray that we don't. I pray that we would be generous to that homeless man that we see on the street corner. That we would spend our time packing boxes of food for the hungry. I pray that we would talk to those we meet "randomly" around town about the Lord. That we pack boxes for Operation Christmas Child. I pray that we bring Jesus into everyday conversation with every day people. That we give up our desires for things of this earth for the kingdom of Christ. . . May we be doers of the Word, not merely hearers!

"Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth." (1 John 3:18)