Perspectives by Rev. Lorna Casselman

February 4, 2015 Editor Opinion

 

Dead End

I’m really not sure how I got there. It certainly was not in my plans. It sure seemed like the right road at the time. I was just driving along and crossed a street, and suddenly there it was – a dead end. 

Probably, subconsciously  anyway, I had seen the sign, “Dead End”, but it had not registered. I still had a ways to go, and this way certainly was going nowhere.

Coming to a stop, I had to think how it had happened. When had I turned off the road I should have been on? I had never been quite this way before. Where had I gone wrong?

Taking the turns that I had, seemed to be the only sensible way at the time, but obviously, I had missed the cues and gone my own way. Not yet owning a GPS or a Smartphone, I reached for the Mapquest directions and map lying on the seat beside me looking for a way back to the route I needed.

The Bible says in Proverbs 16:25 that: “There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way that leads to death.”

No one ever plans to make a mess of their life. In fact, most of us begin life thinking that somehow we, along with the rest of our generation, will conquer the world. 

We never really see ourselves taking the “wrong” turns. Those turns just happen as we go along. Sometimes it is weeks, months, or years later, when we realize that the way we have chosen is a “dead end”. It is getting us nowhere fast and there is really no place left to go.

At all times it is good to look to the Author of Life to find the proper directions. He has given us a “Road Map” to help us stay on the right road. Too often we feel that we can handle life ourselves and lay His map on the seat of life for consultation when we become desperate. 

The Lord says, “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea” [Isaiah 48:17-18]. 

The good thing is that God’s road map is always available for consultation to bring us back to the road of life.

Doing an about turn, I retraced my route until I found myself back on the right road. With a great sense of relief, I confidently drove straight to my planned destination.

Where is your life taking you? Hopefully you are planning your destination well and enjoying the journey there.

 

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Perspectives with Rev. George Frey

June 11, 2014 Editor Opinion

 

PARTICIPANTS?

Currently, here in Canada, non-profit corporations have been required to file documents of continuance with our government. In the process of this filing, I am aware of at least one church that has redefined what we normally call members of the church, as participants of the church. 

Initially this did not sit well with me, since as long as I have been aware of the church, those in it had been called members; and this change seemed to be driven by certain changes in corporate law for non-profits. It did not seem to me to be a biblical change. (here I have reasoned from tradition)

However as I considered this matter over several months, I realized a certain value to designating those once called members of the church as participants. 

Suppose, that the key departure from biblical church in our day, was the lack of involvement by its members. Suppose, that the idea of membership in the local church, no longer conjured up the idea of personal sharing in responsibility for the support and progress of the local church’s vision and mission. Suppose, that for most people, church membership means primarily benefits, with little or no responsibility.

In fact, the forgoing suppositions seem to be well confirmed by every survey of the western church over the past decade. From biblically defined financial support, to church attendance, and adherence to a biblically defined world view and lifestyle; what it means to be a member of a local church no longer seems to call for committed involvement.

If the surveys of the past decade are accurate, the key departure from a biblical pattern of church, that separates the church from being what is envisioned in scripture, is the departure from a biblical quality of participation by its membership. 

We must recapture a biblical quality of participation in the local church. Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, has a vision and mission for His Church. The quality of each members participation in the church is not left to contemporary designs, but rather is made clear in Scripture. 

It is our hope that we will all respond to the biblical encouragement to be participating members or our local churches, fully involved in the actualization and conduct of Jesus’ vision and mission for His Church.

George T. Frey, Jr.

pastor @faithchristiancenter.ca

www.faithchristiancenter.ca

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