breakthrough

i have noticed for a while now that i am sometimes almost tired of talking with my brothers and sisters. or perhaps, i'm tired of hearing certain vocabularies in our dialogues- words associated with a desire to change. relationships, discipleship, loving on, being intentional, doing life together, and now even spontaneity. i love all of these things and it certainly is good that we are thinking about how we can make efforts to improve our community- and my problem with these terms is not that they haven't been flushed out in detail as if they have been idly vague and my problem is not with the frequency of their use in our conversations (although it gets annoying)- my problem is with the lack of genuine fruit. a lot of times, if not all times, it is just talk.
as a people pleaser, i am guilty of simply putting up a farce of politeness saying to old acquaintances "hey, we should meet up sometime" without ever having the intention of following through with my words. i always wonder every time i say those phrases what it would be like if i actually made an effort to do those things. in the same way, we say "we ought to be more intentional" or "church family does life together", but then often nothing happens to back our words- we say the things we say just because it has become expected of us. and claiming to want to do life together with someone is quite a bold statement in my opinion. when people say that they feel unwelcome or like they aren't receiving consistent care in the church, i don't blame them as much as the people who raise expectations of how community ought to be and then are not willing to take on the responsibilities that come with actually contributing to that community. i am being harsh, but i am not speaking to those who faithfully serve and i hope not to discourage those who are trying to serve and struggling to see the fruits of their labor. but i am speaking to those who fling around these popular terms in circular conversations to seem spiritual or to feel like they are making a difference just by talking.
although change comes about through conversations and exchanges of ideas, it is the natural order that action follows closely behind words. if you want to invest in the youth, just do it. if you want to serve under those who are older than you, just do it. if you want to share the gospel with a coworker or classmate, just do it. you don't have to meet with a group of brothers or sisters to tell them in extreme detail all of these things that you want to do for God. you can, but only share if you are certain that you will follow through. i'm not saying don't share your goals, even the ones that seem far off, for the purpose of accountability- that is not my point.
in summary, keep things simple: state a goal, serve faithfully (and quietly), and give God all of the glory. if you have a problem with what i purposely placed in parentheses, then think about why.