What Are You Looking For?

Jeff Carr is a facebook friend and preaches for the Southwest Church of Christ in Lakeland, Florida.

In a recent facebook post, he referred to a sermon preached in their summer series by Don Truex based on Ephesians 4:20. “But that is not the way you learned Christ”

“Did you know that you will find what you are looking for?,” Jeff asked. “As a teacher of the Bible I make the assumption that most (all?) in my audience want to “learn Christ” and that is what I intend to give them.”

“If a church leadership is NOT providing that either they have to change or you need to make a change in where you attend,” Jeff observed. “Back to finding what we are looking for. This was found on social media and I find it helpful.”

If you go to church looking to become offended, you will succeed.

If you go to church looking for places where people fall short, you will find them.

If you go to church looking for imperfection, you will see it.

But if you go to church looking for an opportunity to worship alongside broken people (just like you), you will find it.

If you go to church looking for a place to serve, you will find it.

If you go to church to love people like Jesus, you can.

10/10 times you find what you are looking for.

Jeff’s piece from an anonymous social media source reminds me of this illustration I also found on social media credited to Craig Groeschel in his book Soul Detox.  

Think about the difference between two birds: a vulture and a hummingbird. Vultures soar high in the sky, looking and searching. What does a vulture find? Dead things. The ugly oversized bird doesn’t stop until he finds lifeless, rotting road kill.

Contrast the vulture to the tiny hummingbird. With wings flapping twenty beats a second, what does this small bird find? Not dead things and disgusting rancid meat, but instead, sweet, life-giving nectar.

Daily, each bird finds what he is looking for. The same is true for you. You can be on a road-kill diet or you can find nectar in each day. It’s up to you, because you will find what you search for. If you want to find things to be negative about or to worry about, it is not hard to do. If you plan to be critical, you don’t have to look far to find fault.

If you choose to be negative, you’ll easily accomplish your goal. But if you want to see the good in life, you can find it everywhere. If you choose to watch for places where God is working, you’ll see his loving presence each place you look. If you decide to look for hope, faith, and a better future, you will discover these positive things and more, countless times a day.

Indeed you will find what you are looking for in life. In other people. In your community. And in your church.

What are you looking for?

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman