Chad Runge, of The Church in West Ridge, Chicago, IL asks the question: People walk away. Leave. Switch. Even Abandon. As a servant in the church, how do you handle it? How do you pick yourself back up? Recover from rejection? Keep on loving, even when it may not come back to you, at all, ever?
2 Timothy 4:20 Erastus stayed in Corinth, and I left Trophimus sick in Miletus.
People walk away. Leave. Switch. Even Abandon. As a servant in the church, how do you handle it? How do you pick yourself back up? Recover from rejection? Keep on loving, even when it may not come back to you, at all, ever? Paul went through this. Jesus most certainly did. Judas walked with him for a couple years, was entrusted with many of the same truths, experiences, and moments, that the other disciples were. Jesus didn't withhold. He didn't shy away from it. He wasn't reluctant, even when the man was accused of stealing from the community money pot. Even when he handed Him over to death.
When I look back at some of my moments in ministry. I cringe. I know that I treated people so un-Christ like, it's freakish. I mean this: I didn't have the kind of patience God has with people. I quit on people. I don't see all the way down the road that God sees. I know there are really great relationships I don't have because people didn't meet my expectations/qualifications. They didn't perform. They didn't live up to the standards, hoops, expectations I, and I mean, I placed in front of them.
So when they don't meet the man made steps, I can then say, "see, they don't really love God, they aren't on fire, they're not radical enough." No, actually, that isn't necessarily the truth. The TRUTH, is that God has each one of us on a process, a journey, and sometimes, we have to be left sick in Miletus. We have to let go, and let God be God. He is patient. He is with us, with the people we walk with, and more often the case is that He is waiting for us to respond to truth, repent, and live in faith.
So when people were deserting Paul like he had the plague, he just rolls with it. He entrusts them to God, to the process. You see, if I have to perform, it's all about me, and not God. If I walk in Grace and Mercy, then I live out of the love of God changing my life. So will others around you, and me. The motive, then, to change, grow, and be the Church, to do Kingdom stuff, is pure. It's because of who God is, and my response is righteous and holy. The works, they take care of themselves.
Here's to you, Trophimus, get well, and walk on. HT
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