Do You Smell That?

Such a beautiful Sight… I wonder how many of the people that pass this garden on the street ever really stop to take a look at how beautiful it really is or to enjoy the intoxicating aroma that fills the air around it.

You’ve heard the phrase a million times; “you’d better stop and smell the roses along the way.”

As a worship leader, I have the tendency to get very immersed in the “let’s get it done” mentality. We have so many things to accomplish, calendars full of meetings, people to keep track of, new music to learn or write, services to plan, etc. Sometimes we can forget what we are really here for: “To have an intimate relationship with our Creator!”

Jesus said to Peter and Andrew in Matthew 4, verse 18 “Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”

We often get so overwhelmed with our “goal-oriented” lifestyles that we forget to enjoy our everyday lives. We are so focused on “arriving” at our destination or our “next level” that we miss the simple joys of the journey. We spend our entire career as ministers of this life changing Gospel striving for arrival at some  far off destination when all we really were required to do was “Come… follow me….”

Notice, Jesus didn’t tell them where they were going. He just said “Come and follow…” It was the journey He was concerned about.

In Luke 9:23 He says these words: “23 And he said unto all, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

He doesn’t tell us we have to be perfectly organized or constantly completing everything on our to-do list. He says for us to follow Him(we could dive in to the “deny himself and take up his cross” part but that’s another discussion).

Please don’t misunderstand my words here! I firmly believe that we must have goals. We must be organized or we will never be able to lead people anywhere. I’m just afraid that we have become so consumed with a “Driven” lifestyle that many of us are truly missing the point of what it means to to walk with God.

Paul said it this way: “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”

Notice he didn’t say “I have won thousands of people to Christ. I have built hundreds of churches all over the world. I have written thirty something books, etc. He said I have fought the good fight (did he win?). I have finished the race (first or last?). I have kept the faith(did it keep him out of trouble?).

I believe there are many lessons we fail to learn, blessings we fail to receive, people we fail to touch along the way when we forget that our responsibility in this discipleship thing is to follow… That’s it. “Follow me and I WILL MAKE you fishers of men.”

Stop today. Take a look around you. Take a deep breath. Enjoy the journey.