Romans 1
By Pastor Steve
Re-Focus
Have you ever used this term? When I was in my last Pastorate, we went through a process with New Church Specialties to determine the strengths and weaknesses of our Church. (From what I have been told, the Twin Falls Church went through the same process a number of years ago as well). Following a series of questionnaires being filled out by the congregation and tabulated by New Church Specialties, we were informed of our strengths and weaknesses. Once we determined what was most needed in our congregation, we had to go through a “Re-Focus” process and adjust our energies and resources where most needed in order to best accomplish the Great Commission of the Gospel in our community.
After leading the Church Board through the process of developing a strategic plan, I was quite surprised by the comments from some of the teachers in our congregation. They did not want to use the term “Re-Focus” for our strategic plan because the term “Re-Focus” for children in the school system was used to define where a child was failing so the teacher could “Re-Focus” the child to do better. I guess in some ways it was fine for the teachers to redirect the children to focus on their weaknesses; but the teachers in the congregation were not too happy about having someone define and redirect us so we could “Re-Focus” and do better in our church’s weaknesses.
In many ways, I think that the last section of Romans chapter one is a sort of “Re-Focus” for humanity. It is a gift from the Lord which defines and describes where humanity is failing and living in “godlessness and wickedness”. But this redirection from the Lord is not intended to promote guilt in the human soul; but rather to provide a new direction in order to “Re-Focus” our lives so we can live in agreement with the Lord’s desires rather than our own selfish desires.
The next time the Lord provides a “Re-Focus” for your life through the loving nudge of His Holy Spirit, take a few moments to pray. Remember that the Lord does not desire to fill your heart with guilt, but rather fill your life with His power to abstain from sin and be freed to live in the victory of the Holy Spirit. “Re-Focus” is a blessing if we so choose to be led by His process.
