LIVE IT! - Week 4

Since last weekend was my weekend off, Warren preached the week four message , and Blake led the Bible study, so this blog is really my only input on this passage in Galatians (Read Galatians 3:1-22 here). I just finished listening to Warren's sermon online and loved his term "Spiritual Moonwalking" - this idea where we think and act like we're moving forward, but in reality we're actually going backwards.

I recognise I have spent a lot of time Spiritually Moonwalking and want to identify how I can get some traction and actually get back to walking forward in faith and this salvation I have been given.

Traction is important.  My weekend off I actually spent in Melbourne at the Grand Prix.  As soon as you're involved in motor-sport you very quickly become aware of how important traction is.  It's very easy to build a super powerful engine, but the speed of your race car comes from how best you can use that power to propel your car forwards (i.e traction) - or how much speed your car can carry through the corners. That is exceedingly tricky - getting that power to the road is where the most engineering is needed, and sometimes less power means more traction, and a faster car.  The most powerful engine in the world bolted onto a current Formula One car would not guarantee winning success... too much power and the car will loose it's grip, it will be slow through corners and off them... it will spin its wheels on the straights and go slower... all because the current F1 car is perfectly set up for maximum traction with the power its engine has.

A lot of time in our Christian lives we look for power.  Yes God is all powerful, but that's not what I mean here... instead what I'm talking about are those things in our life that we go towards that make us feel like a good Christian.  The power of belonging to a home group, holding a big fancy Bible, listening to the most popular pastor's sermon podcasts, being the congregation's favourite worship leader.

None of those things are actually bad things... but without the right motivation they don't provide any traction in our lives... and without the traction we may look like we're going forwards, but really we're just sliding backwards.

So I want to search my life for the motivations I have for doing things.  Am I serving God because I have a distinct love for Him and my faith in Him drives me to do things for Him... that's the traction I need... but all too often I feel I may be relying on my own purposes or emotions.

Have a listen to Pastor Warren's sermon... it was a cracker!