Have you ever noticed that one of your arms is stronger than the other?
I find that most days, this goes unnoticed—it doesn’t matter if I’m lifting a box that came from Amazon, or setting up tables and chairs for an event. It’s only when I’m lifting weights at the gym—or these days in my makeshift home gym—that I recognize just how much my right arm is stronger than my left.
It’s not immediate though. I don’t necessarily notice it when I start bench pressing. It’s only when I get to my third or fourth set of reps that I start realizing the imbalance because the bar starts dipping slightly lower on my left side.
Let’s think about this for a moment.
Why do you think this is happening? Is it that my left arm suddenly got weaker? And that the weight lifting caused my muscles to deteriorate?
Or, is it that my left arm was already weaker from the outset? And when pressed, put under pressure, and tested, the true strength and health of my arm was simply revealed?
Friends, this global pandemic has not only pressed us to our limits, pressured us beyond our point of comfort, and tested us in ways that we never thought we could handle, but it’s also done the same to the church.
The church is being pressed. The church is being put under pressure. And the church is being tested.
Global pandemic or not, the church has always been a body of believers that are both scattered and gathered. We are called to scatter and share the good news of Jesus making disciples of all nations (Matt 28:18-20), but we are also called to gather regularly and be of an encouragement to one another (Hebrews 10:25). We are called to scatter and gather. Scatter and gather.
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