“We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.” 2 Thessalonians 1:3
Recently, I had the absolute privilege of going on our “Core Retreat” with our SLC location. That time together was tremendous. For two nights and three days nearly 100 people gathered in the mountains for a time of: connecting with each other, worshipping together, learning together, hiking together, playing paint ball together, and even watching the kiddos brave a huge “slip-n-side” down the mountain side.
It’s hard to measure the value of that retreat. In some ways, only God knows how precious those times are together. In our culture today, we tend to measure success with immediate results and attainable goals. Though there is a place for those types of measurements, it’s hard to apply worldly measures to the Kingdom of God.
I appreciate how this verse speaks to our “growing faith” and “increasing love for one another” because these qualities are never fully “achieved”. As a Church, our faith and love is never complete. It’s always changing with the maturity of our own hearts.
Our “success” is not found in “numbers” or “quotas”, but rather, in a word aptly spoken, or a prayer offered, or through a light-hearted conversation. In the case of our “Core retreat” our “success” was found through paintball games, climbing walls, and s’mores roasted over a fire.
Our goal is growing faith and increasing love. I am thankful for our Church family, and I am thankful that my “success” is not achieved in simply a day, or in a single event, but in a lifetime.
Growing,
Steele
Posted in A Word from the Pastor