to GO or to STAY

the thoughts are swarming my brain. they are going on and on and on.

having said that, i will apologize now for the fact that this may possibly branch into tangents(or rants?)all over the place. its where i'm at.

currently i am reading 'irresistible revolution' by shane claiborne. its part of what's got my brain in a whirlwind.
we are commanded in the gospel of Matthew to "go and make disciples of all the nations..."(Mt.28:18-20). then why are so many of us sitting at home?
there is also a keith green song that says
"Jesus commands us to go, it should be the exception if we stay.
its no wonder we're moving so slow, when His church refuses to obey,
feeling so called to stay."

now, i'm not trying to imply that no Christian should ever stay in one place for a longer period of time, cause there are some great examples of people who went into places and stayed(mother teresa is just one). however, those people were also one's willing to not settle for anything, they preached to the poor, the destitute. people were getting saved and going out to save more. that's the key, they were going out to save more - not getting saved and becoming comfortable in that, so comfortable that they fill yet another pew in the church.

sitting here i start to think about mega churches. you know, those churches that are filling to the brim and seem to be getting people saved all over the place. i don't think i could ever attend a mega church. again, let me stipulate that i don't have any issues with churches being filled to the brim or getting people saved! in fact, i want and pray that this will happen in my own church. the issue in my thought process comes when people come in, get saved and stay in. how many of those people are pew fillers? how many have really been called to stay in the good 'ol USofA? this country is full of churches that are filled with people. then how come its no longer considered a Christian nation?(yes, i realize there is probably some debate on this notion!) because too many people are staying in rather than going out! end of story.
i think this is why i have felt God tell me to stay with and fight alongside the salvation army. the premise for getting people saved and sanctified is in our history, now we just need to get back to it...we're getting there. however, there has been a decline in the making of salvation army officers over the past 10 years in this country(as well as in my home country of canada). why are we having such a hard time producing officers? people aren't feeling "the call?" that's a bunch of bologne! if we are called to fill a pew, we are called to spread the gospel. and if we're just filling a pew for the sole purpose of being there, then we definitely need to check our hearts and start praying for God to show us the errors in our ways.
OR
we could read the gospel and learn from the best example of them all - JESUS.

"The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. but we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. we pretend to be unable to unserstand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. take any words in the new testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. my God, you will say, if i do that my whole life will be ruined. how would i ever on in the world? herein lies the real place of Chrisitian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible. to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the new testament." Soren Kierkegaard

when was the last time you read the gospel? if its been a while, you should have a go of it. be warned though, it could possibly mess everything that you know up...wouldn't that be fabulous???

blessings.