Before anything else

I’ve you’ve gotten to hang out with me for a while and I get to talking about Christianity on campus, you’ll probably know that I talk a lot about this idea of revival, or change happening on campus. For people who follow this and aren’t too sure what that means, it’s when a ridiculous amount of people in a place start falling in love with the world and in love with God, in really simple terms.  I’m a big picture person and things that involve a big group of people always excite me, revivals especially. I don’t think I’ve honestly ever seen a true revival before but I would love to see thousands of people at Cornell worshipping God together.

Tomorrow is slope day, which is this day where everyone just parties and gets drunk on our gigantic slope. We also have Nelly coming tomorrow too. It’s really the craziest event we have at Cornell, everyone comes out, whether or not they drink, just to chill and have a good time. I was walking back to my room this afternoon with a friend and we walked past the gigantic stage they set up for the concert tomorrow and I entertained the thought of ever having a stage that big for something like Easter and having the whole slope filled with people just excited and pumped to hear the gospel and praise God. Now that’s craziness that I want to be a part of. 

But there’s something that’s much much more important than that and I must admit that sometimes I don’t stress or talk about it as much as I should. This something is your personal relationship with Jesus. This is the one thing that should be the most important in any person’s life. This is something that Paul clearly talked about in his letter to the Philippians.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:8-11 ESV)

Knowing Jesus and Him alone is the only thing that matters. In this life there’s really two things that we must do.

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40 ESV)

Love God, Love People. Pretty simple. And if you do these two things, you will be filled with the Spirit of God, and there are things that will come out of your life as a result of it. Looking at the fruit of the Spirit, we can definitely see some changes that are supposed to be visible in a believers life. And something that I’ve found to be very interesting is that all these characteristics are the FRUIT, singular, of the Spirit. They’re supposed to come out together, though it might be the case that some come out in differing amounts in your life.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23 ESV)

I think I can be very honest and say that I’m in need of Christ and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in my life every day. It’s very clear that there are a lot of days, like today, when I’m not walking in the Spirit and I need to remind myself God is supposed to be my all in all. I need to turn my eyes to the cross and remind myself that it’s the only thing that matters in my life. Sure, I’m placed here as a student, but if my life is not right with God and if I’m not focusing on the Cross and the gospel, then it doesn’t matter if I get straight As or straight Fs, because everything is worthless.

So before you go about and think of your ministry, or your small group, or your large group, look to the cross. Remind yourself that you were once a sinner in need of a savior, that savior was Christ, who died for you and all your sins on the cross. He paid your debt, that you were supposed to pay through an eternity without God. You are now a saint, through whom Christ lives and the Holy Spirit moves.

There is no point in thinking about leading your ministry, your large group, your small group, making outreach events, programs or the like, if you yourself are not in a right relationship with God. So join me if you feel led, in prayer and meditation upon His word daily. Then out of these things, we will be led to do everything else, reach the campus, evangelize, and lead with a Godly heart as a result of our love for God and for Christ.