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President John F. Kennedy proclaimed, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country!” This challenge is a principle that should be the guide for all the citizens of the United States of America. We should desire to be citizens that want better for the future generations of this great nation. We should want to stand up and do something for our country.
The same thing can be said about members of the Lord’s Church: “Ask not what your congregation can do for you. Ask what you can do for your congregation.” What a wonderful event it would be if all Christians found ways to help the local congregation. So many times we are concerned with how many cards we receive and not with how many we send. We are concerned with how much we are loved, but often fail to consider how much love we have shown. We get upset when someone does not speak to us, but forget that we did not speak to others. Ask what you can do for your congregation.
Notice Philippians 1:9-11: “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” We can be people who give love, are filled with knowledge, understand judgment, live excellent lives, and be filled with the actions of righteousness.
This article was not written to point out some glaring problem at any congregation, but to help us come to the realization that we are servants of the Lord. Kennedy was asking the nation to do something, and we should be asking ourselves to help build up the local church. We must ask ourselves if we are willing to reach out and be the help that is needed in times such as these.
Jonathan Burns
Findlay church of Christ
Sparta, TN