margin of influence

Felt like last night was a vivid portrayal of stepping beyond our margin of influence. It’s immersing oneself in what it means to be guided by the spirit. No gimmicks, no hiding behind our gifting, this is a place that forces one to trust in God’s leading, fully. It’s taking spiritual discernment to a whole other level.
On the surface level, some if not most can walk through and feel disgusted by images of 45-year old men with wedding bands sitting with three women as they have their arms around him. Or, a girl who couldn’t be older than 13 being led down the street by an old man. I want to punch these guys in the face and show these girls the love of Christ.

But, as Jim shared with us, there is a spiritual element to all this that is much deeper than the issue itself.

Central to being a Christian is this awareness that the world is wounded, and though governments and organizations can be a place where people come together to improve social needs, build social trust, transform broken lives and more importantly broken societies, without spiritual renewal, there will always remain a level of emptiness in all the efforts.

I came here focused on the appeal of the issue, it's becoming apparent I’m going to leave with something far deeper than that.