A Heart For The City
The way I was welcomed into the family of God was through mission work. Quite literally, the Gospel I was preaching to an elementary-aged student, meant to deliver them from death to life, ended up being how I was saved myself. Consequently after this, I went on one to two missions every year following this doing the same thing, evangelizing to local communities through either VBS-type environments or going on the street and approaching people as we saw them. This is one of the greatest gifts I received as a new believer, the practice of obeying the Great Commission to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth and within the local community.
I’m currently writing this from Denver International Airport after spending a week partnering with a church reaching their communities, and my heart has been both set ablaze and uniquely broken at the same time. Witnessing the mountains that make my heart marvel, a city brimming with excitement and recreation, while simultaneously knowing 95% of the Denver population are not followers of Christ allowed me to see the cry of God’s heart to reach His people. The amount of churches in the area make the reality of the city changing hard to overcome because the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few (Matt 9:37-38), yet God is at work because His innermost desire is to see His people return home into His warm embrace.
A HEART FOR A CITY
I’ve grown up within two cities that have deeply formed my heart. One was where my earliest childhood memories were made, friendships were forged, and this was a place I called home. The second was where my grandparents watched and cared for me, and the rich culture my family came from was fully shown to me. I’ve visited other places but nowhere captures my heart quite like Mesquite & Garland, Texas.
I don’t know where you’re from but I do know this: God longs for you to be one with Him and those in your community. To love a city for its architecture can lure one in and satiate the momentary longing for a gorgeous place. Enjoying this kind of lifestyle will allow a level of comfort that is needed to truly care for a city. But to live in a city on mission, your heart must be broken for the people in it who have yet to know and love Christ. A move of God requires a holy and consecrated people who long to see the Spirit of God at work in a way that will last for generations, rather than for temporary success.
In other words, when you lay your head down at night and envision the life you desire, does it include reaching people for God, or is it secluded to just your sphere of people who already know Him? Do you seek ways that you can bring life and advocacy to the people in need around you? Are you allowing yourself to be inconvenienced so that when you encounter the barista at your local coffee shop you’re able to treat them as a person loved by God rather than a means to get what you want? These questions are not meant to bring shame or pain, they’re meant to prod at the heart so that the love of God would come alive in you through sacrificial service towards His people.
May this encourage you in two ways; to love a community of people for no other motive than to serve them, and for your heart to break for those who’ve yet to experience God.
PRAYER
God, would you break our hearts for what breaks yours? I so often get caught in the trail of my own life and forget to take notice of those around me. Would you give me eyes to see and ears to hear, God? I long for the day your kingdom is fully on earth as it is in heaven, but until then would you give me the strength to partner with you in this holy endeavor? In my own strength I fail, my ideas they plunder quickly, but with a move of your Spirit, things change. May the love of my city grow everyday because you’ve called me to a people you call your own. It's to your name that I pray, Amen.