Normally, Facebook statuses annoy me.  Did I just openly admit that out loud?  Try not to take that personally.  I guess I just don’t really feel affected by most of them.  For example– right now, my Newsfeed is looking an awful lot like an ESPN ticker.  Seeing as it’s not College Basketball season and the Summer Olympics haven’t started yet, I’m not really into what’s going down in the world of sports these days.  (With the exception of whether or not NC State’s Baseball team continues to progress, of course.)

However, once in a great while, something will be at the top of my Newsfeed when I log in that really does change my life.  Today, it was the following Francis Chan quote:

“If everyone gave and served and prayed exactly like you, would the church be healthy and empowered? Or weak and useless?”

That was a little more convicting that I would have liked for my few minutes of mindless Facebook-ing.  I sat there just kinda staring at the screen and pondering that question until it refreshed itself and that top spot was replaced by comments and opinions about Duets, the newest reality music competition.  (Since I wasn’t watching it live, I couldn’t let it spoil what was happening.  You understand.)  I responded to a few folks and logged out.  I sat there watching Duets and considering the question that Francis Chan had inadvertently posed to me.

If everyone gave and served like I do– we might be in trouble.  I’m not always a cheerful giver and sometimes I’m a grumbling servant.  So, we would be looking pretty useless, huh?  If everyone prayed exactly like I do– well, I just don’t know.  Sometimes, I’m asked to pray about something on behalf of someone, and unless I write it down or stop and pray right then for them– I forget to intercess for them at all.  However, at other times, I find great joy in standing in the gaps for someone else.  Maybe it depends on the person I’m praying for?  It shouldn’t!  And sometimes, I spend a great deal of time doing all the talking during my prayer time and really I need to be listening.  I’m not always asking for what I should be either.  So if the whole church prayed exactly like I do all the time– we would not be what I would call empowered.

What is it that keeps me from serving wholeheartedly?  Why am I not always such a cheerful giver?  Prayer is probably the most powerful aspect in my walking with the Lord– why am I not tapping into that?

What about you?  If everyone gave and served and prayed exactly like you, would the church be healthy and empowered? Or weak and useless?