By human nature, we want to live life on our own accord. So, when shaping our goals in the pursuit of it, we instinctively find that God becomes a stumbling block. We don’t want to desire God, we express hostility against God, and we express our dissatisfaction to God by ignoring his presence by excluding him from our life. 

  Even the most of so called “religious” people who look faithful outwardly have rough a relationship with God. While fulfilling the religious obligations and duties which demand suffering and hard work, they feel fear, mistrust, and uneasiness deep in their heart. In their heart, God is not that nice. They often blame God when things don’t go well.  But when things go well, they thank themselves. Basically, mistrust against God is buried deep in their religious faith. For them, God is always some distance away. They cannot deny the existence of God but physically and mentally, they have to keep distance from God. 

  The Bible describes these people like the following. “They left God, they made enemy of God, they severed the relationship with God”. Whether it is their indifference to God, hostility against God or keeping distant against God, it reflects their uneasy relationship to God. 

  The Bible explains that salvation is the relationship with God. In the Bible, salvation means restoration of divine relationship with God. The Bible story of the prodigal son who returns to his father after he first disregards him is what the Bible says about salvation. 

  But such reconciliation is only the first step to restoring the relationship with God. Once the relationship with God has been restored, love for God gets more and more stronger. For those who are saved, it is only natural to experience the symptoms you experience when falling in love. Then as their love grows and becomes mature, they start to grasp God’s heart.  Step by step, their self-centered life becomes God focused. God’s love seeps through the motivations that drive plans in their life. 

  This journey to the salvation is in the spirit of house church. House church verbalizes this journey by defining steps going from VIP to shepherd (Mokja). Basically, in house church, we help those who left God to return to God and lead them to a deeper relationship with God. However, I am not saying that the titles (like shepherd, pastor) are the clear measure of their faith to God. One may even argue against defining definite steps in spiritual journey to God. For instance, we sometimes find the shepherd’s heart in those who just turned to God. We also see house church members already walking the spiritual journey like a shepherd.  All I am saying is that it is important to self-examine our spiritual life. 

  “What God means to me? Where am I in the spiritual journey? Where should I go next in the journey?”

I encourage that you ask these reflection questions to yourself.

From pastor, Choi, JiWon