Take the step

We have been talking about getting good godly counsel and adhering to it. Why is this important? So we can run and finish our race and hear God say to us, “Well done good and faithful servant.” My pastor Esther has been saying something recently that has stuck with me. She said, and I paraphrase of course; God is not interested in you being perfect. What He is going to ask you is this, “Did you do what I asked you to do?”

Finishing our race strong is all about obedience to what God wants us to do in our lives. Sometimes we overcomplicate things. Obeying God is not always super complicated, it’s usually simple. On the weekend I was reminded of how I started going to Maximize Church years ago. I was doing my post graduate diploma in Sydney Australia. I was new to Sydney, and I ended up renting a room in an apartment with this lady named Erica. Erica was a Christian and was going to a Chinese church with her family at the time.

She asked if I was Christian of which I said I was. She asked which church I was going to, but as I had only been in Sydney a few months I did not have a church at the time as I wanted to join a small local church. Yes, I had this weird thing where I wanted to be in a small church where I’d get to know the pastors and the pastors would know me. I remember Erica saying she wished she could take me to her church, but it was in Chinese. One day she went for a walk with her kids, and she walked past a church a few minutes from her place. She came back and told me to check it out when I had time.

It was a Uniting church. I grew up in the United Methodist Church and branched out to a Pentecostal church. I was a bit reluctant to go because it was not what I wanted but felt I should go anyway. While I was there, I saw a notice board. I can tell you, I’m not one to read church notice boards but for whatever reason, I read it. It was then that I realised that there was another church meeting in the same building at midday that same day. It was called Maximize Church. I went back at midday to check it out and the rest is history.

If Erica had not been obedient in telling me about the church she had stumbled into, I would not have made it there. If I had not been obedient to go “try it anyway” despite my reservations, I would not have ended up in the place God was trying to lead me to.

What I am getting at is this, obedience is simple. It is literally one step at a time. One conversation at a time. One “yes” at a time. We overcomplicate obedience sometimes because we are trying to work out the end result before we even take the first step. The outcome belongs to God, our part is to obey and take the step God has put in front of us.

I am fairly sure Erica will be hearing, “Well done good and faithful servant!” Just for her simple act of pointing me towards the church near our apartment. Her job wasn’t to get me there. The end result was God’s problem not hers. Her job was to simply tell me about it. When she told me, my job wasn’t to figure out how this church would fit into my 5 year plan. It was to obey the Holy Spirit telling me to go anyway. To show up to the Uniting church anyway.

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with the Uniting church, I just feel drawn to the Pentecostal churches because that’s where I feel at home. Wherever God calls you, that is where you go. Obedience is simple. It is not complicated. It is simply us choosing to partner with God in what He is doing. Saying “Yes” when we don’t understand. Taking the first step when we can’t see the step after that. It is trusting God with our lives and with the outcome in every situation.

Life is not about perfection, it is about obedience. Don’t overthink things. Sometimes God gives us incomplete instructions on purpose. When we take the first step the rest will follow. Put your faith to work and start taking steps towards your God future. That way, when God asks, “Did you do what I asked you to do?” You can answer confidently and say, “I think so” haha JK. You can say, “Yes, Lord.”

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano.