Just starting your Christian walk? Still incubating? God loves you. He is patient with you. And he is committed to you!

But keep perspective: God will put you to work in years ahead, mentoring others, discipling others, teaching others, seeking the lost. Non-believers, seekers, transitioners, new believers, family members, your own children, hurting/struggling believers, or just strong believers who need fellowship and friendship. God is preparing you to make disciples and serve others. To practice hospitality, hosting, teaching, correcting, encouraging, feeding, giving, and being a role model. It will happen more quickly than you imagined. Your local Christian community needs you.

So as you develop spiritual habits, learn the words of Jesus, learn to love other people, participate in the life of Christian community, grow in your obedience, and submit your heart to the gracious care of your Good Shepherd, remember David’s prayer:

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.” (Psalm 51)

And Paul’s counsel,

“If anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.” (2 Timothy 2)

God is preparing you to be “useful to the master of the house.” But if you don’t cleanse yourself of what is dishonorable, your fruitfulness will be stifled. So be eager to grow in wisdom, making the “best use” of your time:

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” (Ephesians 5)

Michael Glodo writes:

“The Church, as a demonstration of God’s riches and power, should be made up of people who would normally not associate with one another otherwise. Conversely, the church where this reconciling effect is absent testifies to the absence or impotence of the Gospel. This raises a very serious question. I realize this will be controversial, not so much because the doctrine is not clear, but because its consequences strike at some of the most deeply ingrained practices of many evangelical Christians. Of course, an obvious implication is that racial and economic segregation in the church are contrary to the very nature of the Gospel. It also makes clear why class bigotry is hostile to the Gospel. But another conclusion also seems inescapable: churches, and more specifically worship services, which are targeted to specific age groups to the exclusion of others share a fundamental failure to comprehend the heart of the Gospel. The problem plainly stated is that building the church on age appeal is as contrary to the reconciling effect of the Gospel as building it on class, race, or gender distinctions. Add to this conclusion the fact that the family is the normal way in which the Gospel is to be propagated. The primary way in which the Gospel is to come to young people is through older generations. Anything that reduces interaction between generations in the church works counter to the covenant family.”

This has a lot to do with how I do church and friendship and small groups and Sunday-lunches and socials. What is the common bond at my church? Do people feel left out because something other than Christ seems to be a basis of unity? Should small groups so overwhelmingly segregate age groups, regardless of the immediate benefit of easy connections? Should I keep exclusively inviting so many people of the same age group to lunch? What can I do to have substantial interaction with much older and much younger believers in Christ? God is glorified in a diverse church, because it more clearly points to the one Lord, one faith, and one baptism that unites us.