Magnetic Hill

I always look for her every Sunday.  She sings in the choir and she is the happiest looking lady.  You have to notice her.  Others smile momentarily, but she glows.   The joy of the Lord radiates.  It's not a fake smile or one that forms upon recognition of someone in the congregation, it is birthed in Who's she is and all that Christ has done for her.

Recently I've heard or received several teachings about what being filled with Jesus looks like, or 'should' look like.  Those who know the Lord personally and intimately need to be going out of their way to celebrate the gift of Christ and His salvation.

Sitting at Tim Horton's last week, there were seven of us enjoying a time of friendship and fellowship.  There was laughter and sharing.  There was unmistakable joy.  Several times as I let my eyes wander to others sitting nearby, they were looking at us not in an annoying, be quiet kind of way, but in a longing, I wish I had that much fun kind of way.

My Pastor said last Sunday that Christianity should be a magnet.  We need to live Christianity lavishly in our communities.  Tozer writes that we need to deliberately encourage a desire of God.  Complacency is a foe.  Acute desire must be present.

Do you love coming to church and gathering with God's family?  Does your face show it?

Oh Lord, give us a holy longing and desire.  Birth a new freshness in our hearts.  May we be, as my Pastor said, gripped by the grandness of God's grace.  God's power on display in us can be breathtaking, captivating and inviting.

I don't know how many of you have ever visited Eastern Canada, but in Moncton, New Brunswick there is an attraction called "Magnetic Hill".  It's really a type of optical illusion.  When a car is placed in neutral at the base of the hill, it will begin to roll backwards, apparently uphill.  To observers it looks like the car is being drawn by an uncontrollable, magnetic force.

I was thinking last Sunday as my Pastor was sharing, that our church sits on a "hill".  Could we be our cities "Magnetic Hill"?  Could we become known as such a contagious collection of Christ-followers that others are drawn to come and check us out, desiring to see and know the Force that compels us?  In order for that to happen we need to put smiles on our faces and live with spectacular, radiant joy.

Can others really see Jesus in you today?