Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Last night at home church we went over Luke 6:12-26. A pretty familiar passage for most us, but there was something different about this passage last night. The Holy Spirit took charge and dropped it hard on us, especially me. Here I am, living a "lifestyle" that from an outside point of view might seem radical and extreme sometimes, being challenged by the words of Jesus about the poor. Sure, I live in the innercity supposedly living "among" the poor not realizing that I've been living, to be sincere, far away from them. The thing is that we think we believe something, but when it comes down to act upon it we don't.

Just to be clear the Lake House is a place that where your views will get challenged and when you're getting most comfortable with the lifestyle...Jesus drops the gauntlet. I felt like we were getting away from our call to serve our neighbors, from making room for those "less deserving".

Jesus not only made room for tax collectors, fishermen and zealots, but also for a traitor. Jesus spent the whole night praying and then he calls the twelve among the many. He then proceeds to heal people from diseases and evil spirits. He spent an entire night with the Father...only God knows what went down.

But then Jesus gathers His disciples and the many people that came to see him. He looks at them and goes off with His sermon on the plain. He blesses those who are poor, because the Kingdom of God IS theirs. He also explains how those that are hungry and weeping will be satisfied and filled with laughter...I'm not going to repeat what He says, just look it up.

As I sat in the living room, I looked around me and what did I see? Not the poor. Don't get me wrong--I love the people that come to our house every Wednesday. I love how they love Jesus, I love being in ministry with them. I see many different gifts among them...It's awesome! But one thing we lack is room. We have filled our house with very dear friends, but have forgotten to invite those we were called to serve, those who Jesus calls blessed.

I will stop here for now, and I leave you with a song by Gungor