Reach

Reaching up and reaching out. What does it mean and why do we aspire to do so?

Think of the cross.  It’s where God’s work of redemption was accomplished, where Jesus bore our sins.  Yet it’s a symbol of our faith beyond that.  The cross has both the vertical and the horizontal.  It bridges the gap between us and God with the vertical and encourages us to love others with the horizontal.  The cross represents Jesus’ ministry fully in fulfillment and in action.

Because of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we can reach up to God.  He fills our lives and empowers us.  We reach up through prayer, worship, studying God’s Word, and even interaction with one another.  God uses all these to teach us and help us to grow closer to Him.  In reaching up, we listen for His voice and are prepared to follow His call.

Jesus calls us not to live for ourselves, but to live for others.  By reaching up to Him and trusting Him, He gives us His heart and His compassion for others.  Throughout the Gospels, Jesus showed a heart for the outcast and the captive.  We have all been both, though we have not always known it.  Christ empowers us through His Spirit to go out and not only preach the Gospel, but to serve and love others

We seek to grow to be more like Jesus by reaching up. We seek to grow to be more like Jesus by reaching out to those in need everywhere.