“Stop Playing…” House, life, marriage, friends, church!

That last one, church – “stop playing church” has a lot of meaning for me. My first pastor, Tim Ritzel, would say this Sunday mornings. I remember hearing it the first few times and thinking what is he getting at? He would explain it, but I was new to church and overall, I was trying to wade through all I would hear. As time would go on though, I understood.

You see, church is not somewhere you go to simply check off the box of “I did this” today and just go about life. Church is so much more than that, plus it’s not just about “church.” Church can be identified as a place to go, i.e. a building, but depending on your faith it also could mean the group of people you meet with are the church as well. But it doesn’t stop there. Your relationship with your savior, your following the written scriptures, the bible, all come into “play.” Are you a devoted follower of Christ or a Christian? You’re either following Him and really living out the Word of God or you say that you are, a Christian, and yet maintain living out a life you choose where you know that you are doing things contrary to what the Word says, let alone not attending a church, participating in a church, etc. It’s your choice but stop playing church- life is too short! Stop playing church has always echoed in the recesses of my mind, it’s become a part of who I am, yet I know I have not always managed to follow through on this. But I do know this, I am going to be a little more vocal in challenging others to stop playing church.

I realized though that the phrase “stop playing” could easily be added onto things like: home, marriage, friends and more. How many of you are married and how many of you are married? Are you sold out to your relationship with your spouse? Do you love each other deeply? Are you committed to each other? Do you take the time and put the effort into your marriage so that you have something special and extraordinary? Or have you become roommates or parents only? A great marriage takes work, it takes two people understanding that neither is perfect, mistakes will happen and hurdles will need jumping – and you do that together. But are you doing this? Or has the routine of work, raising the kids, having hobbies and more taking over to the point where you are “playing house / marriage?” Have questions about marriage? Here is a resource to start with: https://oneextraordinarymarriage.com/

What about life? Are you busy being the best you can in life or are you just going along “playing life” like the board game? Do you wake up spinning a dial to see where you are going? Of course, not physically, but are you doing that mentally? Are fully present in all that you do or is it all one big game of sorts, going to and fro with no real plans in mind. Just existing, no purpose, no goals and you are wondering why others have all of the success and more than you do. You are too busy “playing life!” Life is too short, stop playing – begin committing to yourself and all that you could be.

Not sure where to start with all of this? Have questions? Feel free to email me pastordenniswagner@gmail.com and I will help the best I can. Maybe you need to find a church, maybe you need to recommit to your marriage or maybe its a kickstart on your life. Let me know, if I can’t help I will point you in the right direction!

Thanks for stopping by the fire,

Pastor Dennis