I’ve shared, and many have heard the Tyler Trent story over the last couple years. He emerged as a Purdue super fan after being diagnosed with aggressive cancers multiple times. Through it all, the world learned he was much more than a super fan. He was a follower of Jesus who knew well his mission and the platform God was giving him to affect change. He changed lives, but he’s also changing the world’s problem of cancer.
Tyler donated his unusually aggressive tumors to science, and now, after his death, researchers have found therapies that are blocking it’s growth and taking huge leaps in the fight against cancer.
Tyler always impressed me for one simple reason. He was always prepared to not only be positive, but to share his faith and point others to Jesus. Every interview came back to that. I learned through reading that his faith had been growing in the time leading up to his fight against cancer. Tyler grew his character in preparation for whatever God had for him.
Little did he know how God would use him.
At Christ Community Church, we’ve just finished a series entitled “Dwell.” We basked in the beauty of the truths that God will always want to dwell with us, that Jesus came to dwell with us, that the Spirit dwells within us, and yet there’s a dwelling that’s more perfect yet one day in eternity when Jesus returns.
But we’ve also seen along the way God’s dwelling pushes us to lean into the truth. To tackle it. To apply the truth so that we’re ready for his coming.
In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a parable of ten virgins with oil lamps. They are waiting through the night for their groom. Five of them brought extra oil to make it through the night. Five of them did not.
When news of the grooms coming breaks out, the five without extra oil weren’t ready. They ask the other five who don’t have enough to spare. As they leave to go get more oil, the groom comes and they miss him.
Jesus concludes the story saying, “Therefore be alert, because you don’t know either the day or the hour.” (Matthew 25:13 CSB)
Here at Christ Community, we’ve always leaned into being pioneers. We love painting outside the lines and going outside the walls of the church. We’ve always been hungry to jump on the next opportunity to serve our community and see Jesus change people one person at a time.
As we have studied this idea of dwelling through Scripture, I believe it is calling us to be ready. In this season, it is critical that we invest energy in developing our character in such a way that our lives are more like Jesus.
Christ Community, let’s do everything we can to love God, love people, and love community as well as we can.
Let’s stay ready. Let’s dwell with him.
You never know what God might invite us to do next.