Why The City Project?

I think the best way to begin this blog is to talk about why I chose to participate in The City Project this summer. God has been doing a lot in my life lately and teaching me some incredible things about Himself. In doing this, He has been changing my heart to want to pursue Him more. And He has me in a season now where I am re-entering the body of Christ and rebuilding my community there. And in my quiet time with the Lord, I am learning more and more about Him and more deeply understanding the gospel.

And the story goes like this. God created a perfect world where everything was in complete harmony with Him. But then Adam and Eve placed their trust and hope in something aside from Him, which resulted in sin entering what was once perfection. The perfect world began to unwind. Creation broke. And Adam and Eve could no longer live in the presence of God.

All of us are born into this world of sin. From birth (Psalm 51:5), we tend towards sin and put other things in God's place (we are idolators). But our sin breaks the heart of God. God HATES sin. He is perfection and completely holy; since I am a sinner, I cannot stand in the presence of the Lord. But God loves me SO much that He didn't want me to be eternally separated from Him. So God devised a master plan - He would send His very own son, Jesus, to this earth to live the perfect life I couldn't ever live and to die the death I deserve for my sin. And on the cross, God laid all of his wrath towards all of the sin of everyone in the world on His beloved son. Jesus took all of my sins to the grave. And now, God looks on me like He looks on Jesus - holy and blameless and pure. Through the cross and resurrection, Jesus covered my life with His and put me in right standing with God (Romans 3:23-26). THAT is the gospel. Grace and love. EVERYTHING that I am I owe to Jesus. Because of Jesus, I can stand before God. Because of Jesus, God looks on me as His child. I receive the inheritance of God. And yes, I still sin, but I can look to the cross to remember that Jesus already paid the penalty for that sin. I am already forgiven. And I am loved incredibly much. Nothing that I have done and nothing that I will ever do can change what Jesus did for me or how God feels about me.

And I live in the hope that one day, God will come back and make all things right. He will bring the world back to Himself once and for all. He will rescue His children from Satan and the sinful desires of our flesh. He will make all things new. But until then, we will join in the cry with creation (Romans 8) for God to come quickly. For Jesus to return.

In the meantime, Jesus called us to share the good news (the gospel) with our world. He has called us to love each other as He has loved us (John 13:34). The gospel radically changes how we see the people around us, how we treat each other, and it should completely revolutionize the importance with which we treat our relationships. Our sole purpose for living is to put the glory of God on display. And this summer, I feel like God has called me to love communities of hurting people - New York City, Durham, and Kenya. I am committing this summer to not only pursuing God and pursuing community and the body of Christ, but I am committing to loving the world around me. To helping meet people's needs and living life with them. And through that, they will see Jesus.

Please join me in praying for this summer.

And for God to continue to become more real and more beautiful to us all day by day, moment by moment.

God, take us into the beautiful.