From the fall out in the Garden of Eden, to Israel, to Jesus' disciples, and yes, to you and I; it is obvious that he chooses quite the broken vessels to bring forth his redemptive life. His love is labored. It reminds me of his perfect illustration of the bride of Hosea. She repeatedly rejects, hurts, refutes her husband's love, and yet he remains dedicated to her. Love does not come without cost, without a price, or without labour. God doesn't fall in and out of love with us, he chooses love despite what we deserve.
So often I feel way underserving. I am undeserving. That's the point of his amazing grace! I am often hit hard with how difficult it can be to love--to love the body of believers--It's easy to love the lost or the "just beginning" or those in which you don't feel should be accountable to knowing truth. It is way more difficult for me to choose love for believers who I feel should know by now how to love and respond in a Godly way! So in my frustration of their choice to choose fleshly responses, I often feel myself responding in the same flesh of "me"--anger. Responses are everything. And I often see the ugliness of myself apart from God. What an Artist that he can make the ugliest places in our heart mold into something of beauty! Only Him.
He, therefore, Is is my Rock. My unmovable and unshakable foundation that harnesses in my explosive emotions and brings me into his arms and takes the blindfold off. I open my eyes to an entirely different looking world. A world, in which, the daily battles...the frustrations with Christ-followers, the injustices or the frustrations of others becomes clear for what it is: Warfare. The truth is that the choice is ours. We can enter into the fight on our own, apart from God or alongside him. We can choose our humanity or we can choose to step back and bring it all before the throne. I don't know that intercessory prayer can be overstressed as an essential weapon that we must carry with us and sharpen daily. It means constant conversing with our Father, consistently and fervently inviting him into each and every battle so that we know how to fight, when to fight, when to let him fight for us, and who it is we are fighting.
--"For the battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and rulers of this
world"--
What is it, then that prevails against such evil? It is Love. My God is love...and every time we choose to respond in accordance with this love, we break down the defenses of evil and open the door to transformative justice...we illuminate grace. That is living out the kingdom here on this earth.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Singularity of Vision: Unity
Unity is surely the hot catch word within today's Christian circles. And while the concept of unity is undoubtedly of importance, I think perhaps we have allowed the ideal to shape our vision, rather than constructing an anchor of singular vision to ensure unity.
We spend so much time talking about unity, creating space to hear from the Spirit on the subject of unity, taking time to develop our idea of unity...and in the meantime, our vision lays dormant on the sidelines. We lessen our threat to the Evil One with our inaction and he has a good laugh. While most of us have the best intentions at heart, the truth remains that we sit still...we sit still trying to create unity from our own means and we forget why we are together in the first place: To know God and to make him known to others.
When we are actively seeking to know God and actively engaging in project to make him known to others, we place God as our Leader and our vision becomes singular, thus artistically following God's intended design of unity, itself. Think about it..how did Jesus go about choosing and developing his disciples? Did he spend months...years...fostering unity among the twelve, casting purpose and vision aside to "create" unity? Not so much! Here is Jesus' strategy. He calls to one...tells another stranger to join and then another...and before you know it, there are his twelve. I can picture Simon Peter glancing to his left and wondering who the heck is this, James, guy? Or John pondering how this newly and seemingly haphazardly formed group could come together cohesively...they joined to know God. In so doing...they made God known to others. Their passion to know God and urgently follow in his footsteps...out of their comfort zones, amidst a group of great personalities and clashing backgrounds...led to who we now know as "The Twelve Disciples of Jesus".
The term disciple refers to running after God...with all that we are. That is our singular purpose and vision, Christ himself. Unity naturally flows forth and greatness emerges. Inaction does not frighten Satan...in fact, he is satisfied and will leave us Christians to just that, for we will not grow the Kingdom of Christ while standing still. Lets replace our vision for unity with the vision of becoming disciples, ourselves, picking up our feet and placing them into the boots of our forerunners, John, James, Peter, Paul...They followed their Leader and they became unified. Glory to God and him alone!
How do we see the Kingdom come down to earth? We create opportunity for Christ to act. We take ourselves...and all of our insecurities, our confining and self-constructed boxes of faith...and we lay them aside. Watch God put on his show...See his glory manifest in ways we never could have imagined, never mind created! It is our job to place our faith and trust in Christ as the Head. He will unify...he will show up!
***Thy kingdom come thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread*** ("Daily"---implying we are constantly in need and dependent on Jehova Jirah, our Provider)
Monday, July 15, 2013
And...Or...
I'm going to write on a topic that will surprise most i'm sure...at least, as it is coming from me. And...Or. Do we, as Christ-followers, have to choose between risk or wisdom? Or...could it be that risk and wisdom run congruently within one another?
If you know me, then you know that I've been all about "risky faith living" since encountering the totality of God's love for me. I've taken some God adventures that haven't seemed "safe" or have failed to always "make sense" to others, including Christians. I'm speaking from a place of knowing and walking into risk, while concurrently recognizing wisdom's adjoining necessity.
Wisdom. She displays God's character at all times. She emphasizes the direct need for accountability and Godly counsel. And she highlights community. She is a direct accumulation from our past experiences, not biasing our beliefs and decisions, but propelling us into truth that has been acquired from insight. I've recently begun to dive into Proverbs and i have noticed the numerous times that this wisdom book emphasizes listening. It references our ears, hearing, observing, learning, being taught, and allowing rebuke...major listening skills! Particular verses even go so far as to rebuke constant or much "rambling of speech or mouth" and naming this as highlighting ignorance. "Slow to speak and slow to become angry". The tongue and our speech, as well as our lack of listening, is telling of the state of our heart. Response of hostility, defensiveness, and aggression runs incongruently with wisdom and is counterproductive to furthering any amount of insight that we might gain.
It becomes pride when we believe that we are infallible and neglect sound wisdom and counsel. Perhaps we should be looking deeper--why is it that we don't want to enter the accountability of our community? What is causing us to close ourselves off, harden our hearts and retreat? Responses are indicative to what is at our heart.
I am grateful for every struggle that has led me deeper into the Father's arms of loving wisdom, and know there are many more trials to come. Also, I am very thankful for those who have been faithful in speaking into my life. Obviously, Christ is THE reason for any growth and strength, but it has been cool looking back and seeing how many people he has carved into my life to help speak truth along the way. He can bless us with as many people like this as he wants in our lives; however, it remains our choice as to how we walk forward in humility and vulnerability. I am so thankful for God's grace and the pure power of the Holy Spirit in his ability to mold our hearts to be open and hungry for truth and wisdom, no matter the cost.
The cost is our pride. Naturally I lean towards a rather stubborn personality, which has been life-saving at so many times in my life, but has also stood in my way at other points. Do we want to walk in true vulnerability and humility? Ask for counsel. Not the half-hearted, sugar-coating type of counsel...we must surround ourselves with people who know us inside and out, who will speak the truth to us straight up, no holes barred. Truth in love. This is our responsibility to others and it is our necessity to obtain for ourselves. We cannot walk in this faith with the pride that believes "I will never fall" or "I have all the answers", for to do so is beyond risk, it is dangerous ignorance. "We all sin and fall short of the glory of God"...but we fall less when we surround ourselves with loving truth tellers...and surely we are quicker to get back up!
Let's start arming ourselves with truth. With Godly counsel. Accountability. Humility. True reckless abandon of our pride into what is "Faith Walking". We start clothing ourselves in wisdom, and we watch the amount of scars we inflict on ourselves and others start diminishing. The key is knowing God's character. Soaking in his presence, his truths and sitting at the feet of our one and only Savior. Knowing who it is that we serve, so that we are capable of spotting the fallacies that Satan brings to worm their way in.
Wisdom. It's not an either or. Its not risk or wisdom; this faith walking business is risk and wisdom as one.
If you know me, then you know that I've been all about "risky faith living" since encountering the totality of God's love for me. I've taken some God adventures that haven't seemed "safe" or have failed to always "make sense" to others, including Christians. I'm speaking from a place of knowing and walking into risk, while concurrently recognizing wisdom's adjoining necessity.
Wisdom. She displays God's character at all times. She emphasizes the direct need for accountability and Godly counsel. And she highlights community. She is a direct accumulation from our past experiences, not biasing our beliefs and decisions, but propelling us into truth that has been acquired from insight. I've recently begun to dive into Proverbs and i have noticed the numerous times that this wisdom book emphasizes listening. It references our ears, hearing, observing, learning, being taught, and allowing rebuke...major listening skills! Particular verses even go so far as to rebuke constant or much "rambling of speech or mouth" and naming this as highlighting ignorance. "Slow to speak and slow to become angry". The tongue and our speech, as well as our lack of listening, is telling of the state of our heart. Response of hostility, defensiveness, and aggression runs incongruently with wisdom and is counterproductive to furthering any amount of insight that we might gain.
It becomes pride when we believe that we are infallible and neglect sound wisdom and counsel. Perhaps we should be looking deeper--why is it that we don't want to enter the accountability of our community? What is causing us to close ourselves off, harden our hearts and retreat? Responses are indicative to what is at our heart.
I am grateful for every struggle that has led me deeper into the Father's arms of loving wisdom, and know there are many more trials to come. Also, I am very thankful for those who have been faithful in speaking into my life. Obviously, Christ is THE reason for any growth and strength, but it has been cool looking back and seeing how many people he has carved into my life to help speak truth along the way. He can bless us with as many people like this as he wants in our lives; however, it remains our choice as to how we walk forward in humility and vulnerability. I am so thankful for God's grace and the pure power of the Holy Spirit in his ability to mold our hearts to be open and hungry for truth and wisdom, no matter the cost.
The cost is our pride. Naturally I lean towards a rather stubborn personality, which has been life-saving at so many times in my life, but has also stood in my way at other points. Do we want to walk in true vulnerability and humility? Ask for counsel. Not the half-hearted, sugar-coating type of counsel...we must surround ourselves with people who know us inside and out, who will speak the truth to us straight up, no holes barred. Truth in love. This is our responsibility to others and it is our necessity to obtain for ourselves. We cannot walk in this faith with the pride that believes "I will never fall" or "I have all the answers", for to do so is beyond risk, it is dangerous ignorance. "We all sin and fall short of the glory of God"...but we fall less when we surround ourselves with loving truth tellers...and surely we are quicker to get back up!
Let's start arming ourselves with truth. With Godly counsel. Accountability. Humility. True reckless abandon of our pride into what is "Faith Walking". We start clothing ourselves in wisdom, and we watch the amount of scars we inflict on ourselves and others start diminishing. The key is knowing God's character. Soaking in his presence, his truths and sitting at the feet of our one and only Savior. Knowing who it is that we serve, so that we are capable of spotting the fallacies that Satan brings to worm their way in.
Wisdom. It's not an either or. Its not risk or wisdom; this faith walking business is risk and wisdom as one.
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