Whatever is at the root of religious frustration is simultaneously the solution to epic renewal. It isn't either/or. The Kingdom of God is not a list nailed to the church doors. Rather, it is a vibrant process which is eternal.
Eternal.
Get it? Continual? Never ending? Always...but not just always the same; but rather always as in increase or more. The challenge is natural. We get it.
Due to man's incessant drive for management and security, we function even subconsciously to be in control of events, schedules, opportunities, and developments. We just assume that we rule.
God, on the other hand, is so indescribably imaginative and creative that we can't possibly keep up with His brilliance. This exasperates any of us who strive to get a grip on...well on life. It seems He won't stay put which irritates us when we want to call the shots.
A challenge at the heart of the Christian Nation is to identify eternal facts from eternal possibilities. Whether the Bible is true, Jesus was human, or the Spirit works in one's life are very core stabilizing forces. What the Bible teaches, however as one example, may be always true; yet that revelation will perpetually call for us to change. It's very message is for believers to increase in knowledge, in wisdom, in action, in faith. The Word of God carries expectation that the reader will make progressive adjustment to His defining life in the rich and abundant Kingdom.
The challenge before us is nothing new. Every generation wishes the older ones would awaken to the pressing potential of the yet-to-be-discovered. Every...generation. Every generation will eventually be challenged to live by the exploratory spirit and not the bossy flesh. This isn't a matter of age. It is a matter of mind-set. We all know some in their 70s who are more alive than those in their 30s.
Age isn't the rule-of-thumb. One's faith in the living God is.
The call from the Bible to preserve and protect is not the current standard of church rules which happens to have evolved to this date and time. Rather it is a persuasion to maintain a relationship with the Trinity in a mode so thrilling, so challenging, that our jaws will drop and our hearts might skip a beat.
The light of the world is growing dim because the church has fallen in line with the-way-we've-done-it-before. I concur; many of those things remain wonderful because they are in tune with His current activity. Therefore, do not hear me saying that we are doing nothing well. I am stating that it is the nature of the flesh to fail to discard methods and mannerisms which have long been used as a stifling force within the community of God.
To stay in step with God is to adhere to His calling to be renewed day by day...II Corinthians 4:16. We are called to operate on constant alert to the things God unfolds as we grow in Him; mature in Him. Do not be afraid. Rather be free. We are assured that we can know the truth and that truth shall set us free.
Dare we strive to constantly enter? The challenge at the heart of the Christian Nation is whether we are going to praise God from our love for Him or from our rules about our preferable religious stances. There can be a difference.
No comments:
Post a Comment