Friday, July 30, 2010

Conduct in Unity

We have received an invitation to become part of the family of God. And we have chosen to accept this invitation. Now, we ought to act as people who are part of that family.

We all have equal standing before God. So, we should not behave as though we stand above or below one another. We should live in humility, because we all live in need … of God and of one another. Has someone failed you? Have you failed others? We all fail. We all need help. That should strongly motivate us to be gentle, forgiving and patient with each other. Like begets like. And we are going to need someone to treat us that way.

Show love by giving room for failures and differences. Failures and differences disrupt any family. We should pursue peace and unity in all relationships.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Unity and Grace

For followers of Jesus, unity is one of the primary values. Maintaining unity has utmost importance. We need to behave in ways that maximize peaceful relationships. We need to be humble, patient, and gentle with each other.

But he also made us individuals. He created us to do god. He gave individuals to equip God’s family to complete these good things. As God’s family serves each other as individuals, and as members of the family, the family grows. The whole family attains Christ’s image. We will speak truth to one another, motivated by love. So, we will all grow into His image. He gives grace, so all parts grow and builds the body, as each one fills his purpose.

He gives grace that powers the growth. But the growth will not come if each part does not do its job.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Unity

The church is comprised of all the people who follow Jesus. The church of God really is a melting pot. White Americans. African Americans. African Africans. Korean. Chinese. Copt. Assyrians. Indians from North America, South America and India.

We don’t see the church this way. We see the small groups sitting together. People are used to being with people like themselves. People are more comfortable in homogeneous groups. That’s why we see the church like we do.

God intends the church to be one new humanity, loving, helping and welcoming one another. God tore down the dividing wall. So, how do we mesh the multitude of Jesus-pictures, the right of people to go where they are comfortable – to worship in a style they prefer, with music, dress, times, and style they prefer – with the expression of love and unity that Jesus requires?

Friday, July 23, 2010

Good Deeds

Good works do not gain right standing with God. Good works are what we are created for. Many treat good deeds, going to church, giving money as if they are they cause of right standing. New life in Christ is the origin of good works.

A seed is planted. It germinates and produces a plant. The plant produces fruit. Seed may come from the fruit. But seed only come when a seed has life, and yields more life. Life is already there.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Communication

Cell phones and computers are becoming an ever present, omnipresent part of modern life. Texts, emails and chats are more and more prevalent. “Texting” is communication. But it is not complete communication. People who are married to their computer\cell phone can give themselves the illusion of connection. But, in the same way, learning is fuller when it impacts more centers of the brain, communication when it impacts more centers of the brain. Touch, sound, sight – symbols, pictures – smell all enhance and enlarge communication. (Taste can add to communication too.)

“Texting” is true communication. I would not want to remove any form of this type of communication. But face-to-face encounters are the best form of communication. We are losing out by not being in close contact with people.

Monday, July 19, 2010

God established Israel for a number of things. To provide the law for the nations, receiving God’s heart and mind. To prepare for the coming of Christ, the Promised One. To bless them, so they would be a blessing.

But Israel’s heart turned inward. They became more interested in being blessed, than being a beacon to call the nations into God’s community.

So, God transitioned to a new phase of His plan. Instead of calling all peoples to be part of His people, He created a new people. He invited that people to be His people. He would unite them, reconcile them to Himself, make peace, and charge them with inviting the world to unite with Him. His call to fill the earth with His presence is being completed. Segments of this new community are being founded and built around the world. He promised that people from every nation, tribe, people and language will be part of His community.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Revelation AND Wisdom

In order to know God, a person needs revelation. It is basically an attempt to know the unknowable. We need someone to open a door for us to look inside.

But revelation is not enough. Wisdom is also needed to rein in our imaginations. We are more than capable of going off the deep end. God gave us the Bible as a safeguard. We can have something to evaluate our revelations with. Was it the Spirit, the devil, or our own flaky thing?

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

We yield ourselves to God and accept His paradigm. This process molds our hearts and minds. As a result, we can see for ourselves how good and perfect God’s will is.

The first part of that will is that we, as human beings, are not the center of the universe. The sooner we see and live that way, the better it is for us, the better it is for the world. Not only does this mean that God is the center of all existence, but it means we do not travel through it alone.

God has chosen to place us in a body. It is His will that contribute to this context. He has enabled us to contribute. It is His will we use that enablement. If a person only attends a weekly meeting and contributes his tithe (Don’t misunderstand me. Those things are important. They cannot be neglected.) that person is not walking in the will of God.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Paradigms

We can see that mankind has been living contrary to God’s purposes and standards. We were either ignoring God or were rebelling against Him. But now we are yielding our bodies to Him, so our lives have to change. God’s standards become our standards. God’s purposes become our purposes.

The change comes from the inside. The current term used is “paradigm shift.” A paradigm is a model or a picture of a system. Choosing to follow Jesus changes a person’s model of the world. (I think each person has two models. There is a model of how the world should work. There is a model of how the world does work.)

We shift to a paradigm with Jesus as the focal point, and everything realigns itself to have a new relationship with the center. Other nodes are realigned along the edge. We have a new understanding about how interactions with the core work. We develop new protocols and responses. We develop a new framework through which to make decisions, to evaluate options and to evaluate results.
I've evidently been on a blogging vacation and not knowing it. I have been playing with a book idea and have spent a lot of time with it. It'll need a lot more time. But there are other things I have been thinking about besides the book topic. So, I am going to try to do both for awhile.