Transformed Life: Culture

Since God is the creator of culture, relationship with him finds a home in the midst of culture. Since, man lives within a culture, and within sin, all cultural forms can be filled with sin (which should be repented of) or filled with the Spirit (and should be embraced.)

It is almost as if every generation needs to go to God and recreates the forms of connecting with him. It is almost as if every person needs to define the framework of life in Jesus and define an expression of that life that embodies their individual relationship with Jesus. But it needs to be defined in a way that connects to the family of God and to those who still need to choose to enter into a relationship with Jesus. (For part of Jesus’ framework is a relationship with him, a relationship with his family, and a relationship with those outside his family. One cannot choose one of these relationships without choosing an active, engaged relationship with all three. And the relationships do not stop within a person’s immediate context, but continues onto the horizon and beyond.)

Transformed Life: Discipline

In order to live the transformed life, The Holy Spirit gives us discipline. Richard Foster defines discipline (σωφρονισμος) as doing what we need to do, when we need to do it.

Jesus lived in total dependence on the Father. He was always where he was supposed to be, when he was supposed to be. And without a planner of any sort – electronic, paper. He didn’t even have a calendar. He always did what he needed to do, when he needed to do it. He was disciplined. But not like we think of discipline. To live like Jesus requires a radical change in a number of areas.

(1)    There is a change in priorities. Many people have their schedules pretty set. One cannot have a normal job without a schedule. Others have to-do lists. In Jesus, God’s priorities move to the top. And God’s objectives are love relationships – between God and people, and people and people. And we need to recognize how best to fulfill God’s purposes (what), the correct timing (when) and make choices appropriately. The choice involves action. Sometimes, discipline requires I mow the lawn. Sometimes, discipline requires I forgo mowing the lawn. Sometimes, discipline requires I intentionally with premeditation forgo mowing the lawn.

(2)    There is a change in how we perceive and treat interruptions. Interruptions are usually perceived as bad, a waste of time and energy. Followers of Jesus (especially professional followers of Jesus) often perceive interruptions as hindrances to completing God’s purposes. To Jesus, interruptions became the main opportunities to minister.

(3)    There is a change in how we perceive and treat ministry. Ministry is viewed as opportunities to apply God, grace and truth to life. In current church culture, people tend to organize ministry opportunities. They schedule meetings and invite people to receive God’s grace there. Jesus never organized meetings. Jesus did attend meetings. He would go somewhere – and lo and behold, a meeting would break out. But these meetings never seemed to follow one pattern. Sometimes there was a teaching. Sometimes there were healings. Sometimes he served lunch. Sometimes there was prayer. (Interestingly, a time of worship was seldom mentioned.)

Transformed Life: Love

In order to live the transformed life, the Holy Spirit gives us love. Love (αγαπη) is a very difficult term to define. It is seen and experienced on many different levels, in many ways. It is above all a focus outside of the self, with the intent of thinking, speaking and acting toward others to build, bless, encourage, serve and bring out the best.

Jesus’ love was not blemished by sin. Our love, though marred by sin, can still be a true reflection of Jesus’ love. Our love can have all those effects listed above.

Love is a strong motivator for change, for new living. It is love that motivated Father, Son and Spirit to create, to express perfect faithfulness, to redeem, to build, to forgive an infinite number of wrongs, to pursue and to bring finite, fallible humans into partnership with him.

And fear can smother love. Love brings openness and vulnerability into the picture. Love necessitates trust relationships. Sin will always slap trust in the face. We, in our strength, will protect ourselves from pain. With the Spirit’s strength, we will continually lean into the wind, and choose love.

Transformed Life: Power

In order to live the transformed life, the Holy Spirit gives us power. Power (δυναμις) is defined as the inherent ability to take action. It is associated with miracles, but it is also associated with a freedom from constraint.

There is obviously power to perform miracles in God. Jesus’ disciples performed miracles, but that power was not inherent in them. They were given authority (εξουσια) by Jesus. The power was inherent in God. The disciples became in effect lenses of God’ power, focused on a situation.

But they did have power to take action. They can choose to re-activate a gift, proclaim Jesus, serve or risk suffering. God’s will is that we take action to cooperate with him to complete his purposes. He has brought us into partnership with him in his mission. There are things in the world that smother any impulse for action. Fear on one sort or another is a very large force of constraint.

Transformed Life: Reality not Perfection

When we begin a relationship with God, we begin to live as Christ intended. (Sin still corrupts this life, so we will not fully live as God designed it, until we live in his kingdom at the end of time.)

We are not only living for our selves, but we are living it in demonstration for others. We are living it it with the Spirit of God in our hearts. And the Spirit of God should fill all our thoughts, words, and actions.

There is no particular formula to follow. There is no set liturgy, prayers or rules. (Scripture says the Law was given for sins to be made evident. Scripture says that love fulfills the Law.) Rather the Spirit infuses itself within each follower’s heart, so God’s life is breathed out in every community and culture where those who seek him and call on his name are found.

If we walk with God, the God life flows through us … imperfectly. It is marred by sin. But it is what the world needs. The world needs to see lives like this. Since, we know the world needs the life of God, given through Jesus, and we have that life of God, we can be confident we what the world needs. But we need to walk it out humbly and with love. We were beggars once ourselves.

Transformed Life: More than Lip Service

The church should demonstrate transformed living. Men and women should demonstrate dependence on God. Men and women conduct themselves in ways that fit God’s purposes, so their quality of life does not detract for Jesus. Rather it is an attraction to Jesus.

And leaders ought to model a Christ-filled lifestyle. Their actions, attitudes and words should emit a flavor and aroma of Christ. And they should demonstrate how all follows of Jesus should live.

Transformed Life: God Must Be In The Picture

In the same situation, people were not living in ways that displayed the transformed life. Daily life and conduct should be built around God and transformation. Men were acting in independence. Women were acting in unsuitable ways. There needed to be a radical shift in thinking and perspective. Men needed to pray. Women needed to conduct themselves with grace. Together they would declare their dependence on God, their reliance on grace and their practice of the transformed life.

Transformed Life: Better than the Law

There was a situation in the early church, where a group of men were trying to gain positions of status by becoming experts in spirituality. So, they pursued discussions of controversial issues, the Law and false doctrines.

The Law is a good thing. Except it has no relevance in the transformed life. God gave the Law to Moses to reveal sin and everything that is anti-gospel.

Paul himself sought to serve the Law. When Christ revealed himself to Paul in a power way, Paul realized that God’s plan was radically different than he realized. Transformation was its essence.

So, Paul wrote to a young leader, giving him the assignment of stopping this torrent of words. His overall objective was the promotion of transformed lives. Love is the primary ingredient in a Christ-transformed life.

God Speaks

Sometimes when God speaks to us, it is like a seed. As we live out this message, it waters the seed until it germinates. And as we continue to live it out, it grows until it bears fruit in agreement with the message.

But sometimes, it is a target. The message gives us a point in the distance to walk to. Other people may know what our destination should be. If they love us, they can help us walk out our journey. They can partner with us.

Transformed Life: The Church

One could describe the purpose of the church is to be the body of Christ. Jesus is in the world in spirit, but not in body, physically. The Church should be that physical presence. Together they need to demonstrate the life of Jesus to the world.

Since, sin entered the world, it has hidden the life of Jesus in people. God’s family receives his life, so God in his family can break past the sin hiding his life in people. God’s Spirit is in us transforming our hearts, which is the well-spring of life, so his family can live the transformed life. The concern of all God’s family should be that God’s family live out that transformed life. The purpose of God’s family is to demonstrate to the world how a person was designed to live.

And since Jesus returned to the Father, we keep getting trapped into thinking that talking is living. We cast words into the air that sound spiritual, and assume we are following our high calling. We focus on what has no profit.

I am beginning to wonder if that is too much preaching and teaching. What most of us see modeled by those who are supposed to model transformed life for us is preaching and teaching.

Paul had a situation where some were focused on false ideas, meaningless talk and the Law. (Showing that they did not understand the Law. The Law demonstrated sin. Those in Christ should demonstrate love arising from a transformed life.)

Men were living in independence. Women were conducting themselves in inappropriate ways. Both demonstrated lives subject to sin, and not lives transformed by the Spirit. Men should pray – showing the dependence on God, Women should behave appropriately – demonstrating the heart of transformation.

Picture of God's Love

There are a number of people who believe that physical events are “pictures” of spiritual realities.

So did God:

• Create Adam first alone,
• Design him with “fuels” of giving love, receiving love, and community,
• Have him name the animals to underscore his alone-ness
• Then provide a companion who is a perfect complement to him

To give humanity a picture of God’s heart – that he wanted an “other” to give his wholehearted love to?

Great Commision

Ownership of the Great Commission does not belong to missionaries, mission organizations or para-church ministries. Ownership belongs to the church. Which means ownership belongs to everyone who calls on the name of Jesus.

Back to the Garden

The point of my horticultural rambling is to focus our attention on the fact that we all like to harvest. But to harvest, we need to cultivate, water, weed and all the other tasks needed to insure a harvest takes place. And it is those beginning steps that require the greatest work. And if those beginning steps fail, we need to rework the ground again … more. We need to begin the hard work one more time.

If the ground is prepared correctly, the seed produces fruit almost magically. If there is little fruit, could that mean there was inadequate preparation?

Gardening in the Kingdom

Several weeks ago, I began a long range yard-work project. Bermuda grass was beginning to take over my front lawn. Bermuda grass is a very invasive, tough weed. So, we began a project to eradicate the presence of Bermuda grass in my yard. However, like other weeds, where there are herbicides that can kill a particular weed, there is no herbicide that specializes in Bermuda grass. Round-Up will kill it; but then Round-Up kills everything. To remove Bermuda grass, a person must kill everything and replant.

So, several weeks ago, I gave several applications of round-Up to approximately a 250 square yard triangle in my front yard. Killing everything was the easy part.

We investigated, got advice, and came up with a plan of action. We implemented said plan. And we achieved zero success. Zero grass.

So, we have investigated more, gotten more advice, and came up with a new plan of action, that involved more work, more expense, more aches, pains and scraped knuckles. This plan involved roto-tilling, raking and removing several hundred pounds of dead cellulose. (Ie. old dead plant material. If one could sell old, dead plant material, I could retire.) Since, we have just executed this plan, I have no idea how successful it will be.

I have often compared the church-planting/evangelization process with the process of planting a garden. There is cultivation of the ground, sowing seed, weeding, watering, fertilizing, harvesting and storing the produce.

There is a lot of labor involved in harvesting. But it does not come close to the labor of cultivating the ground. The real back-breaking labor comes from breaking up the soil, removing unwanted rocks and vegetation, churning the soil again and again, so it is ready to receive the seed. If this is true in a physical setting, why are we surprised that it should not be so in a spiritual setting?

I have heard people find the current church lacking because it has not harvested like the first century church. They saw 3000 people choose to follow Jesus the first time Peter preached. Yes, I am sure the Spirit coming at Pentecost had something to do with it. But the same Spirit is here now. A real difference between then and now is that Jesus spent the previous several years breaking up the ground, praying, living, loving, modeling, sowing God’s word, watering and fertilizing. Jesus harvested little in comparison to the Apostles. But he did the more difficult work without there can be no harvest.

Gospel

“Gospel” can be translated “good news” or “good report.” It is usually associated with the message of Jesus. Most evangelicals – a group of Jesus-followers with a common understanding of God’s will – confine the gospel to one part of Jesus’ message. It is part of the gospel – an important, vital part. But there are other parts.
• Jesus promised that if we receive the pardon his death purchased, we would not receive the punishment our sins deserve.
• Jesus promised that his Kingdom would rule over creation. There would be no unfairness, prejudice, conflict and want. There would always be justice, acceptance, peace and sufficiency.
• Jesus promised that there would be transformation. Individuals would not be bound to evil. Nature would not be subject to pollution, corruption and death. Groups and cultures would join together.

Each of these are part of the good news. Each of these are good news. Are there other parts of the gospel?

The Kingdom Revisited ... Again

Jesus has gone away. Soon, he will return to establish the Kingdom. In the meantime, he has given us resources. Time. Money. Energy. A spiritual gift. And he has given us a job. We need to use our resources for his profit. He expects to hear what we have done to improve the Kingdom.

The Kingdom Revisited

Another picture of the Kingdom involves yeast mixed into dough. When mixed, it becomes invisible, yet it affects the whole batch of dough. People may not actually see the Kingdom. But the effects will be felt throughout living. It is pervasive. It affects thinking, dreaming, attitudes and speech.

The Kingdom

Jesus describes God’s Kingdom to a crowd. He describes it as a mustard seed planted in a garden. A mustard seed is a small seed. But it produces a large plant. It is large enough for several bird to make their homes in.

We expect the Kingdom to big and grand. After all, do not rulers have large palaces? Does not a successful pastor have a church building which seats several thousand people?

God’s Kingdom is the biggest and greatest in all creation. But God does not begin with the huge, imposing magnificent image. He begins with a small seed. And the seed grows to be more than anyone thought possible. But it is no more than a spark of life, nourished and watered.

We are not instructed to erect large monuments. We are instructed to build homes, to give shelter and to provide a place for people.

Fruit

The end of our existence in life is to live like Jesus and to love like Jesus. As we move toward this end, there will be effects of our life – positive effects.

Jesus lived in dependence on the Father. God’s strength and life flowed to Jesus. Fruit developed as a result. Fruit grew naturally.

Fruit are characteristics that flow from our hearts. They are words, actions and attitudes that flow from our lives. Fruit is the outgrowth of a person’s inner life. The fruit of the Spirit is the outgrowth of God in my heart changing my attitudes and actions. The fruit of praise is the outgrowth of my connection with God and increasingly clear picture of God’s nature, God’s interaction with the world and God’s attitude toward people. The fruit of salvation is the outgrowth in someone else’s heart. That fruit of salvation arises from a seed planted through seeing new actions and attitudes of Jesus’ disciples, a connection with God, and gaining an increasing clear vision of God’s nature and actions. The seed germinated, resulting in a change of allegiance to God. Salvation is fruit derived from other fruit.

Planting vs. Harvesting

Jesus said that the harvest is plentiful. The main need at the time was workers for harvesting. This means that many people were ready to hear Jesus’ message, receive it and him.

If the harvest is plentiful, that means there has been a lot of work cultivating, planting, weeding, watering, fertilizing and pruning. A lot of work has gone into the fields, or garden, to get ready for the harvest.

When we look at evangelistic activities currently – methods of gospel sharing, crusades, calls-forward – these are all harvest activities. Let us understand. We need harvest activities. But we also need planting activities. We also need watering activities. We don’t see those activities. They are not popular. They are not public. But if they are not done, there will be no harvest.

The apostles “harvested” 3000 souls early in their ministry, and several more thousand a few days later, because Jesus had been working the ground and the fields for the previous three years. Jesus himself did not harvest nearly so many. There 120 in the upper room. And 500 witnesses of the resurrection. Are these the greater works that Jesus mentioned? And if Jesus spent most of his time preparing for harvest, which activity is more important? I would say the answer to that question is “neither.”

Greatness

The way of the Cross is the way of topsy-turvy values. The general tendency is to judge greatness by visibility as in the case of movie stars, or how large a position of authority they occupy, as in politicians, generals or rulers. Jesus’ rules of greatness were very different. One question for Jesus that determines greatness is how available a person is to connect with people who come to him.

Many homes in Jesus’ time were built around a central courtyard. In the middle of the courtyard was a table. Guests would sit around the table eating and discussing religion, philosophy or current events. Since, there was no TV, movies or the internet, passersby were permitted, as part of the culture, to sit or stand around the perimeter of the table to listen to the conversation.

So, Jesus said that one way to determine greatness was how willing was a person to not only allow them to stand around and listen, but how willing were they to invite the person to the table. Were they willing to let a five year old to sit at the table and to participate in the discussion? And were they willing to treat his remarks as importantly as if it were a celebrity or the president sitting there?

The Gospel and Miracles

Jesus did not perform miracles to just demonstrate power. The miracles were also a preaching of the gospel.

When he cured someone of a disease, he was also proclaiming their souls were broken, just like there bodies were. And as he had the power to mend their bodies, he had the power to mend their souls.

When they were surrounded by a hungry crowd, and it was impossible to feed them, he fed them, they were satisfied, and they had enough leftovers that a sizable part of the crowd could have had lunch the next day. There is an ability to feed the hunger of the soul in Jesus. And not of a few, who had to struggle through hours, days and weeks of prayer, fasting and meditation. Soul satisfaction can come by sitting and waiting for Jesus to serve you.

Human beings live on multiple kinds of fuel. Some fuels – eg. love and mission – require taking action. Some fuels – eg. receiving love and forgiveness – require open hands and acceptance.

Sharing the Gospel

In Luke’s biography of Jesus, he gives a brief description of a training trip Jesus’ apostles went on.

Jesus begins by equipping the apostles.

• He gave them power and authority over demons and disease.
• He gave them an objective. To preach the Kingdom of God and to heal.
• He gave them guidelines for proceeding from city to city, and what to do in each place.

Here are some observations from this story.

• The was not at the end of Jesus’ ministry. Neither was it the beginning. Jesus did not wait until the apostles had it all together. They had some training and education. They watched Jesus share. They had been taught be Jesus. They observed and absorbed Jesus’ heart and spirit. He spent enough time to prepare them to complete the job. Was God’s work in their lives complete? Did the y have no more room to grow in? Were they at the peak of efficiency and effectiveness? No, no and no. Which probably means there were successes, failures and learning.
• The purpose was to proclaim the Kingdom of God and heal. Then, it said they were preaching the gospel and healing. It seems to make proclaiming the Kingdom and preaching the gospel equivalent. Are the Kingdom and the gospel equivalent? Does the Kingdom equal the Four Laws? (The four Laws is a tool to explain the gospel to someone who does not understand it in a succinct and easy to remember way.) The gospel is probably more than Jesus forgiving people and bringing them to heaven. (1) All things will be revealed. (2) God’s rule will be established. So, everything that is wrong will get righted. (3) People will be given a new life. This is more than forgiveness. It is purpose, meaning, and significance. It is community, the giving and receiving of love, creativity and beauty.

• Part of God’s instructions were to heal. He expected diseases to be cured and demons cast out … by a group of relative neophytes. Does God expect the same for today? There can be a number of understandings about the concept “heal.” We could provide medical care for those who need it. We can participate in giving emotional and psychological care. (We may not be trained counselors, but a lot of healing can occur with love, acceptance and forgiveness.) And I do not want to downplay Jesus’ apparent expectation that his disciples are involved in praying for people.

Light

No one lights a lantern and covers it with a blanket or puts it in a closet. That would totally negate the purpose of the lantern. The purpose is obviously to give light, to show the way, and to prevent injury by revealing what is hidden in the dark.

At some point, everything will be revealed. So, we need to pay attention to what we learn. Like a lantern, any truth of God is supposed to guide our steps. The most obscure, esoteric piece of theology has a place, an ordering effect, in our hearts. We should take care to reflect on what we learn so we can understand it, obey it and allow it to have the proper effect in our hearts.

How we handle what we learn today affect how God teaches us in the future. They are building blocks. He cannot add higher rows until the lower rows are in place.

Kingdom: LAN Metaphor

We have seen that God’s purposes include the establishment and growth of his Kingdom in the world. People are introduced to Jesus and given the opportunity to enter into a love relationship with the Father, Son and Spirit. By accepting this relationship, we are also invited to participate in his Kingdom and be his agent in the world.

In turn, he gives us his presence in our hearts, and empowers new capacities in our lives. God’s spirit and these capacities enable us to take up our vocation as God’s agent. In this light, it seems reasonable that to fulfill our role, that we clearly understand the scope of our capacities. And Scripture indicates that we should reflect on our role in a wise and humble manner.

That nature of God’s Kingdom is like a network. Each node is investing in the increase of other nodes it is linked to. Each node invests in the expansion of the network linking in new nodes.

To push this networking metaphor towards absurdity – The nodes are organized into clusters. The clusters are linked into clusters of clusters. These mega-clusters should be linked into other mega-clusters.

As each node interacts with other nodes in its cluster, each node should increase in signal strength and through put. This increase should cascade throughout the cluster, into the mega-cluster and eventually into other mega-clusters. This increase should also affect unattached nodes bringing them into the network.

Usually, firewalls are established. There are firewalls between mega-clusters. There are firewall between clusters. And, too often, there are firewalls between nodes – even within a cluster.

When a person realizes that he occupies one node on the network, and he is in need of the other nodes, as much as they are in need of him, he cannot assume too large a position. But neither can her assume too small a position. Assuming too small a position results in diminished functionality. The node – here we break the metaphor – loses motivation to complete his vocation. The node stops adding its voice to the song. Each node add a unique part to the whole. Without that node, the cluster is poorer, has a weaker signal and its ability to grow and attach new nodes into the cluster is diminished.

Fruit

Fruit is produced by heart abundance. Life flows from the heart. It is possible to judge a life based on its actions. We should not be surprised to see wicked things flow from a life. When the condition of men is described in Scripture as “none is righteous”, “no one seeks for God”, and “no one does any good”, is it any wonder that evil flows from every person’s life.

The writers of Scriptures do engage in hyperbole. There are people who do seek for God. There are people who do good. But there is a life of struggle, especially among those who follow Jesus. The Spirit is in their hearts. The power to do good is there, even as the corrupted nature of man to do evil is there. Until perfected with the coming of the Kingdom, we will continue to see a struggle.

We see good in those who do not follow Jesus. They do not have the Spirit, who can power their lives for good. But they do have the image of God. Part of God’s image in us are the “fuels” of the heart. A human being is created with a need (or several needs) that when they are filled powers their living, like gasoline for an automobile. To power our hearts, we need a supply to fulfill these needs.

One of these fuels is love. Human beings not only need to receive love, human beings need to give love. And humans give love to one another largely by doing good. To function as a healthy person, one needs to do good as an expression of love. We need to produce fruit.

Love Your Enemies

Jesus said “love your enemies”, because he wants us to be like God. It is very natural for people to love other like themselves, or others who show love to them. It is not natural, or easy, to give love to people who ignore us, who hate us or who we do not know. It is God-like to love those kinds of people. God is kind to the ungrateful and evil alike.

Vocation

God has created us as new creatures. More, we are given a place in his Kingdom, and a vocation to carry out for that Kingdom. We embrace that vocation and move into correct alignment with the Kingdom.

A vocation is a God-given drive and passion to impact the world, to establish God’s rule over the world.

To live out our vocation, we need to know ourselves and the tasks God wants us to complete. The Scripture calls us to know ourselves and to know the grace God gives us to use. Our vocation is fundamental to our Kingdom identity. Our vocation is the primary interface if our partnership with the Spirit in the Kingdom.

Blessed are the Poor

Jesus said that the “poor” are blessed. This is not how we look at things. People look at the poor as being at the bottom. Jesus treats the "poor" here as if they were on the top. What is he referring to? If a person is “poor” he is conscious of his need. He may also be conscious of a path to seek relief.

If the person seeks relief by seeking God, He will find God and become part of His Kingdom. He will move into a while new life, supplied by the promises and directions of God.

The person who is truly poor lives in fear. He has no contentment. He cannot live as God wants, because he cannot give as God wants. (And do not just imagine dollar signs. “Give” means more than that.)

God wants to do more in your life than you can possibly conceive of. If we could receive something of God’s plans and potential, and lived to fulfill a fraction, we would flip the world upside-down.

We are God’s channels to pour out his purposes into the world. He reveals plans, steps, actions and words for us to complete, pursue or deliver. We do not see his kingdom worked out, because we do not believe his promises.

For the most part, the church of today focuses almost entirely on their own. The main question asked is, how can we meet the needs of our membership?

Jesus’ focus seemed to rest among people who had no relationship with God. He did not focus on the Sadducees, who were the traditional caretakers of Judaism. He did not focus on the Pharisees, who were the purists and fundamentalists of Judaism.

The Pharisees had tremendous discipline. Discipline is a good thing. But their discipline required a person having sufficient means to keep it. And what of those who did not were not in a position to maintain Pharisaic practices? They had tried, failed and gave up. Or they were not in a position to learn the requirements and practices.

Jesus’ invitation to people had to be simple so everyone could follow it. Jesus had to remove barriers so sinners, apostates and failures could feel free to move in God’s direction.

Real Authority

There is a story about Jesus giving a lecture at someone’s house. Several men bring a paralyzed friend to Jesus. It is too crowded to get the man – on a stretcher – to Jesus, so they take the extraordinary option of removing part of the roof and lowering the man down to Jesus. Imagine someone wants to see you. Instead of knocking on the door, or ringing the bell, they rip part of your house down, so they can get in. They seem to have stopped thinking. They must have seen this as the only way to help their friend. And it was the only time, now or never. Jesus may never come this way again.

Jesus recognizes the desperation, but he also recognizes their faith in him as the answer to their friend’s need. “If we can just get him to Jesus, his problems will be solved.”

But Jesus speaks to a different need. He says their sins are forgiven. (I have often wondered why Jesus did this. Did he realize that this was their real concern? Was he setting up the crowd to demonstrate his authority as God?) The religious experts in the crowd see all sorts of red flags go up. Since, only God can forgive sins, how can this MAN say something like this?

So, Jesus asks the question, which easier to say “your sins are forgiven” or “rise and walk”? It is easier to say “your sins are forgiven.” No one expects anything to happen. There is no physical manifestation.

But if someone says “rise and walk” to a paralytic … If people expect something to happen, and it does not, then people get angry, disappointed or do not take the person seriously any more. If people expect nothing to happen, and it does not, people dismiss the speaker as a fool, who just likes shooting his mouth off.

But something happens, you have to take another look at that person. You have to take them a whole lot more seriously. He is not just a talker. He might just know something you should know. Maybe he knows something about forgiveness I do not know. Maybe there is something about him you should know.

Jesus intended it as an obvious demonstration that he does have authority to forgive. Not like we have authority to forgive someone who offends us. I can choose to not factor an offense into how I interact with someone. He has authority to absolve from real guilt, to justify and to declare righteous.

Importance of Scripture

When Jesus began his public ministry, he started with a 40 day fast. At the end of the fast, presumably because he was weaker, Satan attacked Jesus by tempting him. Satan attacked Jesus’ credibility. Jesus responded to each temptation with “It is written” and quoted a portion of Scripture.

This underlines out need to know the Scripture. Quoting Scripture is not some magic incantation. The power of Scripture lies in its truth.

Understanding Scripture is important for a number of reasons. (1) It clarifies God’s thinking. We have spoken several times of the need for revelation and wisdom. Scripture is the cornerstone for both. In it, God lays out the parameters for revelation to fall in, as well as wisdom to guide the evaluation of revelation.

(2) It reveals the mind and heart of God. In reading the Scriptures, we can remind ourselves again and again of what God finds important and what we should find important.

(3) It guides the pathways for our own thinking. As we read, study, meditate and pray, we agree in our thinking with God. God’s thoughts become our thoughts. And our mind are slowly and thoroughly transformed.

(4) It guides our actions. We know that the insides and outsides of people are equally important. Our inner life should propel the our outer life. And it is the outer life that we were created for.

Spiritual Realm

To understand the laws of the Kingdom, we need to realize there are several building blocks.

• God’s Kingdom does not function like the world. The laws that govern it are often the reverse of what we expect. We will experience surprises and upside-down values.

• The Kingdom – indeed, the whole spiritual realm – does not exist in isolation from the physical realm. Actions in one have effects in the other. If a person’s heart-focus connects the physical and the spiritual, then thoughts, desires and attitudes have an effect. People can move through daily existence influencing the spiritual realm, and in turn, the physical realm, because of how their hearts are focused.
• People are spiritual creatures. They stand at the intersection of the physical and the spiritual, influencing both. And the Spirit of God in the hearts of Jesus’ disciples places them in the middle of his Kingdom. We need to realize that we are already living and having an influence.
• If we are living and functioning in the Kingdom, perhaps in unrealized ways, we are already living according to the laws of the Kingdom.
• The keys to unlock the laws lie in what God has said. God has already given us his promises. They reveal how God has determined he will act. We need to respond to him with the hands of faith.
• God wants us to live in agreement with the laws of the Kingdom. Since, they are often the reverse of what we expect, we need to know and understand what they are. Since, God wants us to follow them God wants us to know them. Since, God wants us to know them he will reveal them to us. If a person reads the Scriptures, he probably knows many Kingdom laws already. They may not be labeled as a Kingdom law in the person’s thinking, but they will recognize the obligation to “keep” something they have read.
• Many regard the “works” of the Kingdom in almost a mystical way. And I suppose they could be. Many Christians believe that God still speaks, but they would also think that God giving them a message for someone else, especially a total stranger, as moving into areas of weirdness. But we need to see that Kingdom “works” can also be extending kindness or hospitality. The simple act of sharing food or water can send shock waves through the spiritual realm. What matters is that the “work” agrees with the Kingdom laws, even if – and especially if – they run against the current of the world.
• We need to act in agreement with the promises. If there is a condition, we need to meet it. If we accept God’s promise, in some way, it already exists. We may need to modify our behavior to prepare a place for it. God is unlimited. Or to look at it another way, God is self-limited only. God has determined how he will act in the world. There seems to be some evidence that God has limited himself to act only in response to prayer. So, we should be inviting God to act as he has indicated he would. Or we should be thanking him for acting on our behalf, for his glory, as he promised. Or some other way. And since Satan really does not want the Kingdom taking root in the world or our hearts, maybe we should taking note of these things. Keep a journal or a recipe box with 3x5 cards.
• Some people would hear or read something like this and, because of the promises for provision, associate it with some type of prosperity gospel. (1) I am not going to be critical of someone who claims God’s promise for a new car, and then “coincidentally” receives one. (2) We need to keep the fact foremost in our thinking that God’s promises, and God keeping his promises, are not for some sort of “bless me” club. They are to promote his purposes. The ultimate purpose of God is the validation, the demonstration and the completion of his glory. The penultimate purposes of God are the salvation of men and the transformation of individuals, cities, states and cultures into something that reflects his nature. God did promise to provide for us. He did not promise we would be rich.

Spiritual Realm

There are laws that govern the physical universe. Gravity is one such law. It involves all matter. There is a constant; there are observable relationships.

There are laws that govern the spiritual universe. Reaping\sowing is an example of this kind of law. Focusing the heart (as in prayer, meditation and chanting) to connect the spiritual and the physical is another.

There are laws that govern God’s Kingdom. One of the first laws is that faith accesses God’s promises. Faith is the pair of hands held out to receive what God gives. Faith is confidence that God has the power, resources and desire to fulfill his promises.

Another law of the Kingdom is that the best attitude of heart focus is love. It is heart-focus that reaches into the spiritual realm. Prayer is a way to focus our hearts. We can prayer with hate or anger in our hearts. If we do, we can still succeed in connecting with the spiritual realm. Love has a motivation that invokes results that agree with God’s purposes more. That’s one reason why worship is an important factor in following Jesus. Worship should be an expression of love.

Spiritual War

There is a spiritual war. We need to be prepared to fight the devil. It is his servants that will trip us, confuse us and knock us over if they can. It is his servants who want us to be miserable, discouraged and focused on all that is bad. If we are focused on the bad, we are not ready to serve.

• We must understand the truth and have it ready.
• We must stand in our position of favor, having been reconciled, living at peace with God and his family.
• We must be ready to take action. We have peace with God. We do not have to fear moving to serve, to encourage, to share. God has already forgiven us for all we have done. Will he be angry if we step out to act in love?
• We must hold onto God’s promises. Satan will work to distort God’s word in our hearts. We will remember God’s word, but Satan will say it is all a lie. We must remember to believe God, because he does not lie.
• We must keep God’s words and promises in our thinking and acting. It is the Truth that brings Satan down.
• We must be given to prayer. Pray for people to stand, to obey God, nd for the gospel break through barriers.

It's the Heart that Matters

If you are a follower of Jesus, it does not matter whether your bank account looks like Bill Gate’s or the national debt. God does not evaluate your life by whether you drive a jaguar or a 10 year-old Chevy Malibu. Nor whether your wardrobe is on the razor’s edge of fashion or you are hopelessly out of date. God is not pleased with you based on the number of piercings and tattoos you have, or the lack thereof. God evaluates a person’s life based on an entirely different set of criteria, involving the condition of your heart.

People are all born with heart-poverty. Sin robs us. Yet, some people recognize that poverty and inherit the Kingdom. They seek for God, recognize the Spirit’s work and mature as they interact with the Spirit, scriptures and other people. They give a sound, but humble evaluation of themselves, realizing they are not perfect, but neither are they second-rate.

Others dwell in that poverty. They may go to church, but they never find God. They never see God work, though he ignites fireworks and blasts sirens and air horns right in front of them. They never mature. The Scripture is just words. They are consumed with what they don’t have and how to get it.

New Life New Conduct

We have chosen to follow Jesus. But that decision leads to other decisions every day. As we learn to live like Jesus, we are confronted with a multitude of habits, actions and choices which are not obedient to Christ. We must learn to refuse the urging of those choices. We must develop new patterns of thinking. We must make new decisions that result in a new lifestyle.

We choose to speak truth, because we have a new unity with other Jesus followers. Lies divide. A divided body cannot survive. Anger also divides. Do not let anger control a situation. Repair the relationship, so Satan will not have room to work. God’s nature is giving and generous. So, put yourself in a position to be generous.

Do not speak in a way that tears. Speak to encourage, build and bless.

The Spirit of God is given as a seal and pledge of continued relationship with God. The Spirit is our link into God, the body and new life. Actions that practice the flesh and disunity grieve Him. Actions that practice new life please Him. Things like kindness, forgiveness, compassion and patience.

Not Just the Pastor

God gave grace to each one. And He gave leaders to train God’s people so God’s people can serve. God’s people serve and the body is built. Growth is a result of service.

Does growth result from receiving service? Or does growth result from giving service?)

The leaders prepare. The people serve. Growth happens. It creates a spiraling upward situation. It spirals up until we achieve unity. We build confidence in Jesus in each other, until we can all walk on water. We open the eyes of each other, until we can all see Jesus clearly in HD. We mold the character of each other, transform the thinking of each other until we all become Jesus clones, until Jesus’ DNA becomes our DNA.

Then, our lives with be founded on the rock. Circumstances will not control us. Fads and glitz will not captivate us. People will not persuade us to follow deceptions, distractions us with pretty toys or bright lights.

We will focus on truth as scripture reveals it, as the Holy spirit highlights it and as Jesus live it. And we will speak that truth in love.

God’s desire: Every part of the body of Christ matures. Every part of the body builds into every other part. Every part of the body remains connected and supported by every other of the body. And every part of the body actively pursues the completion of his role. This building, connection, supporting and pursuing is plaint by the Holy Spirit in our hearts, when He took up residence there.

Transformation

God created a community among men. The community was created to show God’s nature to the world, to live in a love relationship with God and to rule the world. God gave control of the world to man, intending that man, in cooperation with God, would create an environment of increasing beauty, harmony and bounty.

When Adam sinned, the world fell under the control of Satan. Increasing misery, pain and destruction were the result.

However, God’s purpose has not changed. He continues to invites men to form a community with Him as a partner. He continues to promote the creation of beauty, harmony and bounty in the world. So, we are His partners in winning back rule of the world, and establishing God’s rule … one place at a time.

People tend to view God’s work in an either\or context. Either establish God’s Kingdom through a spiritual transformation, or through a physical transformation. But, in reality, they cannot be separated.

Spiritual transformation has priority for a couple of reason. (1) It affects the eternity of people. One of the problems with a number of business practices today revolves around the fact that businesses too often focus on the bottom line for the short term. And business practices (and attitudes) have crept into the church.

(2) Spiritual transformation has priority because it forms the foundation for physical transformation. The essence of spiritual transformation is a renewal of the human heart. When a person perceives truth about Jesus, and it affects them, they can choose to alter their allegiance from themselves, their company, their country, their tribe, their group to Jesus. This change of paradigm is so powerful that it can only be compared to living a new life. (Spiritual realities are also activated. So, it is more than a mental change. But the change in thinking is extremely powerful.) It is this re-ordering of values, purpose and allegiance that lay the ground work for real physical transformation.

Physical works can move situations toward God’s ideal of the world. There are multiple factors that produce the complex phenomena know a poverty. It requires more than economic stimulus and jobs to overcome it. There are educational, health, political, psychological and cultural factors that contribute to and perpetuate the cycle of poverty. Building schools and hospitals correct part of it. Ensuring a fair and honest government is part of a solution. Giving people hope of a better future contributes. So, works that lead to physical transformation can lead to spiritual transformation. Acts that further the renewal of beauty, harmony and bounty of God’s creation can create an environment of openness to the good new of God’s love. But they may not.

We often underestimate the power of God’s message. We often underestimate the density of Satan’s fog of deception. We often underestimate the power of acts of charity to disrupt someone’s world view. There is a tension between the physical and the spiritual that we need to learn to live with, to utilize and to feed off of. We need to use this tension to stimulate creativity to plant transformation in whatever soil we are currently working.

Representing God

We have been invited to live with God and to live for God. We have been invited to be His representatives, His ambassadors. There is a way we ought to live. It should represent Him in the best light. It should draw attention to Him in the most positive way.

We have accepted this invitation because of certain convictions we have come to. Convictions we think others should have. So, how do we live so people will look at us and conclude, “There goes a happy, delightful soul. I wonder how I can become like that?” Or if the person knows we are a follower of Jesus, “No that’s what a Christian is supposed to be like.”

Good Works

The Bible calls the result of a person’s life “fruit.” It is what is produced from the life of a person, like apples are produced form the life of an apple tree. If the heart is bad, it will produce bad fruit. If the heart is good, it will produce good fruit.

Water, nutrients and oxygen pass through the tree. As they pass, they absorb from the life of tree; and the life of the tree passes into the fruit. If the life that the fruit receives is bad, the fruit will be bad. If the life that the fruit receives is good, the fruit will be good.

Fruit can never be good if it grows out of a heart that is bad.

Good Works

Jesus totally pleased the Father. He exerted His power to raise Jesus, not only from the dead, but to a position of ultimate authority.

We, on the other hand, lived in agreement with the world, the flesh and the devil. We deserved wrath and condemnation. But God expressed His love by extending grace and giving us new life in Jesus. We are given a new position with Jesus.

Doing good things have nothing to do with pleasing God to gain salvation. Not that God is unconcerned with the actions people take. He has given new life. New life has the effect of producing good actions.

God's Plan

God created man to demonstrate His nature to all witnesses – spiritual and physical. God is Father, Son and Spirit. God is a community of love.

God created man to become part of His community, to rule over the world – not gut it greed, but cultivate it like a garden – and to create a community on earth that reflects God’s community in heaven.

Sin caused a change in the basic fabric of creation. Man is alienated from God, from other people, from himself and from nature. His heart and spirit are dead. And his natural tendency and focus is to himself and his needs and desires. The result is an ongoing cycle of evil.

God’s plan has not changed. God still wants men to demonstrate His nature, to become part of His community, to create a community of men, and to rule the world. And God wants these things done in a spirit of love, righteousness and holiness.

Jesus dies to remove the barriers that alienate God from men. Once the barriers are removed, God can begin a work that establishes God-centered, God-breathed rule over the world.

Revelation ... and Wisdom

It is obvious we need revelation to know God. He transcends us. We have no way to get to Him. We cannot measure Him, listen to His heart beat or flash an ink blot in from of Him. In some ways, He is totally alien from us. In some ways, we are completely alike. If we cannot get to Him, for there to be a relationship, He has to get to us.

We also need wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge of what is true and right, combined with judgment of what action to take. When we receive revelation, God speaks to us. Satan also speaks to us. And we speak to ourselves in our hearts. Out of these that speak to us, only one is completely trustworthy. One is sometimes trustworthy. One is never trustworthy. Our Father wants our good, so he will speak truly and righteously. Satan only wants our misery. And we are just limited. We are not big enough or know enough. But we need to know enough to see each word clearly, and to decide what we need to do about it. Wisdom resides with God. He gives wisdom, and trains us in wisdom, so we can discern words from Him, word from other voices, and obey Him confidently.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

Given man’s status before God (sinner, helpless, rebel), given god’s response of mercy, we should choose the most reasonable response – changing allegiance and moving to be with God. Accept the shift in paradigm, so we do not live with the world’s mind-set. The, we will be able to demonstrate that God’s will is good, pleasing and perfect.

This is the first mind-set alteration. Do not consider yourself too highly. Be very serious about your estimation of place and importance. God has provided an interdependence, but it is based in diversity. He has given interlocking functions. The different functions meet different needs. As needs are met, love is given. Unity and growth are created. Growth becomes a by-product of love and service.

Right thinking must progress to right acting. Right acting demands we serve and love one another.

We become other focused. God has created us to live fueled by unity. Unity is designed to function as we focus outward, using our gifts to meet needs. And God has given each of His children gifts. So, if you have a gift, do it!

Living Sacrifice

We need to recognize and understand God’s mercy. Look at its scope, and its effects. Look at people – their helplessness, their continual dark hearts. God has given so much. It is only reasonable to expect people to give much also. To sacrifice their lives. But dead people do God no good. So, it is a sacrifice of allegiance. More over, it is a life that has changed. A life that turns from the darkness and consecrated to God, pleasing to God.

Beyond the Walls

Many Christians are under the mistaken impression that life with Jesus is only encompassed in the church meeting. They act as though the only place to encounter God is “there”, the only place to serve God is “there.”

A large part of the church’s purpose is to engage the world, to rub the world’s face on Jesus’ robe. Part of that is inviting and accompanying people to a church meeting. (Take them to your house. Introduce them to your family.) Part of that is bringing Jesus to their house.

In the Bible, the pastors do not lead the church. In the Bible, the elders lead the church. And pastors are sitting all throughout the room. We believe the scripture when it says we are all priests. But only a few are allowed to do priestly things. (We share Christ with someone; they choose to follow Him. We share baptism; they choose to be baptized. We call someone to do the baptizing, when we are priests of God Most High.) It is not the senior pastor’s job to do the priestly things. It is the senior pastor’s job to equip the church – all the other pastors – to do the priestly things. Everyone who follows Jesus should be able to preach a sermon, cast out demons, pray for the sick, give counsel, pray for other needs, baptize, initiate the Lord’s supper.

We put god in a box. We put Jesus-followers in a box. We put the church in a box.

Worship Always

Live a life of worship and continual renewal. We should be giving our lives to serve God, and continually gaining a new perspective on God, the world, ourselves and the relationship among these things.

We need to understand our role in God’s purposes. We are vital to its success, but we are not indispensable. (There are no appendices in the body of Christ, but the only indispensable person is the Holy Spirit.)

Most people view themselves as either “if I stopped what I am doing, this place will fall apart” or “I am warming a spot on the bench.” There are no spectators on Jesus’ team.

We need to realize that your “job” may not be in the building. There is service in people’s homes, or under their cars. There is teaching and encouraging beyond Sunday School or the Sermon. There is serving, loving and investing in inner city neighborhoods, UD students or ELI students. There are thousands of places prayer should be applied.

Why do we believe the world instead of Jesus? Jesus says there is a problem in the world, and the solution involves a relationship with Him. And people with a relationship with Him are part of the solution. Our time with Him in the worship meeting is supposed to affect the world.

Influence

When a movement begins that has tremendous promise for good, magnetic, charismatic leader and strong surges of growth, it will not be viewed as a positive when that charismatic leader is executed as a criminal. Indeed, it will be the death knell of that movement. Yet the Jesus movement not only views such an execution as positive and an advance, but it is the culmination, the pinnacle of that leader’s work. That “failure” is total victory in the eyes of Scripture.

Our Father is the God of paradoxes. Failure becomes success. Weakness becomes strength. The path to great influence is promotion, personal magnetism, money, connections and polished speechmaking. Is that what the Scripture says? Scripture says the path to great influence is humility, service, love, faith, prayer and a connection with the Creator of the Universe.

During the last elections, one party came roaring into power. The other party was pushed out of while sections of the country. Pundits, politicians and reporters sent up a roar of rejoicing at the apparent political dominion. Is that what Jesus sought?

“Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”

Jesus had the power of dominion. But He chose not to use it. Indeed, He chose the opposite.

“Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing.”

Love is ...

Life runs ahead at break-neck speed. It also comes to a screeching halt, and everything goes flying. Life can come crashing down on people.

God’s family should realize when the roof has fallen in on someone, and move in to put clean up, push everything back into place.

God’s family should possibly even monitor others, and move in to for a support team and prevent a collapse in the first place. Strengthen the beams and joists. Erect pillars.

Love is ...

One thing is axiomatic to Jesus’ disciples: in everything Jesus said He intended to promote God’s purposes, strengthen the relationship between God and His people, and among His people, and draw people to unite with His community. What He encouraged led to building, enhancing and promoting these things. What He encouraged led to wholeness, integrity and authentic living.

How can someone rejoice when people experience misery and alienation? We rejoice when God’s truth is applied and people experience peace, growth, rest and health.

Love is ...

Coming into contact with other human beings inevitably leads to periodic collisions. How we handle the collisions is related to how we view the ones we collide with.

What were their intentions? What am I hanging onto? What is more important: this person? This relationship? My feelings?

To Jesus (falsely accused, illegally executed), the people and the relationships were more important than His suffering. If we have the attitude of Jesus, all reminders of these collisions will be dismantled bit by bit until any suspicion of their existence can only be a matter of speculation.

Love is ...

There are numerous things that get under people’s skin: aggressive driving, tail gating, negativity, whining, frustrated expectations, or misunderstandings. Being sick or tired can make little things grow very big.

And these can light a short fuse with people – either because they are the cause or because they are in the area. Often our focus is glued to an issue, and we respond to the issue with people getting damaged incidentally.

Are people reckless, trouble-makers, or selfish? Are they afraid of losing their job by being late again? Or do they feel like no one listens to them, or takes them seriously? Or maybe they don’t understand?

Usually, we cannot control the causes of irritation, but we can control our responses to people. The response God desires is a longer fuse and extending grace.

Love is ...

Sometimes, it seems like people have an internal need to reveal themselves to others. We need to be known. It is part of our need for community. We hope that when we open our hearts, someone will listen. Someone listening affirms who we are. It affirms our acceptance and worth.

(People don’t open up, because they are unsure how they will be received. Maybe they will be rejected. Maybe the contents of their hearts will be mocked and ridiculed.)

We all know people who only seem to be able to talk about themselves. Any event is interpreted solely by its relationship to them.

(Are these people convinced they are the only ones with worth? Or are they convinced of their worthlessness, and are continually seeking someone to listen, and thereby let them know they are wrong?)

There are people are encouragers. Their focus is not themselves, but out to other people and how they may able to affirm who they are in their hearts. There are people who are servants. Not only is their focus outward, but they are alert for needs … and consider ways and means for meeting them.

Love is ...

In every society, people come to agreement about the basic patterns of conduct toward other people. In the West, these practices are called “common courtesy.” They apply to family, friends, acquaintances, strangers and visitors.

Keeping these practices is important. Because they are applied indiscriminately to everyone, it puts everyone on equal footing. Everyone is treated equally, so everyone is perceived equally. If they are perceived as equal, they are equal.

Respect, acceptance and honor are shown with these practices. Disregard, rejection and dishonor are shown when refusing to keep these practices.