Identity in Christ - 2 (Aliens)

When we chose to follow Jesus, to give him our allegiance, many things happen. We become a citizen of God’s kingdom. We become a member of God’s family. We become a part of God’s body.

We come into agreement with Jesus. So, we take as our values, goals and priorities, Jesus’ values, goals and priorities. We take Jesus’ mind-set and cognitive framework.

The Holy spirit takes up residence in our hearts. So, he takes over our hearts. Our motivations change. Our attitudes change. Our perspectives change.

This is a long and round-about way of saying, we are different from everybody else.

• God’s Perspective

God has many children living in a far-away country. It is a country which is hostile to them, because they are from his country, they are his children. Moreover, it is a country that tries to manipulate his children. It wants to induce them to agree with its standards and customs, which are against God’s standards and customs.

God, from his position as master designer and creator, knows what gives health and well-being. He knows that people will be much better off if they live in relationship with him. And he is concerned for his children. He is concerned they will stumble, move away from him, damage their relationship and damage their “hearts.” (“Heart” being a Biblical metaphor for a person’s inner being: psychological, emotional and spiritual.)

But God is also confident about his children. He is confident that the will not move away from him and cause this damage to themselves. Moreover, he is confident that with his children in the world, engaging the world, that the world will be drawn to him. God has put a longing in people’s hearts to experience all that his children experience. And if people advance to him, give him their allegiance, they will fill the emptiness. They will also become God’s children. And they will become aliens in their own home town.

And God is confident his children will choose the completeness they were designed for, and keep away from the substitutes the world uses to fill its heart.

• Living My Life

We live in a world that moves contrary to God’s ways. People choose to go against how they were designed. Like water in the gas tank, a car might still run … just not very well.

So, is it surprising that the government chooses a direction that does not keep God’s ways? Is is surprising that businesses provide “services” that go directly against God’s word?

So, how does God’s family react when this happens?

They complain. They whine. They expect the world to say “OMG!! What was I thinking??”

One: God says “Do not grumble.” God says “In every life situation, give thanks.” Moreover, God speaks into every situation. Look for, be alert for, his revelation. He will tell you how to turn a negative into a positive.

Two: God’s family is supposed to be a positive force in the world. That’s why God left us in the world.

The world does not know God. It does not know his ways. It has no intention of following his ways, if it did know them.

God’s family does know God’s ways … or it should. Giving God allegiance, we agree to keep those ways. God’s family should be demonstrating his ways, living his ways, to impact a broken world. Whining and complaining won’t fix what’s wrong. Love, grace and truth will.

Identity in Christ -1 (Appointed by God)

We have been invited to follow Christ. We have been invited to to be his disciples. Once, we accept the invitation, we are appointed. We are put into service.

When we give Christ our allegiance, we are loved as a child; and we are valued as a trusted, faithful servant. The Father has confidence in us. We are esteemed. We are part of the solution.

God puts us into service. We become participants in his mission. We are given a part to fulfill. And God not only expects us to complete our part, he is fully confident that we are able to do so.  We can't be like Moses and say "I can't do that" or "I don't know how." He has equipped us, empowered us and positioned us for success. 

And what were we appointed for? To produce lasting fruit. We are appointed to shape lives, cities, cultures and societies.  We are not appointed to do this alone. We are part of a team. But we are a vital part.

● Living my life

If I have a vital role on a team, I need to be on the field. I  can't be sitting in the bench.  I have to make sure I am in shape.  I have to make sure I know how to accomplish my role. 

However, one of the results of the way discipleship is carried out today is most of the team sits on the bench. The arena has gotten limited to a Sunday morning meeting. The requirements have gotten limited to a few roles; and in many churches, some roles require special, accredited training. The result many lives is that people listen to cultural expectations,  and not God's expectations. God may have chosen someone for a role and that someone does not assume that role, because he/she does not meet the cultural expectations. 

To live a life of obedience requires we embrace our role. Yes, there is learning required. But we have the Holy Spirit as our teacher. And the Father wants our success, so he will not place us beyond our limits.

● God's Perspective

I am a trusted, faithful servant. I will fulfill my place in God's plan. I will completely,  faithfully,  competently fulfill my responsibilities with excellence. And God knows all this from the day I chose to follow him.

So, does this means that I will always be faithful,  always obedient and never fail? Of course not. If we are half successful,  that would be amazing.  But this is how God chooses to view us.

"You are my servant.  I expect you to succeed. I expect you to bear fruit. And I have placed all my resources at your disposal to make sure you do succeed. I am not glorified by your failure. So,I am going to do what I can do to make sure you never do. "

It seems that God, in appointing us as his ambassadors,  has taken a substantial risk. But he also declares to the world what our value to him. You are worth dying on the cross. You are worth God putting his reputation on the line. You are worth God making all the resources of heaven available.

Identity in Christ

I recently discovered that someone has put videos of one of my favorite speakers on YouTube. So, watching YouTube for a short while on Saturday morning has become part of my devotions. One of the things this person seems to do is generate “sound bites.” That is, he says one or two sentences that stick in your brain. One that I have been thinking about recently is: “God does not relate to us according to our behavior; God relates to us according to our identity.”

Why is this important?

If God relates to us according to our behavior, the burden rests with us. And, therefore, no one would be saved, because we continue to fail. At best, we would need to continually choose to follow Jesus. But, with God, whose standards are perfection, we would never know.

If God relates to us according to our identity, before we choose allegiance to Jesus, we are sinners, enemies of God, and rebellious. We have broken his law and deserve condemnation. After we choose to follow Jesus, our identity changes. Even though we still sin, we are not who we once were. We are “in Christ,” children of God, citizens of his kingdom, priests of God Most High … to name a few. And the burden rests with him.

(I have a list of 67 items that comprise our identity, once we are in Christ. I don’t know if I will post all 67 items. But I have decided that I ought to think about all 67. If these things comprise my identity, then understanding them gives me greater understanding of how god views me, and what my life should be like.)

Our identity changes from something God hates to something God loves. Our identity changes from something God finds worthless to something God finds valuable.

Knowing God views me through the lens of my identity – an identity given to me when I gave Jesus my allegiance, an identity that was designed by God in eternity past, and forged on the cross – and not my behavior, gives me tremendous confidence in my relationship with God. My relationship does not stand on what I do, because I am not big enough, nor holy enough, to stand on my own. The burden rests with him. My relationship, my destiny, stands on what Jesus did and how God views my position with Jesus. And my position is “in Christ.” My identity is bound to him.

If The End Was Near - 6

The last instruction concerns spiritual gifts.

As many know, the church is the body of Christ. There are many different pieces connected together to fulfill Christ's mission and complete Christ's life in the world. Like a human body, each part has a different function. Each function fosters growth, maintenance, repair and change within Christ's body. There is communication, resourcing, problem solving, and task resolution. All of these things involve skills that promote healthy life and growth in Christ's family.

(Growth can be looked at in two ways. One is greater efficiency and effectivenessof an individual life. The other is lives effected and more people choosing to become part of God's family.)

There are lots of theories. (How many; how and when given; the identification and definition.) But Scripture makes several things plain.

● It is the Holy Spirit who gives them.

● He has a strategic and tactical purpose for each person, and therefore, each gift.

● This gift gives a clue to each person's purpose and place in God's kingdom and mission. (I say clue rather than an exhaustive definition, because there is room within each gift for different applications. If someone has a gift of teaching, who is his audience? Churches, classrooms, individuals, adults, two year olds, teens, workers, retirees, mothers, fathers, couples, singles and a host of others not mentioned. )

This instruction is God has empowered each one of us to fulfill a part that completes his mission and builds his family. Be diligent to fulfill that part.

If The End Was Near - 5

The next instruction is about hospitality. It could be a further comment about love, but it could stand on its own.

The instruction is to provide hospitality with a positive attitude for those in need. given the context and main theme of the book, I believe this instruction is aimed primarily at other believers who lose their homes and livelihood, because they are members of Jesus' family. We should joyfully bring these into our homes, feed and clothe them.

There is not much more to be said -- use your physical possessions to serve, shelter and feed others.

However, imagine if the command had universal scope. The homeless. Refugees. The unemployed. Since, Jesus' heart covers these also, it would not be too hard to include these too.

If The End Was Near - 4

The next instruction is about love. But it is not next in priority. This Scripture says "first of all" or "most of all." Meaning love has first priority.

Why does God give love first priority? Because life is built on relationships. It is not built on jobs, accomplishments, or adventures. Life is built on God and people, and people and people, connecting with one another.

And love is important, because relationships are messy. People make mistakes, act selfishly, and sin. Love covers sin. Love makes relationships possible in the middle of the mess. Love makes unity possible when there is failure and sin. And it is love and unity that demonstrates God's nature to the world.

If The End Was Near - 3

There are several instructions the writer gives, because the end if near. The first instruction involves prayer. I find it interesting that there is no “thou shalt pray.” Prayer is assumed. The writer believes that God’s people will be given to prayer. Some more than others, of course. But it is a significant part of each believer’s life.

No, the instruction is not “make sure you pray.” The instruction is make sure you pray with a right heart, right attitudes and right perspectives. Words used to describe praying with a right heart are: earnest, alert, disciplined, sober, self-controlled and right-minded.

Prayer as the writer describes it should be a serious, focused, intentional connecting with God. This does not necessarily preclude a free, emotionally released time of worship. But, there ought to be time when we place our heart as intermediaries between God and people, between God and the world, and between people and the world. It is not a fun sort of prayer. It is a burden of love. It is assuming the burden of suffering with people and for people – in our hearts, minds and prayers.

We ought to be concerned by slowly God’s kingdom is growing. We need to pray for the Holy Spirit’s invasion of the world.

We ought to be concerned by how small God’s family is. We ought to pray for the Word, the gospel and the Spirit to invade hearts, cities, people-groups, cultures and societies, turning the upside down as they learn about God’s love and his desire to adopt them as his children.

Yes, we should pray for jobs and healing for people we know. We should pray for parking places. But we need to expand our hearts. God wants to touch those close to us: family, friends, neighbors and co-workers. He also want to touch those far away.

We also need to understand our authority. When the disciples were still immature spiritually, Jesus sent them out, told them to proclaim his message, and gave them authority to heal and cast out demons. He gave them authority to validate their message. He later went on to give authority to his church to “bind” and “release.”

Maybe he gave this authority to increase our faith. Maybe so we would develop his heart toward the world. In either case, we need to recognize he has given us authority, and we need to learn to wield it … in love, for people, for God’s kingdom, for good.

If the End Was Near - 2

As one would expect, there should be an impact on your life when you live at the end of your life.

Some people might not be able to face it. Some people might have the ultimate, unending party. But if you are a member of God's family, you know the party is coming. Now is the time for something else. And the writer discusses things we should focus on, in light of the end of time.

I find it interesting to note that the instructions do not include: 

   • make sure you don't sin, 

   • share the gospel a lot.

I can imagine some TV preacher speaking on this subject and those two things would be at the top of his list.

"You are going to go into the presence of the Lord. Don't go with the stains of sin on your soul. "

"This is your last chance to make your life count for eternity. Millions are going to hell. Don't let them perish without the opportunity to know about Jesus' love for them."

I will not argue against these two "made up" statements. The issues are important. But the writer of Scripture did not include them in this case. What did he include? What did he, and the Spirit, consider important?

If The End Were Near

A large part of the Bible are letters (pre-email and pre-texting messages) from one Christian to another, or to a group of Christians. The writer is sometimes responding to questions being asked. Sometimes, he is trying to encourage them as a result of circumstances he is aware of.

In one letter, the writer begins by affirming that the world is going to end soon. The writer saw things happening in "current events"  that corresponded with what Jesus said would happen right before the end of the world. Unfortunately, the end of the world has been coming soon for a long time.

He was wrong in his timing, but he was right in his encouragement.  The things Jesus said were signs of the end have been part of the human condition since Adam sinned. But they have existed in greater or less intensity.  It isn't hard to observe that we live in a time of increased "war and rumors of war. " So, I could look at the world and say,  "the end is near. "

Why would Jesus tell us about the end of the world?  Why would he include signs that could  lead any follower of his to conclude that the end is soon? Did he do it on purpose? Maybe he did.

It doesn't take a genius to see that if we knew there was a finite,  countable number of days before the end of all things,  we would probably approach life differently. Perhaps radically different.

How would you live if you knew this was going to be your last Christmas? 

Paradox

As Christians, we are called to live in the tension of paradoxes. Instinct may pull us to act one way, while the call to obey my pull in another.

Recently, I became aware of another such paradox. I am a parent. And parents work / hope / pray for their children to make good life decisions. They want them to live better lives than they did -- better jobs, better standard of living, better marriages, better children and better better. Because of the value they place in following Jesus, they want their children to follow Jesus better. To follow Jesus well, they want them to follow disciplines that tend to promote a healthy relationship with Jesus -- Bible reading / meditation, prayer, attending church, getting into a small group and developing relationships with other kids from other families who follow Jesus. And the Bible does testify that our relationships, our friends, influence our choices, our lifestyles. Bad friends influence toward bad choices; good friends influence toward good choices.

And the Bible says that God's family should be influences toward good in the world. God's family should impact the world and nudge it in a positive direction. Because Christians are in the world, the world should be a better place.

God's people generate this influence for good by living out their relationship with Gods, by loving people, by serving people and by proclaiming Jesus' good news. The better our relationship with God, the more we love, the more we serve and the more we proclaim, there will be a corresponding greater impact in the world.

And we want our kids to have this impact. This "fruit" will testify about their relationship with God, their choices, their lifestyles, etc.

The thing about impacting the world is the the people of God's family have to engage the people of the world.

There is an assumption among a lot of Christians that if we just get people to church, they will absorb truth by osmosis. I do not doubt that the Holy Spirit, present in a meeting of God's family, will influence the hearts of those who do not know him. But if that was all that was needed, Jesus and the Apostles only needed to walk down the street and there would be universal revival. Walk down the street and everyone gets saved. (They did walk down the street and people got healed by the Spirit as they passed by.)

But Jesus did not just walk down the street. He engaged people. He engaged tax collectors. He engaged prostitutes. He had relationships with people to influence them to pursue God. And to impact people, we need to engage people and our kids need to engage people.

Did you ever -- or were you ever with someone who -- see a person in public somewhere, and judging by their dress, demeanor, language, behavior and hair color say / think "Man! That person needs Jesus!" Well, that person probably does need Jesus. Which means he needs someone, maybe you, maybe you child, to engage them in Jesus' name. Maybe proclamation; maybe service; maybe love.

We want our kids to live righteously, in holiness and wisdom. We want them to impact the world. But we don't want them to be impacted by the world. Increased impact means increased engagement. To increase giving impact, we must increase engagement. To minimize being impacted, we must decrease engagement. Therein lies the paradox.

We want to protect our kids from foul language.

      Did Jesus hear foul language?

We want to protect our kids from sinful examples.

      Did Jesus avoid sinful people?

We want to protect our kids from promiscuous activity.

      Duh. Prostitutes.

We want our kids to emulate the life of Jesus.

      How did Jesus engage the world, yet remain faithful to God?

      It wasn't entirely because he was God in the flesh.

God's Heart: Love vs. Law

I was listening to Graham Cooke recently. He said that a person's concept is the most important thing in a person's head. Our picture of who God is, and what he is like, is the most important "stuff" that fills our hearts and heads. It is that picture that creates the framework for our lives. 

If God is watching us like a hawk, waiting for us to blow it, so he can stomp on us, then we will live in a type of vigilance. We will sit on the edge of our seats, uncomfortable in his presence, uneasy in taking action lest we offend him.

If God is watching us (like a hawk) to find ways to guide us towards restoration, towards redemption, towards living as we were designed, we will rest in his love, we will be assured of his acceptance, and we will not fear in taking actions or failing.

We looked recently at the woman caught in adultery. Religious leaders caught this woman and brought her to Jesus. Jewish law said she should be executed for this type of sin. They challenged Jesus to uphold the law. Jesus, in return, challenged them by forcing them to look at their own lives. They all deserved punishment under the law.

Living as we were designed to live is more than avoiding a bunch of "shall not's." Even if we kept all the "shall not's" we still would not be living as God intended.

God intended that all people should be part of his family. He began the process of redemption and restoration with the Jews. Yet, whenever the Jews lived in a mixed society, they invariably allowed the society to influence them, and they pulled away from and ceased following God. Part of God's law warns against this mixing. So, the Jews pursued a policy of isolationism. Current understanding of God's law said God wanted his people to avoid contact with non-Jews. Yet, God really wanted the Jews to engage with non-Jews and invite them to be a part of his family.

After Jesus returned to heaven, God sent an angel to a non-Jew to urge him to invite one of the apostles to come and tell him and his family God's good news of love and acceptance, and to take action that is appropriate to becoming part of God's family. This man sent representatives to the apostle to extend the invitation. The representatives had to travel one or two days to find the apostle.

Meanwhile, God induced a trance on the apostle, in order to send him a message about what his attitude and heart really was toward all peoples. And he timed the trance with the arrival of the representatives, as well as another message. All of this to convince the apostle that the common understanding of God's law was wrong. In effect, he was convincing the apostle to break the law, so that God's love could break the barrier of narrow legalistic assumptions.G  

Faith

Jesus tells the story of a woman,  who is having legal difficulty. She is poor,  so she can't afford a lawyer.  So, she does the only thing she can think of doing. She goes to see the judge in charge of the case.  And she goes day after day after day.

Now the judge received his appointment to the bench because of a political favor.  He doesn't care about people, the Law, God, or justice.  He only cares about keeping his position.  Good money, easy hours, not too much work, and lots of perks.

But this woman keeps bugging him. He doesn't care about her, or honor God,  or justice. But at this rate,  she is going to drive him crazy. So, he is going to give her justice, but for the wrong motivation.

Then, Jesus compares the judge with our heavenly Father. The judge gave the woman justice, though he was not a very good person. He just wanted the woman off of his back. Our Father is the epitome of love, goodness and moral perfection.  He does care about people,  right, wrong and justice. Given the Father's love, desire to bless, and ability to bless, it should be a perfectly reasonable action for his children to persist in seeking him.

Then, Jesus asks the $64,000 question. When he returns, will he find people with faith?

He demonstrates his nature to us by dying on the cross, by healing, by feeding multitudes with crumbs.  He demonstrates his heart, his ability and his love. With all of that, we are timid with our prayers, our love, our plans, our time and our energy. We fear rejection, failure and looking foolish. We don't see ourselves correctly; we don't see God correctly.

Peter had a flash of insight. He saw Jesus correctly for few moments. When he did, he got out of the boat and walked on water.

People's Sin and Jesus' Acceptance of People

Sin is a unifying factor. I don't mean that it pulls people together, because it doesn't. It pushes people apart. If unifies, because it puts people on the same level. We all sin. We all fail. No one is perfect. So, we are all the same, unified in our imperfection and condemnation.

And God knows it. He sees our hearts as they truly are. No one can disguise or hide the sin in their hearts from God. That makes his sacrifice even more amazing.

religious leaders brought a woman to Jesus. She had been caught in the act of sinning. The Law said punishment for this sin was to be stoned to death. Jesus knew the woman's heart. He knew she had sinned. He knew she deserved this punishment. He knew the religious leaders were right. But he also knew their hearts. He knew each one of them sinned and deserved punishment too. If they were honest  with themselves, they would see they deserved to be stoned too. so, he pushed them to be honest ... and she wasn't stoned.

This is the beauty of the gospel. God sees our hearts. God knows we sinned. God knows we still sin. Yet, he still dies for our sins. He still accepts us, even though we still sin.

Jesus doesn't excuse\approve of sin. Sin steals from us. We do not get anywhere close to living how we were designed to live. Life is robbed of meaning and significance. And he told the woman to change the way she was living.

There is no indication in Scripture whether the woman repented or not. Maybe she did. Maybe she didn't. But Jesus demonstrates t he attitude, we should have towards everyone. Because we are all in the same boat.

Whirlwind

It has been a sort-of whirlwind week. First, we discover a large hornet’s nest under the eaves of the house. How do you get rid of it without getting yourself or anyone else stung?

Then, a bat got into the house. My wife and kids are scared. There is a possibility of some really serious diseases. I have yet found a way to catch a flying bat, so I whacked it with a badminton racket. This always leaves me a little depressed. Even bats has their place in God’s world. And it would probably have preferred to not be in my house either.

Then, my wife bought a new refrigerator. There was a circus getting it home. (We bought it on clearance, so the store would not deliver it, even if we paid for delivery. Figure that out.) The circus continued getting it into the house. House doorways were too narrow, so we had to take the frig doors off. Swapping food. Getting the old one out. It still worked, so we found a home for it.

Finally, a couple we know and love are thinking of calling it quits. And that is really, really sad. So, we talked, listened and prayed. There was no abuse or infidelity. There were no habits or practices that either had that were bad. No money issues. No children issues. No issues that one usually hears about.

The husband is really sad and really dissatisfied with life. Life and his marriage relationship wasn’t what he expected. It doesn’t seem worth carrying on in a limbo status for 20-30 years.

And people say, “Good relationships require work. You work through the problems. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” And he says, “Yea, I know. But in between the negatives, there should be some positives.”

He wasn’t very good at explaining anything, except life and marriage wasn’t as expected. The things he needed\wanted\expected were not being met.

(NOTE: No decision has been made. They are going to try and get some help. I know we would appreciate prayer for them, even if they don’t know what they want.)

Of course, all the things people say to fix the problem are said. Some of them are clichés. The reason they are cliché is not because they are not true. It is because they have been so often they lose impact. I don’t know what this says about me. I don’t know if it is good\bad. (I do know and accept that this is the way God designed me. If fills a place in his purposes. And, therefore, it is good. And I also know and accept that I am broken. I don’t work or react the way I should. And this is not good.) But I start wondering about those things.

“Only God can meet your needs.”

Only too true. Only God can meet the deepest needs for joy, significance, love, place and others I can’t remember at the moment. So, why are people miserable? Why are people, who have a relationship with the Father, miserable? There is an underlying feeling that if one knows God, one should not be miserable. So does that mean: 

• People don’t read\prayer\meditate enough? 
• People don’t worship enough?
• People don’t have enough faith?
• People put other things first?
• People don’t understand the way this is supposed to work correctly? 
• People are tied to other things and other people?

“Happiness comes from our circumstances. Joy comes from our relationship with God.”

Only too true. When we depend on our circumstances or our situation to fulfill us, we will be forever caught on a roller coaster. And our time at the top will be all too short, before we go roaring into the bottom. But joy certainly seems to be in short supply. We should be living above and beyond our circumstances. All too often, our circumstances drag us around by the nose. A love relationship with our Father should hold us up. It should give us courage and power to continue. It should give us identity, place and worth. So, why is there so little joy? Because we don’t know our Father well enough? (And we don’t, because of that list above.)

I’m sure part of the reason is because we have an enemy. Any one of us could be the next “Peter” or the next “Paul.” So, he works to keep us guessing, to keep us miserable. If our hearts are focused on our misery, we can’t pursue those things we were designed for.

Maybe, part of it is that we developed into a time and people where knowing is what is important, and doing not so much. We know we should be close to God. We know we should live a life of joy, faith and love. Yet, how do we get there?

We hear in the news too many examples of bad fathers. How did they become bad fathers. “Fathering” is not taught; it is caught. If the father is absent, negligent or aloof, that’s what sons learn. That’s the sort of fathers they become.

Jesus walked with his disciples, so they caught who he was, and how he lived. Maybe people don’t know how to live in faith, joy and love, because we haven’t walked with anyone who showed us how.

Maybe, Jesus walked with his disciples because knowing our Father, being a father, being a husband, living in any relationship, and dealing with life’s messes cannot be taught. They can only be caught.

Rejoice

There is a story about Jesus sending his disciples out on a short-term mission. He gave them authority to proclaim the message of his kingdom, to heal and to cast out demons. And they had tremendous success.

 

When they returned they told about all they had accomplished. And they really had done some wonderful and tremendous things. And Jesus agreed they had dealt a major blow to the enemy’s kingdom.

 

Today, people would spend the next twenty years, discussing, telling and re-telling, and celebrating those events. Yet Jesus encouraged a different focus. These events may be great, but the fact that people have an intimate love relationship with the Creator of the universe is the greatest.

 

So, I find myself asking a question. How should this affect our attitudes, our time, our priorities, and our actions? Which should we be more psyched about: a quiet hour of prayer and meditation, or a conference filled with celebrities, miracles and a rock concert atmosphere?

Gardening

Jesus told a story about a farmer planting seed. Some of the seed fell on the path and the birds ate it. Some fell on the rocks, and it could not take root, so it died. Some fell on thorns, and it couldn’t compete for resources, so it died. Some fell on good soil, so it was placed to bear lot of fruit. But what if it were never cared for? What if it were never watered, weeded or fertilized? There would not be as much fruit. The plant would not grow as well, or as healthy. Its ability to provide for itself would be diminished.

The story is, of course, about people responding to the gospel. Prepared hearts, open and ready to respond are vital. But care of the hearts is equally vital. How much of the church’s dysfunction could be averted by proper guidance? Loving, not overbearing, oversight? Personal attention by mature brothers and sisters?

There is not such oversight because there are wrong views about what spiritual guidance comprises, who is qualified to do it, and how people get qualified.

Family Life

We are called to relationship with God.  We are called to become part of his family. And if we accept this invitation,  we are charged to keep the family rules.

All families have rules.  They affect relationships within the family.  (How family members are supposed to treat each other.) They affect relationships between members of the family and those not in the family.  (How do members represent the family. How do members treat those not in the family. ) They affect responsibilities. (Family life needs to be maintained.  Members get "chores" and "roles.")  And each member is supposed to be involved in all of these. Each member maintains relationships with the Father and other family members. Each member is a "commercial" for the family. (They explain and demonstrate what the Father is like,  and what family life is all about.) And each member is a janitor and an ambassador.

But each member's janitor\ambassador duties might be different. One might mop the floors and work in an inner city soup kitchen. One might help prepare meals and provide hospitality (meals, rides, interpretation) for international students. And a large part of all of it is training. One needs to prepare members to use mops and potato peelers, share Jesus' message with an infinitely diverse audience, connect with the Father, hear\understand him directly, and give healing to hearts, minds and bodies.

And things change. Rules and responsibilities morph. I have gone from doing everything (some involvement in every meeting and every project) to very little involvement.

Sometimes, I think the drastic change with what I was doing with what I am doing is due to burn out. A human being can only burn the candle at both ends for so long. Eventually, you run out of candle. Sometimes, I think I am being lazy. And sometimes, I think the expectations and mind-set of those providing the training and direction do not challenge the rest of the family enough. Expectations are that only some of the family do the work. In some local families, the leaders expect to do all the work. In some, the leaders pioneer all the work and do encourage others to join. But there is no the right timing, motivation or preparation for others to participate. And in some projects, there is not enough roles. And in other projects, there is need for millions of workers, but only for a short intense period.

The family grows and flourishes as each member performs his part. There is blessing as each member performs his part. If some are working hard, some doing nothing and some doing a little, there will be little growth. Does each person need to search long and hard about where his\her place is? Do we need spiritual career counseling? 

Relationship

God knows all about us. The good, the bad and the trivial. He still seeks us. He still wants to know us.

After he created the world, God would walk in the garden in the cool of the day and talk to Adam. What did they talk about?

It wasn’t a Bible study, because there was no Bible. It wasn’t preaching about repentance and faith, because there was no sin. It wasn’t encouragement about obedience, because they was no law. What did they talk about?

“You know God, I’ve been trying to train the monkey to clean up after they eat. It’s like herding cats!’

“The gazelles want me to organize a soccer league.”

“I don’t know what it’s called, but that purplish-red fruit is really good!”

Maybe they just shared what was on their hearts. God talks about how the world and people were designed. How cool it all was. How he envisioned it all developing. Adam talks about what he knows. Different ways the animals act. A new plant he found and what it could be used for.

Maybe the purpose and design of mankind is to know God, to open our hearts to him, and to receive what is on his heart for us.

Maybe sharing what is on our hearts is what prayer is all about. I know the world has changed. At the very least, it has gotten a whole lot more serious since the age of innocence before the Fall. The stakes are high. People’s lives hang in the balance. The world is in a shambles. And God wants to be involved, and wants us to be involved, in all the pain and the loss. But maybe God also wants to hear your heart about:

•  Your favorite team trading your favorite player;
• Your family vacation; 
•  Your golf game … and that wicked slice; 
• How you wish you were better; 
•  How you are afraid of change, taking initiative and failure.

He already know the good, the bad and the trivial. You might as well talk him about all of it.