The clock said 3AM an hour earlier than my usual JOURNEY INVENTORY & REVIEW TIME! I recalled this morning how disappointed some “brothers & sisters in the Lord” have been in me when my humanity sprung a leak and they were still friendly to my face but held me at arms length because I did not meet their expectations. I thought, if they only knew about me what God knows about me, they really would “freak out”!
My favorite of men in the OT was David the “SHEPHERD KING OF ISRAEL A MAN AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART”! Adultery, deciet, lying, betrayal, murder and finally repentance revealed his humanity and his capacity for sin. His poetry addresses my life daily as I embrace his words! His family also revealed brokenness and failure as do all our families. From incest to treason, his families humanity leaked! Finally his son Solomon, a man of great wisdom , the 3rd king of Israel revealed as he aged a major leak in his humanity! With 700 wives, 300 mistresses and excesses of every kind, God divided Israel! We are talking SOAP OPERA TIME! The hard reality is that GOD’S WONDERFUL GRACE DOES NOT REMOVE OUR MANIFEST HUMANITY IN THIS LIFE NOR DOES IT EXCUSE IT, BUT HE KEEP LOVING US WHILE HATING OUR SIN AND ALLOWING US TO PAY THE PRICE FOR OUR CHOICES!
Thus those believers who chose to hold us at arms length because we do not meet their spiritual expectations only reveal their own insecurities, immaturity and lack of humility. Sooner or later our inability and our leaky sinful humanity will surface and we all will declare in our repentance, AMAZING GRACE HOW SWEET THE SOUND THAT SAVED A WRETCH LIKE ME! Each believer in Jesus Christ is on a personal journey with each person at a different place, with different issues, yet with like struggles. No agreement necessary! The fight over agreement often leads to a keep face, ego war! Argument and debate is not involved, but searching the scriptures to see if they are so, giving the Holy Spirit an opport-unity to do His work in God’s time without brain washing each other with a “cookie cutter” mentality. Who we believe is the issue more than what we believe. As the Who is established as the final authority, then what we believe grows out of that authority. Humility is the mark of a maturing believer. True intimacy develops in a one on one in your face relationship, as to allow each to face the other, making a connection with the person addressed.
Time together is absolutely essential. Find time, make time and take time to share your hearts, mind and soul without fear of disclosure or intimidation. “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” said JESUS! The believer’s spiritual growth and development demands intimacy, the very heart of nurture. As I look back over the years it appears too much time has been spent on real estate, buildings, monies and numbers. Each believer craves at some point intimacy, an opportunity to ask questions and question answers. Somehow we have often just taken for granted that it is the normal to just buy into a routine that offers very little space for “searching out the scriptures to see if they are so” in an enviroment of love without dogma and judgment. It is the Holy Spirit alone who came to “convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment” and none of that has our signature on it.
Thus as we believers grow in grace and knowledge, humility allows the manifestation of God’s grace, by “bearing one another’s burden and fulfilling the law of Christ”. Every believer is equal to the other and we each have different gifts to manifest in the body of Christ. We have created too often a caste system with “preachers on top” along with different religious orders next down the chain to just the regular “pew christian”. This is nonsense, we all are equal with different gifts but the same relation to God as His children, God Has No Pets! Each of us has the same challenge and authority, as called of God, imperfect, sinful, undeserving, but redeemed, forgiven and greatly blessed children of God. The scriptures are for each of us equally and they alone our teacher. Thus we must seek our intimacy with others who will abide by the need in each to be real and honest, sharing our hunger. Talking heads and faceless crowds will never produce intimacy. Sitting in pews back to back will never do more than allow us to be distracted by hair styles, clothes, ears and rears, head shapes, and bodies. Lectures and sermons can indeed evangelize with a clear message but growth and nurture demands “face to face” sharing.
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS OUR PRIMARY TEACHER WHEREAS WE BELIEVERS ARE GIFTED TO BRING FORWARD SCRIPTURE TO ONE ANOTHER SO THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN AND WILL DO HIS PERFECT WORK IN GOD’S TIME.
JESUS NOT ME-SUS!