I have a certain level of
frustration with religious leaders who want to shape the church’s demographic. Likewise,
the mover-shakers in my town have a similar thought process and lament that,
rather than retirees, we need to attract younger people, businesses,
entrepreneurs and tourists. Recently a vacancy on city council necessitated the
council appoint a replacement and during the interviews a councilmen asked a
candidate to give her thoughts on those in the community who want to make our
town a retirement community. Leaders fail to understand that God is not just
the potter in the lives of believers, but He is the potter of organizations,
governments, churches and towns. “You turn things upside down, as if the potter
were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed
it, “He did not make me”? Can the pot say of the potter, “He knows nothing” (Isaiah
29:16 NIV)?
1 comment:
Gail;
-----What you say is evidenced in The Lord’s Prayer and I Jn 5:8. Contrary to popular belief, Jesus did not give The Lord’s Prayer at the request for what to pray. He gave it at the request for how to pray. He didn’t say, “Pray these words…” He said, “Pray this way…” It is a template for prayer, not a script for recital. So there is understanding available in noting its elements.
-----After we acknowledge His relationship to us, His position at the top, and ascribing holiness to Him, we cast our desire towards the development of His kingdom. His kingdom has always been developing. The creation of the heavens and the earth were development of His kingdom. Eve biting the forbidden fruit was development of His kingdom. All things work to the good of those who love Him. Everything works towards His purpose; even the wicked being for the day of judgment develop s His kingdom.
-----His kingdom is more than just The Church. Those who salivate at the chance to shape the church into their own spiritual understandings want everyone thinking that advancement of His kingdom is advancement of…yes, you guessed it…their church. But, His kingdom is everything subjected to God, “When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things under him, that God may be everything to every one.” (I Cor 15:28) Notice that prayer is to, “Our Father…” rather than to, “Oooohhhhh, Jjjjeeeeessssssuus…” As the fine author you are, you know pronouns are reflexive; they look back to an antecedent for their identity like a glass looks to either a milk carton or a water faucet for its filling. “Our Father…” fills up “Thy…” of both kingdom and will. His kingdom is all things in subjection to God.
-----”There are three witnesses, the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree.” (I John 5:8) Besides what John actually meant by that statement, there is this beautiful metaphor in it. Water is H2O, an inanimate compound. All inanimate things testify to Him. Read Ps 19:1-4. Read the Bible His Spirit inspired and note how It moves within you. The spiritual realm testifies to Him. But the blood. The blood is also a mix of chemicals just as water is a chemical. If you poured all of the chemicals comprising blood into a glass in their exact proportions for being blood and shook it up real good, you would have an inanimate slurry -a glassful of chemicals, each molecule doing its own thing irregardless of any overall purpose. You will have blood when all those individual molecules properly arrange and order themselves into cells and proteins and other biological nano-machines becoming the equipment of blood, and then move purposefully unto performing blood’s objective, each doing individually what it does right amongst all. The intricacy of life being trillions of elements, each individually interacting in a common process, testifies to Him.
-----His kingdom is like blood. All elements of it do their own thing of purpose for the right thing, not of purpose for the right elder, preacher, teacher, etc. His kingdom is righteousness rising up from the heart of each, the epitome of unity. Any attempt to coerce an aggregation of elements within its natural flow more resembles a clot than it does life.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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