Radical Unity

If you are reading this around the time that I am putting it out, then you, like me, are being affected in some way by COVID-19. For most of us, that means we are spending most of our time at home, and having little to no in-person social contact with people who do not live with us. And this can be hard.

I know for me personally it has been hard, which actually came as somewhat of a surprise to me. I do not think of myself as being much of a "people person," and my regular week pre-COVID didn't look a whole lot different than my weeks have been looking under this pseudo-quarantine that we have been under. I was still at home by myself most of the time (as my husband is an essential employee and still works almost as much as he ever has), although I had the opportunity to work transcribing things, and I have not had much (if any) available to me as of late. I still went shopping about once a week, since my husband and I only have one car and he uses it for work. There are two major differences between my life then and my life now. The first one is that I don't get to go out with my husband, like to restaurants, the movies, etc. The second one is that I don't get to go to church, or gather with other believers in my life group, or in any other way, and this is the thing that I miss most.

One of the scriptures that has come across my radar lately that has struck me as particularly important is out of the book of Acts, chapter 2. It is concerning the gathering together of believers and what this should look like, and I thought that this time in seclusion would be the perfect time for all of us to examine and maybe reconsider the way that we relate to each other and gather as fellow believers, and how important we regard it as being. This was an eye opener for me, and I hope it will be for you as well.

The passage I am referring to is this:

 So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about 3,000 people were added to them. And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers. Then fear came over everyone, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as anyone had a need. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple complex, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with a joyful and humble attitude, praising God and having favor with all the people. And every day the Lord added to them those who were being saved. -Acts 2:41-47 (HCSB)

Now this passage takes place directly after the account of Peter giving his message on Pentecost and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. We are talking about the first century church, right after it started growing post-messiah. At this point, they were only ten days removed from when Jesus last stood on the earth.

I want us to look for a minute at how these believers interacted with each other. They were together, they worshiped together, they examined the Word and poured over the teachings of the apostles together, they devoted themselves to meeting together, they held all things in common, they had joyful and humble attitudes; they went through life together. 

You may have noticed that it talked about them holding all things in common. I have also seen this translated as "they were all of similar mind" or "like mind." This does not mean that they had everything in common, it means that they were bound together by what they did have in common; their love of God, and their belief that Jesus was His Anointed One (Messiah, Christ).

So we are looking at a diverse group of individuals who gathered together often, not just on Sunday or Saturday for a weekly day of worship.

We are looking at a group of believers, a church, who studied together. Really studied, not just sat and listened to their pastor preach and then went home.

We are looking at a church who broke bread together, ate together, spent time hanging out, getting to know one another, and sharing their lives together.

We are looking at a church who was bound by their similarities, not torn apart by their differences.

And we are looking at people who did all of this joyfully, humbly, and with good attitudes.

Do our churches look like this today? Do even the small groups, life groups, or friend groups that break out of our churches look like this today? Do we care enough about each other to sell our excess to make sure that everyone has what they need? Do we regularly sit down to eat together, worship together on a personal level, edify and encourage one another? Do we act like the family that we claim to be?

I want to say yes, but I think the answer is more consistently no. I know I am guilty of not doing these things, not acting like a family member of the body of messiah, and instead looking at how it can benefit me and how I can use it to feel more full and feel like I am living my life how I should. 

I think that too often our focus is on ourselves and what we can get out of church, and not what we can give. And even more than that, we think of it as a part of our lives, and sometimes not even a very big one, instead of being the focus of our lives. 

"Are you telling me I need to base my life around church?"

Yes. No. Kind of.

We should be inviting other believers into our lives, going through life with them like they are our family, because they are. We are all one, we are all the body of Christ, and we should at least make an effort to function like it. 

We may not always get along, but that's more or less because we don't want to. We prioritize being right on certain issues, whatever they may be, over agreeing on the things that are the most important, bonding over those things, learning, and growing along side others. If we take a step back, we can see that differing view points can actually help that and make studying together more interesting and productive.

We might think we don't like other believers, or even that we don't belong with them, but if we are Christians, then we do belong with them, and we should learn to like them because we are a part of them and they are a part of us. And there will always be people that we don't get along with as well as others, but that's just a chance for us to practice humility, patience, kindness, and self-control, all things that we should be good at (or at least growing in) as Christians.

I think that while we are living somewhat secluded lives, while we are in this strange time of life where we are in between when we used to get together with others and when we will be able to again, we should take a nice long look at how we gather, especially as Christians. If we have a relationship with God and have made a covenant with Him to bear His image like we are supposed to, then it is our job to show Him to the people that we encounter with how we live our lives and how we act. It stands to reason then, that we should stand united with our fellow believers in every possible way. We should encourage one another, draw from one another, give to one another, spend time together, interact with each other, live life together, encounter God together, and share Him with the world together. 

We should have a certain level of intimacy among us, because we are a family. 

We should live in community like we were created to do, we should fellowship with each other in radical unity, because we are united in Christ, the one who can bring together even the most unlikely individuals, binding us all together with the same love that we are supposed to be to the world around us. 

Imagine a life where we all function as a body like we are supposed to, because we all know how to complement each other because we share it with each other.

Imagine a life where we treat our faith like it is the most important thing in our lives, letting everything else flow out of it, and being united with others who do the same on an intimate level.

In this time of isolation, I encourage you to ready yourself for when we can all gather together once again. I encourage you to create deeper friendships, get involved with the believers in your faith community, and love each other like God intended. Let's come together out of this in radical unity, facing the world as one family, one body, united in Jesus our Messiah.

For when things get out of control.

Lately all the talk and hype has been surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak and quarantine, whether you're watching the news, on social media, or just talking to anyone at all. Naturally, this has been not only affecting our day to day lives, but the way we see the world, and of course we are all asking questions like: 

What is everything going to look like when this is all over?

How many people are going to be affected by this?

Am I going to be affected by this?

It is understandable that we would have these questions, and there really isn't anyone who can answer them for us right now. But this does not need to cause panic in our lives.  I can, of course, give you the typical Christian responses of "God's got a plan for us," "God is our healer and our protector," "He didn't give us a spirit of fear," and there are plenty of others like that going around. These reasons are all true, and we should take any wisdom that comes from the Word of God to heart, but assuming that these comforts are wearing thinner and thinner the longer we are cooped up in our homes, I have a somewhat fresh thought for you to consider.

As many of you may know, Passover is coming up in a few weeks. The story of the first Passover in and of itself should be inspiring to us in times like this. God hearing His people's cries and delivering them from from a hopeless situation, all the plagues that happened in the land of Egypt that God kept his people safe from, and then that last night in Egypt, everyone staying cooped up in their houses and following God's instructions so they would be safe during that last, terrible plague. The one that killed. In fact, that first Passover -- people quarantined in their houses, celebrating their pending deliverance among themselves, being careful and staying in to stay safe during a plague -- probably looked a little like Passover celebrations will this year to those of us celebrating it, so this story should really resonate with us this year!

But as I was doing some reading in the book of Exodus (which is where you can find the whole Passover story if you're interested), I came across a verse that I found interesting, considering what is going on in the world right now.

"By now I could have stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with a plague, and you would have been obliterated from the earth. However, I have let you live for this purpose: to show you My power and to make My name known in all the earth." - Exodus 19:15-16 HCSB

Now, the context of this is God speaking to Pharaoh through Moses, explaining basically why they were surviving all these plagues and why Pharaoh was able to refuse them the right to leave, but the concept of it was interesting to me. It made me think of us and our situation.

Sure, you can be scared of the virus, the same as you can be scared of anything that could kill you or the people around you. But ultimately, it is God who is in control. And lots of times, we see crazy things happen that remind us that we are ultimately not in control of our own fates or where our lives will take us. Think about it. We were all doing just fine, and then out of nowhere we are home bound, our jobs, the economy, our health, and pretty much everything is somewhat up in the air and we are seeing that we do not control the world and what happens in it.

Our self preservation kicks in and we do irrational things like stock up on toilet paper in order to make ourselves feel in control, when really we are struggling with the concept that we are not. But you know what? That doesn't have to be scary. In fact, it can be reassuring. 

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 reminds us that it is in the parts of us that are weakest that God's strength comes through the most. When we are humbled and our ego is out of the way, His strength shines through, and we are able to truly bear His image, which is what we were created to do. 

When we are weak and not in control, it opens the door to not only remind us of God's power and divine control, but it also opens the door for His strength and love and light to be shown to other people through us. We get to be the ones who pass on the message. And we don't get that opportunity if we are clinging to control, trying to make a name for ourselves instead of showing everyone where hope and life and love really comes from.

So, I implore you, embrace the vulnerability. Embrace the fact that you cannot control what is happening, or what will happen. Rejoice because you follow a God who can. Dance for joy because He is stronger than you ever could be, and that He has you here on this earth at this exact time for a reason, and that reason does not cease to exist for any virus, or quarantine, or loss of resources. 

Rejoice in your weakness, because when we are weak, then we are strong.

Keeping Yourself Healthy, Body, Mind, and Soul

If you live basically anywhere in the world right now and don't live under a rock (which I apparently do, because I didn't even know about the whole people-panic-buying-all-the-toilet-paper thing until Thursday when I ran out and ended up having to buy way too much online in order to get any at all), then you know that the COVID-19, or corona virus, is now officially a pandemic, and is all people are talking about all over the world. This understandably, is causing quite a bit of anxiety and fear to a lot of people.

Maybe you are someone who is at a higher risk of getting sick, or at a higher risk of being more negatively affected by getting sick, and are anxious about leaving your house. Maybe you have loved ones who are higher risk and are afraid for them, or maybe you even know someone who already has been affected by it. Or maybe you live in an area that is more highly affected already, and are falling into the fear that is sweeping your area. Or perhaps you're like me, and it isn't necessarily the virus you are afraid of, but the economic implications, and the possibility of your household suffering from a loss of work. Or maybe you're just freaked out because people are all so panicky and acting irrationally and a little crazy!

Regardless of exactly why you may be feeling some fear and anxiety, most of us are experiencing some, on some level anyway. It may feel like there isn't a whole lot we can do about anything right now, besides staying home, staying away from large groups of people, and washing our hands. While these are all good tips, you may be thinking that they are not going to ultimately stop the virus, especially because it came out of nowhere and so fast. It was already upon us by the time we were worried about it.

Well, there are a few things we can do to help ourselves and those around us, so I have compiled a list of tips here to not only help keep our bodies healthy, but also to keep us from worrying ourselves to death and so we can fell mentally sound during these trying times.

1) Try not to worry so much. 
I know, that's kind of a tall order, and it's more easily said than done, but if you can cut down on your worrying and stressing, it will help your sanity and your health. When you are under a lot of stress, your immune system suffers, and now more than ever we need to try and keep that from happening. If you're like me, knowing that stress can hinder your immune system just makes the whole thing more stressful! But there are ways that we can cut down on that. And if you are a Christian like I am, it can be made even easier because we know that God is in control of the whole situation, so there is no need to worry! That being said, we are human and prone to worrying. So here are some things that may help cut out some of that stress:

• Prayer/Meditation/Quiet Reflection. As a Christian, I make it a priority to read and meditate on the Bible daily, as well as having a daily prayer time. During part of my prayer time, I make sure to set some time aside for me to just sit in God's presence, taking deep, calming breaths, and listening. A lot of times when we pray it's all talk, which is good, but we should also listen. And be still. This can be great for our health, because we are taking some time where we are doing nothing but being in God's presence, and the more we do that, the easier it is to remember during stressful times that we are always in his presence, and to bring the peace and truth that we find in our quiet moments with Him into the more stressful ones.
• Exercise. Moving your body helps your mind to relax, even if it's just going for a walk with loved ones.
• Journaling. Sometimes writing down all of your worries helps you to sort through them and see them for what they really are, or even just get them out of your system.
• Talk it out. You don't have to bottle up those feelings and worries, tell someone about them. It will probably make you fell better, and maybe they are dealing with the same worries and can empathize with you, or maybe call out your more irrational fears and bring you some peace of mind. It also is comforting to realize that you are not in all of this alone.
• Read your Bible. God is in control, and the Bible is full of stories and accounts that prove that. And reading and dwelling on His promises should help you feel better about your life, especially when you remember that He is in control no matter what happens.
• Stretching, particularly before bed. Stretching can release tension that you are holding in your body, and can help you sleep better.

2) Make sure you're getting enough sleep.

And good quality sleep at that. Getting a good solid 7-9 hours of sleep a night can do wonders for your immune system, and for your peace of mind. If you are having trouble sleeping, try one or more of these suggestions to help:

• Stretching before bed, as I said in the first point, helps to release tension you're holding in your body and relaxes your muscles so you can fall asleep easier and stay asleep.
• Try turning off all screens an hour or so before bed. Instead, do something relaxing like reading a book or taking a bath, something that will calm your mind a bit instead of stimulate it like the TV or your phone or tablet will.
• Drink a nice, soothing cup of herbal tea. Just make sure you give it time to go through your system so you don't need the bathroom in the middle of the night!

3) Get some exercise.

Especially if you can go outside or open your windows while you're doing it. Exercising helps to oxygenate your cells, making them stronger and healthier, giving your immune system a boost and also shipping out any toxins that are already in your system.

4) Eat lots of fruits and veggies, and try to stay away from processed food.

Fruits and veggies and other unprocessed foods like whole grains and beans give your body all the nutrients it needs in a way that is easy to absorb, keeping your immune system up. When you eat processed foods, like packaged, pre-made, foods with junk in them, or foods with a lot of processec wheat and/or sugar, your body has to use more energy breaking them down and gets less nutrients than what you need to be healthy, which could potentially compromise your immune system.

5) Drink lots of water!

This can help your body flush out any toxins that are in it, and keeping your body well hydrated keeps all of its different parts operating how they are supposed to. 

6) Take some high quality, immune boosting supplements.

You're probably thinking vitamin C, and that's definitely a good one. But probably more importantly is vitamin D, especially this time of year when it's hard to really get any from the sun. Taking a supplement of this could be huge for your health. It does a lot of different things for you, including fighting inflammation, which in turn helps you fight infection. And it can help bring your mood up too! Another good thing to think about taking is a probiotic. Your gut is pretty much the center of your health, and taking a probiotic not only helps add good bacteria, but also helps to get rid of bad bacteria that may be in your body.

There you go! If you follow this simple advice, it should help you as you try to stay healthy, and help you keep your sanity as well! Keeping your body healthy goes hand in hand with keeping your mind and soul healthy. If you're one of the people impacted by cancellations and are stuck at home, try to make the best of it and spend some time with your family, catch up on your reading, or any of the other things you just haven't had time for. This may also be a great time to work on your relationship with God, while you have the time, and shine your light to help bring hope to those who need it!  

Surrender Your Surrender

Surrendering has always been a big part of the, for lack of better term, “Christian walk.”  We talk about it all the time, we encourage each other to do it, and, more often than not, we admit that we struggle with it.  Giving up the right to ourselves is hard, and it goes against everything in our human nature, not to mention what everyone around us is saying.

“Take control of your life!”

“Make yourself your first priority.”

“Do what makes you happy.”

“Make a name for yourself!”

How many of these have you heard from people that you know?  That last one is my favorite because every time I hear it I just think, “so I guess the whole ‘Tower of Babel’ thing was lost on you..?”

But anyway, we have a lot of pressure on us not to surrender, and I think it kind of infiltrates how we surrender, even when we are actively trying to.  And I think that in order to fully give ourselves over to God, we need to take a look at this.

When you think of surrendering, what do you think of?  Let me help you out; one thing I think of is Peter, getting out of the boat and walking on the waves toward Jesus, surrendering to Him and letting Him guide and protect him through the storm (until Peter took His eyes off Jesus anyway, but that’s not my point), or from an applicable viewpoint, us surrendering our circumstances to God when they get bad and letting Him lead us through.  Another thing you may think of is surrendering to God your bad habits and sins, seeking forgiveness and accepting the repercussions, as long as you can get yourself right with God again (thinking of David after the Bathsheba incident here.”

So basically, we need to stop holding on to all of our bad habits, our fleshly desires, and any control we think we have over crazy stuff happening because God is the only one who can see us through, and this is necessary if we want to be true followers of Him, right?

Well, yes. 

But wait, there’s more.

Many of us are willing to give up the bad things in our lives – our flaws, sins, scary or bad circumstances, fears, doubts, lusts – but how many of us are willing to give up the good things?  Our talents, gifts, families, friends, spouses, when things are starting to look up, etc.?  Because God doesn’t just want you to give him the bad, but He wants the good right along with it.  Otherwise you’re not truly surrendering.

I think a lot of people recognize the bad things in their lives and see that they need God to help them work those things out, but they look at the good things and think that as long as it looks good to them, it must be God’s will, so they keep going however they see fit.  But we need to remember that we are part of a whole here, and just because we perceive something as good, it doesn’t necessarily mean God sees it as good for us. 

A lot of times we go after something that we think is good and beneficial for us without stopping to be still before God and listen for His guidance, because we think that if it is good, it must be God blessing us.  But we don’t get to decide how God blesses us.

We need to surrender our idea of what it is to surrender.  Until we are willing to completely give up our control of our lives, and our perceived purposes, and our time on this earth, then we are not willing to surrender ourselves to God.

Yes, you absolutely need to surrender your hard times, but also your good and joyful times.  And you need to surrender your flaws, sins, and weaknesses, but also your talents, strengths, and good deeds.  You need to turn every single part of you over to your God and King.  Remember that God is the source of your joy, not anything that you can do or have or achieve.  And you do not determine your purpose, but it was determined long before you came into existence, when you were simply a thought in the mind of your Creator. 

If you are in control of what aspects of yourself you are surrendering, are you really surrendering?

What about you; do you need to surrender your way of surrendering?

Self[ish]less State of Mind

I am not my own.

I have been bought with a price.

I am no longer living for me, but for the One who has called me His own, and set me apart to be included in His Holy Nation.

Do you agree with these statements?  The vast majority of Christians will say yes, but how many of them live like it?  How are we supposed to conduct ourselves in day to day life as believers in Jesus as our Messiah?  How should that impact our life?  Should what we do and how we act look different than people who do not profess to be believers?

According to the Bible, yes.

Do we, overall as a group, look different than the world around us in what we say, how we act, and what we do?

I think some of us do.  But others of us don’t realize the importance of this, and maybe we don’t even realize that we’re not making ourselves different.

So, let's shift gears a little bit here; what is it that we’re even supposed to be doing?  Well, the whole Bible is filled with lots of instructions on how to live in a covenant community (which is what we are; groups of believers, churches, etc., we are in covenant with God and with each other, since we are One), how to interact with the surrounding nations (i.e. nonbelievers around us), what to do about our finances, possessions, families, friends, neighbors, and the list goes on.  We are given many specific examples and instructions on how to live as a covenant people, as children of God.  But I’m not even talking about that today, because what it all comes down to is bearing good fruit, something by which the world is supposed to recognize us and who we represent (Matthew 7:15-20).  That’s right, it’s not our reputation that we’re risking here, but that of our King, because we bear His Name. 

What is good fruit?  What does that even mean?  Well, if we look to Galatians 9:19-26, we have it laid out pretty clearly for us, and not just what good fruit is, but the difference between good fruit and bad, and why we should be exhibiting good fruit.  I would encourage you to read those few verses.

I am going to concentrate on the good fruit instead of the bad.  Because optimism.  Right?  Let's take a quick walk through them.

So, first we have love.  That one is heavy, and in lieu of trying to explain it, I’m going to refer you to 1 Corinthians 13 (oh darn, she’s telling us to read more Bible verses!  What a cruel and unusual punishment for a believer such as myself!) where you will see what love is and what it isn’t, and how we’re basically useless without it.  And I also would like to point out that this is not referring to “self-love,” which is a huge trend in our culture lately, but is instead alluding to a selfless Christ-like kind of love that removes our focus from ourselves and looks out to those around us and how we can show God’s love and light to them.  Not that you shouldn’t love yourself, because clearly you should, otherwise we wouldn’t be told to “love our neighbor as ourselves” (Lev. 19:18; Mark 12:31).  The point is that loving ourselves should not be our focus.  That, my friends, is called selfishness.

Anyway, next we have joy.  I think that this one can be tricky, because we often seem to let our emotions get the best of us.  Or we try to find joy and happiness in places where it does not live; at least not the kind that lasts.  In order to exhibit this fruit, we need to find the true source of our joy, which is our God.  He is the source of our joy.  He gives us bountiful blessings, He takes care of us and provides for us, and He even sent His son to be our Messiah!  I know that our circumstances are not always great, and that is basically just how the world works, but your joy does not come from your circumstances (or it shouldn’t).  When people look at you, do they see just how great your joy is, since you find it in your Creator?  Or do they see a miserable emissary that they have no desire to imitate?

I think that peace really goes hand in hand with joy, because they’re both kind of about more than your direct circumstances, and more about what your priorities are and what you choose, because you choose whether or not to find your joy in your King.  And you choose whether to let his Peace surround you as well.  Will you let it?  Or will you let your circumstances get to you and show everyone around you just how unstable you can really be?  God is the only one who can provide that wholeness; that all-consuming, all-fulfilling peace that makes you feel full instead of empty.  And when we live our lives showing that we have that peace, not only does it have a positive effect on those around us, it also shows the glory of our King, because His peace surpasses human understanding (Phil. 4:7).

Patience, kindness, goodness, and gentleness are all different attributes, but I think that we can put them all together because they all have to do with how you actually treat other, whereas we have been talking about fruits that are pretty much just your general attitude and vibe.  Although patience can also be about waiting on God instead of just doing what you want to do when you want to do it (because we wouldn’t want to assert our dominance over God, would we?), I think it also has a lot to do with how you deal with other people.  Being patient and trying to understand them, instead of making rash assumptions that are only going to complicate things and make people upset.  Being patient and helping others to meet their potentials, instead of just looking down on them and thinking about how much better you are (or someone else is!).  Being patient and getting to know someone, not judging a book by its cover.  And being kind and understanding, thinking of the needs of others, and showing them that you care all go right along those lines, as does goodness and gentleness, as opposed to mean-heartedness and hostility, or dealing with others in a rough way.  When we treat others with kindness, respect, and dignity, we show them that we care, and that our caring is a result of the loving and caring God that we serve.

One of the hardest of the fruits of the spirit is faithfulness.  It’s not always hard to be faithful.  When we are by ourselves, it can be pretty easy.  When we are alone with God, we can devote our time to Him, we can speak openly with Him, and we can make pledges of devotion and faithfulness, or even when we are with another believer who can hold us accountable, but what about when we’re in the public eye?  What about when it looks stupid to be so devoted to something we can’t see and have no “proof” of?  When it seems like a waste of time, a pointless pursuit, and it singles us out as strange?  Isn’t it easier to just act like everyone else?  Or even to just let it go, because it’s not really that important that other people know your “personal interests.”  Right?  We are so busy worrying about our own reputations (even though honestly, what’s wrong with being known as someone who wholeheartedly serves the Creator of the universe?) that we forget that we bear the name of God and are ruining His divine reputation as we attempt to normalize our own and blend in to secular society.  Let’s face it; we were kind of made to stick out.  And isn’t it better to stick out a little than to present God as someone who is not worthy of the kind of faithfulness needed to show what He’s all about?  Isn’t it more important to give Him the glory that He deserves?  Shouldn’t we be faithful to Him before we are even faithful to ourselves?  I guess it just depends on what kind of fruit you want to bear. 

Ah, self-control, old friend.  The never ending struggle against what our fallen natures want and what is good and right and pure.  And in today’s culture, self-control is almost a moot point. We are encouraged to “be ourselves” and “live our truths” (whatever that means).  But what is more important; falling prey to things that will lead us down dark and twisted paths, or having control enough to show the world the things that really matter, and who really owns this world?  There are so many things that I could say here, but I think this one is the one that most of us know we need to work on.  And not just for us.  Because if people around us see us doing whatever we want, having everything we would like to and acting in ways that are abhorrent in the eyes of God, what does that make Him look like to them?

This is so important.  What it really comes down to is us shifting our focus off of ourselves and on to who we serve.

So, knowing all of this (which most Christians will say that they do), why do we continually see our brothers and sisters acting almost the complete opposite of this?  We are constantly seeing people take such offense at others for doing something that they don’t like.  Or that they personally don’t think is right.  Why are we so concerned with what others are doing and what others think of what we’re doing?  Who put us in charge?  Who gave us the right to be the ruling judge over everything?  This sense of entitlement is not Biblical.  We are called out of the world and set apart, and we are supposed to be better than that.

My challenge to you is this: shift your focus.  Try to focus less on yourself, and more on who you serve.  Remember that it’s not your reputation at stake, but ultimately His.  That’s the choice you made when you entered into covenant with Him.  Trade the selfish for the self-less, and produce good fruit.  After all, that’s how everyone will know who you are.

So, who are you?

Water to Wine

So often we label ourselves.  We decide that we are a certain way, and we shape our behavior to this because this is what someone does who is a/an [insert label here].  Introvert.  Extrovert.  Girly-girl.  Tomboy.  Real man.  American.  White.  Black.  Native American.  Asian.  African.  European.  Christian.  Is this a bad thing?  Not necessarily.  Except that usually, what we are doing is taking a societal norm, something that the world around us has decided is valid, and then applying it to ourselves.  We are letting the world sculpt us.

Why?

Because we want to fit in.

Is this a bad thing?  Yes.  No.  Maybe.  I don’t know.  That’s not what I’m here to talk about today.

So, there is a group of people that the world has decided to put all into one box, and we are called Christians.  And we are all the exact same.  We have the same beliefs, we all act the same way, have the same standards, and if you know one of us, you know us all.  Are you with me so far?  I hope not.  Especially if you fall into the diverse mishmash of Christianity, Believers in Messiah, Followers of Jesus, whatever you choose to call yourself.

The world does have one thing right; we are One.  One Body of Messiah, one Family, etc., but we are all very different, and we all come from different places.  We all have different purposes, so why would anyone even expect us to all be alike?  Well unfortunately, we a lot of times think that of ourselves.  We hold up one person as the pinnacle of perfection, the one that we strive to be like.  But should we do that?  I think not.

While it may not be a great idea to put yourself in a box that the world has made for you and try to be everything that they expect you to be, it’s not exactly better if you’ve crafted the box yourself instead of letting your Creator show you who He made you to be, and I think a lot of times we do this.  Many of us base it on who we’ve been, and we take that verse that tells us we are a new creation and say that we now can be nothing like the person we were before or we are doing something dreadfully evil.  But is that true?

Let’s look at the verse I’m talking about.  2 Corinthians 5:17 says this; “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.” [HCSB]

Pretty straight forward, right?  The old has passed away, and we are to be new.  Well, let’s look first at the next few verses, and then back at verses 14-15 and try to get a little context of what we’re talking about here.

  ¹⁸ Everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us. ²⁰ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, certain that God is appealing through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” ²¹ He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

¹⁴ For Christ’s love compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: If One died for all, then all died. ¹⁵ And He died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised.

Okay.  So yes, we are a new creation.  But does that mean that we are completely new and not to be at all like who we were before?  To me it looks like we have a new focus.

Now, yes, having a new focus, a new priority, is going to drastically change us.  Instead of the world revolving around us, now it revolves around Jesus.  Instead of living for ourselves, we are living for Him, and we are His ambassadors, His witnesses, His emissaries.  Basically, we are the reason that anyone who doesn’t know God might want to.  We are an army.  We go from being our own to being His.  From lost to found.  From profane to holy.  From water to wine.

But to many people, this means something else.  They go from being whatever they were before to being “Christian.”  From secular musician to Christian.  Can’t be singing about things that are “of the world” anymore, so I’ll stop and just be a Christian instead.  From hair stylist to Christian.  Shouldn’t be so focused on external beauty; a good Christian wouldn’t do that.  From literally anything to being a “Christian.”  Because apparently we missed the part about reconciliation. 

Jesus made it so our sins will not be counted against us.  This does not mean that we undergo a personality change at the moment we give ourselves over to God.  We do not lose our natural gifts that God Himself created us with.  You may have been lost and wandering in the wilderness before God called you to Himself, but you were still made in His image long before you ever knew what wandering even was!  God has created each and every one of us with special gifts and abilities so that we can each be a different functioning part of the Body of Christ.

The word “profane” means something that is common and unremarkable, while the word “holy” means set apart.  We go from being common, part of the world that ultimately is unremarkable, to being someone who is set apart, needed, and highly valued.  Don’t run from who you are, because that’s who God made you.  Run from the profanity of it.  Run from the things that distract you from God, the things He says that He hates.  And it is possible (and probable) that your incredible, unique, God-given qualities that make you who you are will try to lead you to those exact things that God hates and bring you back into the world, but just remember that this is only a side effect of a fallen world, and something that with His strength, you can overcome.  But you must overcome it.  Because Jesus already has, and He is the one you are representing. 

Use your gifts for His glory.  Use them as He wants you to.  You don’t need to be like everyone else.  You just need to be who He has called you to be.

In the very first miracle that Jesus did that is recorded in the Bible, He went to a wedding and, when they were running out of wine, he turned some jugs of regular, boring water into wine.  And not just any wine.  This wine was good.  You had people coming out to the groom and saying “bro, why didn’t you bring this out earlier?!  You basically had us drinking liquefied crap, and you had this just chilling in your house?”  (Okay, they didn’t say it just like that, I’m paraphrasing in a very huge way, but you can check it out for yourself in John 2:1-11)

You were the water, and you are the wine.  You were once some regular water in a jug.  But now, you’re a new creation.  Jesus has paved the way for you to be wine, and not just any wine.  You are the best wine.  You are the wine that makes the wedding festive and wonderful.  God has a purpose for you; don’t get in your own way by looking at others and thinking that you need to be just like them to be a good Christian, or good at what you do. 

Just be exactly who God made you and called you to be.  That is how you can be His emissary.  Show the world the absolute majesty of your King by being who He created and doing the great things that He can only do through You.

We are His, and that is who He made us to be.  

Are We For or Against God?

This morning I was reading in my Bible in the book of Numbers, and a certain passage caught my eye.  Many of you may know it as Korah’s Rebellion.  Essentially what happened was that Korah and some of the Levites got all mad at Moses and Aaron and called them out for supposedly putting themselves up as leaders when they had no right to.  They were saying that all of God’s people were set apart and holy, and they wanted to know who they thought they were trying to lead these people through the desert like they owned it or something.  They made all kinds of accusations of Moses, saying that all he wanted was control and that he had purposely turned them away from the Promised Land so they would die in the desert.  Great, right?

If you have read this part of the Bible before, you know just how preposterous this whole thing really is.  I mean, Numbers 12:3 literally says that Moses was the most humble man on earth.  He was clearly not the take-over-the-world type.  Not only that, but Korah, along with all of the people who willingly followed Moses out of Egypt, had entered into covenant with God, agreeing to live their lives the way He told them to, part of which included following Moses because God had put Moses before them as an intercessor on their behalf.

So anyway, the passage that specifically caught my eye this morning was Numbers 16:9-11.

“⁹ is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them; ¹⁰ and that He has brought you near, Korah, and all your brothers, sons of Levi, with you? And are you seeking for the priesthood also? ¹¹ Therefore you and all your company are gathered together against the Lord.”

Since Korah and his gang were part of the tribe of Levi, they were the ones that God had specifically chosen and set apart from the rest of Israel, an already set apart nation, to work in the Tabernacle, which was the place that God’s presence literally dwelled.  They were already the set apart of the set apart, but that wasn’t enough for them.  They wanted more.  They wanted to overthrow Aaron as High Priest and they seemingly wanted to take over the whole congregation of Israel. 

And get this; since they were yearning for something more or different than what God had given them, Moses told them that they were gathered together against God.  Woah.  Let me say that again.  Since they wanted something different than what God had for them and were going after it, they were assembled against God.  They were fighting God.  And do you know what happened?  Later in the chapter, God literally caused the earth to open up and swallow them alive.

This got me thinking, because just yesterday, I had God put a stop to some plans that I had.  I was all ready to go be a junior counselor at a camp in Oklahoma.  And when I say that I was ready, I mean that I was at the bus station, suitcase in hand, ready to get on the bus, when God suddenly put His hand out and unexpectedly cancelled my plans in a way that I never would have even thought of.  And I’m going to be honest, I was mad at first.  I mean, this was a perfectly good thing.  I was going to a camp of fellow believers to minister to the kids and worship the Father.  Why would God want me to stay in Delaware, of all places, when I could be doing that?

But who am I to be mad at God’s plans for me?

For whatever reason, it wasn’t in His plans for me to go to Oklahoma this week.  Now, I could rebel like Korah and try to find a way to go anyway, or I could simply submit to His plan for me, whatever that may be, and try to keep in mind that His timing is not my timing and His plans for me are far better than anything I could think up for myself.  If I choose my ways over His, I am putting myself against Him, and I will lose every time.

Now we, as believers, are like Korah and the Levites.  We are set apart for God.  We are the ones that He has chosen to draw near to Him and do His work, serving Him and ministering to those around us.  We have to stop and ask ourselves, is this enough for us?  Because it should be.  The plans that God has for our lives are plans that predate us.  When God created the earth, he already knew that we would one day walk upon it, and He had a plan for us that He wants us to carry out.  We really only have 2 options in this life; whether we will follow God’s plan or our own. 

We need to remember that we are either for or against God, and there is no middle ground.

If we choose our ways, we will be swallowed up by the earth.  Literally?  Maybe not.  But we will be swallowed up by the hatred, immorality, death, and evil that runs rampant in our world today, and we will be separated from God.

Now, if I had rebelled and gone to that camp anyway, would I have been immediately separated from God?  Probably not, but that’s the danger of it.  You only have to turn slightly to the left or slightly to the right and before you know it you are miles from where you’re supposed to be.  I would guess that that’s how it happened with Korah, too.  All he needed to do was let one little thought take root, something like “who is Aaron, that he should be High Priest and not me?” or “who is Moses that God should talk exclusively to him and let him be in charge of all of us?”  One little, seemingly harmless thought turned into a conversation, which turned into a revolt, which turned into a rebellion. 

We need to decide if we are for or against God.  All or nothing.  Who will we follow?  Who will we choose to be?