Left With Stars In Our Eyes...

I really do intend to do a better job of keeping up with my blog from now on...really I do...! The last few months have been hard for me as well as extremely busy.

I am reading a book off and on that Darrel has been urging me to read. It is called "The Secret Message of Jesus" by Brian D. McLaren. Each time I pick it up, I am amazed at how God speaks directly to my heart. I want to talk about a particular quote today.

McLaren is talking about how Christ commissioned the disciples with a global mission in mind and how this was really pushing this group of Jewish men whose religion was typically not a missionary religion. Let's join McLaren as he discusses the Jewish religion in this light.

"Yet this idea of global mission was in another sense not unprecedented. As we mentioned before, the primal calling of the primal Jew, Abraham, had implicit global dimensions: "I will bless you and make you a great nation, and all nations of the world will be blessed through you" (see Genesis 12:2-3). The resonance between those words and Jesus' commission to "make disciples of all nations" is unmistakable. But the ancient Jews, like their more recent monotheistic colleagues, often devolved into being preoccupied with being blessed themselves, forgetting or suppressing their calling to be a blessing to others. They, too, often saw their calling as exclusive ("We are blessed to the exclusion of all other nations") rather than instrumental ("We are blessed for the benefit of all other nations"). "

This paragraph caught my attention today. I am beginning to see how modern Christianity has mistaken its' commission. You see, we get stars in our eyes. We can't get past the fact that God wants to bless us. Prosperity is such a hot topic lately - there are men shouting "money cometh to me now!" and declaring that "the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the righteous!" while all the time missing the point that Christ was trying to make. Take this personal, relationship-centered gospel to world - start with your neighbors, then your town, then your state, then the world - and when I bless you, it is so that you can be a blessing to others by providing what they need and don't have. Sounds like a big order, huh? But really He was simply asking them and is asking us to do what He did. He started with a group of 12. He taught them, had relationship with them. He modeled life for them. Then each of them went out and did the same. It grows like that - not into mega-congregations mind you, but into more and more small fellowships. That is how is spreads world-wide. And while we are doing this...when God pours out His blessings on us, it is not to be hoarded and used for our own comforts - how can we do this with a clear concience? When we know there are those all around us that are in need of basics, bare essentials? We are to be a funnel through which God can bless the poor and hurting around us. Extravagance cannot be an option - Christ had no place to lay His head. He poured out all He had for the lost, poor, needy, and hurting.

Am I saying that we should all live in poverty? Well, all I can say is that I think we should seriously ask God to show us where we can make changes. How can we give more? What could we do without so that others might be able to have food, heat, clothes, relationship, the gospel...
maybe it's money, maybe it's time, maybe it's stepping out of our comfort zones and forming relationships with others.

Today I want to tell you that I believe in you. I see potential in you. I love you. Look up and out as you go on your way today. See the poor and needy. Give till it hurts. Love till you're worn out. Most of all, let me hear from you - I'm hungry for your feedback.

Remember that I still want your replies to the question "What is important to God?".