So much of my life with Him has been spent in trying to get Him to give, not
realizing that He has already given, in Christ, all that I need or will ever
need. We try to get what we already have. Bud McCord, in his book, The
Satisfying Life, said, "A person living from need or lack cannot live
Jesus' teachings." Think of how much of our lives are lived from a lack. We so
often feel that provision, blessing, help of any kind, is something to be
pleaded for. We're always seemingly trying to get God to come down to us, and
seem totally unaware that He is already with us, calling us onward to higher and
higher places in Him. We're told that we, as His children, have all things in
Christ, yet we live as orphans who need to constantly besiege a seemingly
reluctant Father to care and provide for us. We are, as McCord puts it,
"Missing what's not missing."
We seem to think that all we need has to be
put into us, not realizing that we already have it in Him. The abundant life is
something we have to somehow lay hold of, something to take, missing that this
life is something to receive, a receiving of what has already been given to us.
We have with Him, what a good friend has called an "Employer/Employee"
relationship. We seek from Him "stuff," orders, direction, and miss the truth
that if we are abiding in Him, moment by moment, these things needn't be sought,
but heard, for His voice speaks, and as we abide, we hear, and follow His lead.
We don't have to come to Him, for we're already with Him. We don't have to ask
Him to give because we're living in what He's already given.
McCord gave
the example of the Israelites following God in the wilderness. So many lived in
anxiety and frustration from day to day. Always unsure of whether there would
be enough, whether on this day, the God who had come through yesterday, would do
so today. Others, much fewer in number, lived in the rest and assurance that He
would provide and protect. His Presence was there moment by moment, yet some
missed what was not missing, and some...did not. Which group do you and I
belong to today? Which group is being produced in our fellowships right
now?
McCord said that "discipleship" styles can be placed in two
categories. Those that seek to "put into" people what we feel is lacking in
their walk. The "have's" teach the "have-nots," Discipleship becomes about
'resources and learning." This style starts with what people lack, not what
they have. The other method is that which "points to" Christ. Here, people are
not exhorted to imitate Christ, but to live in connection to Him. His life
flows into them, and out of them. It's not just calling people to avoid evil,
and then sign up to come to the scheduled meetings and follow the rules and
works of the group. The product of this approach will result in people who live
missing what's not missing. It's not a life that seeks to get from and get to
by the expending of great amounts of our energy. It's a life that lives looking
into the face and heart of Christ, drawing by the moment on that life, receiving
all that He has already given.
A pastor friend recently told me that he
sees his ministry now being that of being a "message machine" for the Father.
The message he hopes to bring to those who hear him is, "Call home." That
people would hear the voice of God calling to their hearts, calling them to
Himself, to their true home, His heart. Then hearing, and receiving from His
heart, the limitless abundance that He has already given them, us, in Christ the
King.
Have you heard that message? Are you hearing it now. The Father
invites. Call home.....right now.
Blessings,
Pastor O
No comments:
Post a Comment