Recently I heard 84 year old pastor Peter Lord preach on the 3 types of mobility he saw within the church. The first were those who pursued upward mobility with all their hearts and energy. There are many in the church who fall into this category, especially pastor's, and I place myself in the forefront of that group. Advancing, whether in ministry, professions, academics, really, into whatever endeavor we enter into, is a goal, and one, if we're honest, something we feel He has promised us, even owes us. The Father does give us an "upward call" in Christ, but we have most often seen it a matter of moving upward in this realm, not His. The second group, are those with "no mobility." These are the ones who, whether through defeat, discouragement, distraction or just plain apathy, stay right where they are, emotionally, and above all, spiritually. They may well have left the church, but more likely, they are there, week after week, physically, but they have left their hearts and their minds elsewhere. They leave, exactly as they enter in, but they have gone nowhere. The last is a group with a very small membership. Christ is found there, but I fear, not many of us who say we are His and who "follow Him," are found there with Him. This is the group whose sole interest is in achieving a downward mobility in and with Him. This group holds no attraction to the flesh, and because of that, it doesn't hold much attraction to most of us who are very preoccupied with feeding that flesh.
Philippians 2:7-8 says, "He made Himself nothing, He took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form...He humbled Himself even further by dying a criminal's death on a cross." He made Himself nothing. How willing am I to join Him in that ministry? How willing are you?
I think I have spent so much time seeking to be "something and somebody," avoiding at all times His invitation to join Him in the secret place, the unseen place. The place that is invisible to this world, but so clearly seen by the Father in His. I have spent so much energy seeking to be "seen" here, and so little seeking to see into His realm of the Kingdom. We grasp and seek to hold on so desperately to that which is passing away, all the while losing that which will never pass away, the Kingdom of God. We want to be highly visible and "seen" in a world that will one day be no more, indeed will be "invisible" and all the while are blind to the eternal, which will never pass away.
Christ took the path of downward mobility, and by it, brought unending glory to the Father, and unending life to all who would receive Him. He came in obscurity and yet was exalted to in the highest. We seek to be exalted, and reject any idea of obscurity. Christ willingly came as the least, but we seek to be "the most." Christ lived and lives in the high places of the Father, we hunger for the high places among men. Which place does your heart, my heart, seek today? What "mobility group" are we to be found in? Can we join Him in His? Are we willing to be nothing and nobody, to embrace that, joyfully embrace that? To live out our lives in faithful, trusting humility, very likely unnoticed by most if not all, yet in full view of heaven, of that great cloud of witnesses, in the loving eyes of the Father, Who, as we humble ourselves before Him in brokenness, brings us to Himself in wholeness. Downward mobility. It's truly the only pathway to His glory. Who among us will walk that way?
Blessings,
Pastor O
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