IN OUR LIKENESS... Installment 12, Magpies
August 21, 2009
- In Our Likeness
Here is my point. God’s creation, and his desires for a righteous creation at that, culminated when he designed human beings to need his destination and will. We were created to desire the right over the wrong. In fact, with every new thing comes a desperate dependence on God’s specific direction. We are hard-wired to need God’s relationship. There is no room for arrogance, self-reliance or personal confidence in starting something that God is directing. In fact God spends a considerable amount of energy removing the smugness from people who are committed to following him.
The Paralizing Call
As I speak to college and High school students I get the sense that students are waiting for something. There is a detachment to the call of God. In some, there is fear, and in a too many there is paralysis. Most often, we are afraid to mess this thing up. It’s a valid concern, but the concern should drive us to our knees in preparation of motion. I don’t know if it’s good theology or not but I find myself praying, “Lord, This is your thing! Do not let me mess it up.”
A friend at one of America’s superchurches told me that they used to hang a banner in new staff’s offices when they arrived. The banner encouraged, “Don’t screw this up!”
I think that God has always protected his creations from his creatures stupidity. Look. When God called His giants of old, He knew that they were human. My emphatic urging to people waiting for HIs will to arrive on a text message or twitter post is, “Do something. If God doesn’t want you doing it, He’ll stop you.”
This whole faith is based on the knowledge that humans are messed up and God will have to fix their attempts. I like that a lot. I need that a lot. That would be called grace.
Past Paths
And the LORD said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. I Samuel 3:11
It should come as no small wonder that romance launches people but love and call sustain the quest. We live in a day when people are looking to launch, begin and reinvent. It seems to be the nature of this societal shift called American post-modernism. It is the new call to churches. Redefine yourselves or get left behind. There is a coldness to this new romantic phase in the Western church’s future though. The reasons behind the reinventions are sometimes self-servicing. It feels like a consumer switch of favored venues; like the one that drove Bill Knapp’s out and hailed Appleby’s in.
I myself, have found a need to walk a less charted road. After spending the first 20 years of ministry at super-churches, I felt a burden growing that could not be subdued. Ironically, it was not a moment of dissatisfaction that moved me to this course. It was a conversation that should have been rewarding.
I had been looking to make a move earlier in my ministry “career”. I do not believe that this is a good combination of words, but it is a common one. I had begun the process of pursuing a position at a big church out west. The salary and benefits package were tremendous even if housing costs were ridiculous. The job was in keeping with my gifts and abilities. Hiring a staff to compensate for my lacks was reasonably assumed. It was what most youth workers labor their whole ministries to achieve. There was a problem however.
A small voice, I know now to be that of The Spirit of God, was asking me, “And what about them?” I knew the “them.” We, my wife Dawn and I, had been praying for them for six years. I contend that true call is always determined because of “them.”
Here is a question which at this point is not found in the manuscript. Who are the “thems” that are motivation for action in your life? Are there people so significant to you, to God, that would cause you to give up something for? It is the “Thems” that caused Christ to come.
Be alerted of new posts via email
I really enjoyed this blog in particular. However, I do have one stupid question: how can you tell the difference between God speaking to you and just something you just want to do? Thanks again!
It’s not a stupid question. Throughout the centuries, Christians have mistaken their own emotional energy for the voice of God. Just think about the crusades. I have tested those feeling with a couple of things. 1. What do my most godly friends say about it? 2. Has God directly answered prayer that indicates that this is right? 3. Does this call line up with who God made me to be? It is never “fool-proof” but I have found that God desires for us to find His will. Get in there and start swinging. You’ll be surprised how clear His voice can be.