Bottom line & personal (the real deal)
The real “bottom line” is your spiritual condition, not your financial condition. You’re true “net worth” is what you possess after everything material is gone. Pursuing Jesus is a game changer. Life’s never the same when you put Him first. When Jesus is living inside a person, it shows on the outside. If you’ve had an electric shock, you know it. If you’ve ever met Jesus, you know it.
A body of believers relating together can often reflect Jesus better than one person can alone. When Jesus-followers collaborate in humility, they open the floodgate of His love. Roles in the body of Christ should be assigned by the Holy Spirit. “The priesthood of the believer” gives all Christ-followers the same status.
The body of Christ is more than assembled spectators observing a performance. If people’s only role in a church service, is to be a spectator, they have no role. Instead of over dependence on a pastor, we need excessive dependence on the Spirit. Centralized control can collapse a church’s creativity. Religious cruse control keeps things going the same pace. Christ-control releases creativity. Don’t try to understand & control Jesus. Let Him control you & be your Lord & Master. People try to figure God out when they can’t figure themselves out. Just love Him.
Unfortunately, group norms can compel us to quench the Spirit, who often leads beyond the usual. To keep Jesus contained on a tight leash is to miss the power of His presence! Without open interaction a group becomes a gathering of spectators. Christianity began with the dynamics and power of Spirit-led, group interaction. Church is a group under a chain-of-command. Ekklesia is a group of Christian friends. Ekklesia releases Heaven’s ecosystem.
Interact with the ecosystem in this picture. Can you find two birds hidden in it? (The answer is below the pic.)
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After taking this pic, I noticed a few things. In the top left hand quarter I see a shadow of a bird perched on a rock and right beside the bird, a shadow of Jesus walking by. In the bottom left hand quarter I see a small bird made out of rock. And of course, there’s an interesting book at the bottom. (“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” –Jesus) Get Beyond Church @ http://amzn.to/2qCqo4O
When desire tells you
To do something wrong,
Time to be strong.
Resist all day long!
Dream noble dreams,
Work hard to make them real,
And let God do the rest!
Let’s go beyond mental theological study to experiential encounters with Jesus! Perhaps we can repackage Christian theology as a lifestyle, not just as information. A balloon low on helium is pulled down. So also is a Christian low on the risen Christ.
It’s easy to let trust in theological concepts take the place of the risen Jesus. Don’t do that! Without genuine spiritual formation, theology is only religious information. Theological discernment is both a gift of the Spirit & a mental comprehension of Scripture.
Physical homelessness is bad. So is spiritual homelessness. I found home with Jesus. I want to see beyond whatever is blocking my view of God. Christianity is all about seeing and surrendering to the living Jesus! More than biological desires; we have spiritual longings only Christ can fulfill.
Grace is like a base on balls. It’s free, but you still have to run the bases. “Salvation” is to be delivered from rebellion and reconciled to God by Jesus Christ. Run, baby run!
You can’t buy inner peace. but Jesus bought it for you & offers it to you as a gift. Take the gift and boldly carry it forward!
