One of the amazing things about 'light' is that it doesn't have to try to be anything! The first thing God said was 'Let there be light' and the substance of light simply ... became. Since then light has never been caught looking in the mirror, checking out the latest fashions, or looking for the right way to impress itself upon this world. It simply ... IS.
Light reminds me of family. In the Old Testament, God said his people will dwell in the land and be light. The plan was that they become a light to the nations and in seeing their prosperity and blessing, they would turn to God. Of course, it didn't go exactly to plan and we are told to take the journey of his people as a warning. In The New Testament, we are united to our Father in heaven through Jesus finished work at Calvary and in doing so we are brothers and sisters! This truth is amazing yet do we often miss the simplicity of this blessing and its implications?
As stated, we don't have to try to be family, we just are! We don't have to spend time working out how to be a brother or a sister, we ...just are! Like light, it is a matter of fact that we exist together in Christ and attempts to make it work could amount to a load of striving. In 1998 I was touring the east Coast of Australia doing a talk called " Are you a Human Being, or a Human Doing?" It was an appeal for us to examine how we as Christians can try to whip up what we think should be part of the experience, while all the time we have so much in the simplicity of 'being' a Christian. It was a risky message because it was opposite to the western addiction to doing things in order to accomplish.
I don't want to miss the blessing of simply being together in Christ. What has God given us just by his finished work? Before we embark on mission or interest groups, what have we already just by being in Christ? The people of God simply 'dwelt' in the Promised Land and God said that made them light, if they obeyed God. I wonder if, searching together for the simplicity of 'family' would meet us as the Body of Christ and then when we went out into our lives, we would be met people meeting people? Just a thought?
Light reminds me of family. In the Old Testament, God said his people will dwell in the land and be light. The plan was that they become a light to the nations and in seeing their prosperity and blessing, they would turn to God. Of course, it didn't go exactly to plan and we are told to take the journey of his people as a warning. In The New Testament, we are united to our Father in heaven through Jesus finished work at Calvary and in doing so we are brothers and sisters! This truth is amazing yet do we often miss the simplicity of this blessing and its implications?
As stated, we don't have to try to be family, we just are! We don't have to spend time working out how to be a brother or a sister, we ...just are! Like light, it is a matter of fact that we exist together in Christ and attempts to make it work could amount to a load of striving. In 1998 I was touring the east Coast of Australia doing a talk called " Are you a Human Being, or a Human Doing?" It was an appeal for us to examine how we as Christians can try to whip up what we think should be part of the experience, while all the time we have so much in the simplicity of 'being' a Christian. It was a risky message because it was opposite to the western addiction to doing things in order to accomplish.
I don't want to miss the blessing of simply being together in Christ. What has God given us just by his finished work? Before we embark on mission or interest groups, what have we already just by being in Christ? The people of God simply 'dwelt' in the Promised Land and God said that made them light, if they obeyed God. I wonder if, searching together for the simplicity of 'family' would meet us as the Body of Christ and then when we went out into our lives, we would be met people meeting people? Just a thought?
