So, you are a Christian? Good, then the Lord's spirit dwells inside you, and you belong to Him, and you are being drawn to Him. You are being drawn to the spiritual dining table with the Lord. All around you, you see other Christians being drawn to the Lord's table, closer, and closer you go. Is it a race? yes, and sort of no. At least no, in worldly terms. For it is a race as Paul said, but it is a matter of finishing, not a matter of finishing first. In this world we think of a race as a set distance everyone gets to at differing times, and he who is first is winner. In this spiritual race, we are about the finish, and we are about the helping of others to that finish, the finish is the victory, and we want to see many, many, victories. We want to see as many people join the Lord at his table as possible, and we know this is the Lord's desire, for He has created us for relationship with Him. Please know that most of what I am writing below has to do with how we live our lives in relationship to the Lord out of the new man, identity, life he has given us, and then eat at his table in the next phase of eternal life, if someone is in a stagnant spot, just waiting to die and be placed at the table. I am not commenting on weather or not they will be at the table, the Lord knows the heart of a man/woman, I do not. Also, analogies, have their flaws, you may criticize the analogy all you wish, and I may very well agree with you, but I would rather you take away these 2 things, am I moving? If so, which way? Also, who maintains my circle walls?
Now, we look at the business of helping victory, God has given us each a circle, and as we move closer to the Lord, our circle moves, we are always at the center of this circle, because this is our relationship circle. Other people have their circles, and theirs overlap with ours, we find ourselves in many other peoples' circles with many other people being in ours. As we move closer to God, so does our circle, other people in our circle feel encouraged, or strengthened to move close to God as well. However, they can leave the circle at the back and stay where they are, and you should let them. New people come into your circle at the front, for your encouragement, to them and to you. It does cause a little pain, in many cases a lot of pain. You are leaving circles from time to time as well you know. If you are in someone's relationship circle, and your journeying closer to the Lord, and that other person is not, you may find yourself gradually leaving that relationship behind and leaving that person's circle. You still love this person just as much, but when that person needs you to choose between him/her and the Lord, choose the Lord.
Let's look at the wall of your circle, I believe the Lord is a being with a lot of free will in regards to relationships, you can chose Him or you can reject Him, the walls He draws for your relationship circle are quite porous and broken, this is deliberate, to allow people to move in and out more freely. I don't see our Lord as someone who is a big fan of cults, or cliques. You have the ability to strengthen these walls though, by making them solid, you can keep people out of your relationship circle if they do not dress the way you want them to. If they do not drink the right things. If the sins they tolerate are different from the sins you tolerate. These and other things are all reasons to keep people out, but, consider this, what if these people are on the path to the Lord's table? How are you planning to get around them when you come upon them? You could have a porous circle and walk alongside them, but if you need to keep them out, then, you either stay behind, or walk around, some how? How? I don't know....I really don't. People who are in your man made circle walls cannot be kept in against their will completely, but you can make it hard for them to leave, by using the Devil's weapons on them, things like, shame, rejection, and maybe other things. However, your circle is defined for you by your church you say? Ok then, but, did the living God who came down and hung out with a traitor like Judas, a tax collector like Matthew, a big mouth hotheaded coward like Peter, and scandalous women like the woman at the well in Samaria and Mary Magdalene draw these rigid boundaries? So, do you think the bride of Christ would be different? What if when Christ said in Matthew 18:17 to let him be to you as a heathen, he intended that we treat heathens the way He does? How did He treat them? The ones who wanted it, got a new identity in Him, the ones who didn't, got to remain heathen. So, if you have someone in your hard walls who doesn't want to move with you, do you remain still in place? Does your spiritual growth remain bound by the people stuck inside your walls with you while the Lord keeps calling, calling, and calling?
As you walk, closer and closer to the Lord's table in your soul, and you let him define your boundaries for you, your friends come and go, painful things happen, your convictions, and grasp of the Lord's truth actually get stronger and deeper, for God's laws and ways are always and still right. Yet, your willingness to accept people where they are at grows as well, for all you do is walk to the person in his/her sinful muck and point to Christ, you don't drink the muck, you just help them out of it. That is, if they want help. Finally, one day, probably after this physical life, and into the next phase of the eternal life God has given you, which you are already living right now, if you have received His life; you pull up a chair at the Lord's table, and you will probably be shocked by who you see across the table from you. That someone might be someone who you never ever imagined walking with in a meaningful spiritual relationship. However, the Lord knew them all along, just as He knew you.
No comments:
Post a Comment