Becoming
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The Gospel of John
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not „Tcomprehend it.
This passage came to my heart as I was engaged in an exchange of faith with a fellow Christian Brother. I was letting him know that my absence from the house of God is totally in error. I emphatically let him know that by no means should my lead be followed and I was indeed doing the wrong thing. I explained that I was in a heavy examination of self. I was sitting at the feet of the Holy Ghost in an attempt to extract the very knowledge I needed to press my way. By pressing my way, I mean that there was a lull in my spiritual program. My ebb was missing my flow, and my ying could not find my yang. I was stuck in a place where I was easily distracted and rarely moved. I prayed more often because I was in the house of faith much less. I could not explain whether one was the by product of the other. Those are simply the truths. I began to be bored in my Christianity. My Pastor was as strong as ever, we had moved to a bigger church, and I was poised to aggressively seek God. Distractions began to creep in and I reacted to them frequently. As the Word revealed the enemies ploy to separate me from the love I enjoyed, I began to pray more and move more things that bring glory to His name. My thought was to fill my waking hours with God, and there would be no room for the devil. That led to the place I’m in where I filled it up to my ears, and I could not hear. So as I’m driving this day I asked myself;
What would my word look like if it were manifest in the flesh?
God in His infinite wisdom needed a way to communicate with us without the dimensional gap that lies between us. He had walked with Adam in the Garden of Eden, and spoke audibly to prophets throughout the Old Covenant. It was time now to fulfill the scriptures to fullness and at the same time bring a tangible awareness to the truth of His Word. Prior to Jesus, man had an opportunity to pronounce to God that the human condition was a unique and underestimated condition. In fact today we still rely on the phrase," I’m only human", to explain away the fallacies of our feebleness. Yet God allowed His own word to be manifested in the lives of early Judea society. They were able to see firsthand the many facets of God’s word. I asked myself what if my word came knocking at my door, what type of man would he be? What is curious is that at first glance, many of us may not recognize our own words.
Matthew 16:19
19And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Matthew 18:8
8Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Our words are measured and recorded in each instance, and well it should be. This guides and protects us. If we approached each day with the frame of mind to measure our output, our input would remain that much steadier. As far as my manifested word, as I examine this thought I can recognize my weaknesses more readily. I try to imagine my word walking towards me. Will my word stand up for Christ? Would my word be an effective witness, or brother in Christ? Would my word maintain its composure and be patient?
There are many things that I find in my word that signifies a weakness/strength parity. Such as the three things I find to be a must in Christ are surrender, sacrifice and service. Though I have a history of all three, it is the coming together of all three that completes the Christian passage. When these three can fire in unison in your life, the three S’s lead to certainty. Certainty in Christ will allow you to sacrifice without the nagging clang of selfishness drowning out the sweet mellow sound of sacrifice. You actually don’t consider it sacrifice once you have the mindset of surrender. In war times, if you are engaged in battle on the wrong side of enemy lines. If you are overwhelmed and then captured and you surrender your weapon and your entire fight, no one would consider your surrender sacrifice. You see the surrendered warrior needs only to proclaim surrender and sacrifice is a by product of that. Sacrifice without surrender tends to overwhelm the mind which is geared to self preservation and error.
Surrender is a word that is envisioned entirely in a negative content. Most would assume that surrender signifies a weaker vessel. A vessel that cannot withstand the pressure that stronger vessels bear the weight of. Yet I respectively submit that the surrendered vessel is indeed the stronger one. It was a young Martin King that surrendered to the authority of Christ first, then the laws of Alabama to accomplish a task that brought strength to the disenfranchised of the southern sixties. It was a young lawyer named Mahatma that surrendered and brought honor to being a free Indian in early 1900 India. It was a young Jewish boy born to young parents that surrendered Himself even though He possessed the power to overtake the world. It was indeed the very power He possessed that created the world that condemned His surrender. So in each case, the strength did lie in the bosom of their surrender. With faith you would recognize the strength and applaud it. Without faith, it is easy to elevate oneself in an air of superiority to the surrendered foe. Not once realizing that the very surrender was a pre cursor to a greater victory.
Service is as important as the other two. It leads to many wonders that envelop and enhance our existence while furthering the Kingdom of God. Yet alone it can bring life to high-mindedness and the growth of a stiff neck. A regular church member who is in every committee, involved in every outing and teaches 3 classes can find a self importance that service in Christ does not promote. Your job in the church is not a confirmation from God of your service. When we appreciate that all jobs in the kingdom of God have a slash in them, we can further connect the three components to better advance God’s word and kingdom. The slash in service simply means that each job in the body of Christ should be titled; Servant/Usher, or Servant/Pastor.
God indeed has a plan for us, and our responsibility is to continue to strive and yearn for a fresh anointing of the spirit. Our responsibility is to sit at the feet of the Holy Ghost with the frame of mind to learn. Then take what we learn to the body in love and service. Yet to learn we must sacrifice. Our pleasure must start to grow within the boundaries of obedience. We must begin to find our pleasure in surrender. Our joy must come from service. In my basketball days, the pre camp training was so arduous and taxing. It seemed to go in a circle and appeared worthless. It was only when I called upon my body to extend the envelope of energy and endurance, did I appreciate the effects of pre camp conditioning. Only when the moment became tense and the situation heightened to a fever pitch did I realize that the knowledge hid in the recesses of my mind, I needed dearly. At the onset, these tasks in Christ Jesus seem mundane and entirely stale. Yet Christ sees the battle ahead and needs us to surrender to His battle plan, to sacrifice to His Plan of action, and to serve our fellow warriors to complete the mission.
Take a look inside and envision the words of your life manifesting into a human being. It bears witness to our true nature, and gives credence to the belief that we can change. We can change if we honestly see and earnestly look. Stay encouraged.
