By Pastor Jon
Would you sign-me-up?
I’d be asking for a refund. No, let’s be more biblical about a lifetime contract. I’d be ripping-that-expectation-up like it had a six-pack, and demand the real intent of a covenant.
Imagine then; just once a week; you get to spend quality time together. Maybe, it is only once-in-a-while. But, you have a mountain-top sometime in the future. That is locked in, Eddie.
I remember a leader reminding in the zealousness of my youth that quality really means quantity. I smiled with internal reticence. Really; it is true. You can’t substitute one for the other, thinking one-hour-of-your-best-attention is anywhere close to enough, for the other one-hundred-and-sixty-seven of separation, each week.
That is too many degrees, even for an addictive Ph.D.
I know, in the busyness of life, it can sometimes be closer to this truth. But still, we must be able to willingly confess, this is not ideal, nor readily acceptable, if we want the relationship to flourish. I think we get that. We intuit accordingly. This is pretty obvious. For the most important earthly relationship to only be diarised with such fleeting, contradicts sincere and reasonable life-expectations, and contorts any type of sufficient flow into true human flourishing.
We get that about marriage. True; there can be exceptional times and busy seasons. Sometimes, we may have to get creative. But, we will, as we want to make it happen. I think that is also the point. Love does. However, too many don’t see that this is essentially the type of relational arrangement in how they live this life in Christ!
Many traditions, by the way they shape the faith, communicate that the routine and mundane does not really matter, as long as you engage with their formal ministry mountain-top. The vacant lack of process and practice into how the faith becomes daily incarnated says that we, the bride of Christ, can flourish at a practical daily-distance from the Head, as long as we periodically get the Hollywood kiss.
This is serious. If you don’t have a process, you are living that assumption. If you are inconsistent with this process, you are distant or confused about the required purpose or application.
I am all for experiencing God with immensity. Make mine a double. Super-size-me. But I am not waiting for a burning bush as the substance of the relational. I mean, how many bushes did Moses need? Eventually he struck-out like a slugger beset with the long-ball. How many times can someone receive the diamond ring before it ceases to be more than just coloured glass? Your Father is not your sugar-daddy! In other words, this experience will eventually become vapid from what you need the most.
And greater the need, the quicker this day arrives, which is why suffering is also a grace. It always delivers. And maybe you need these smelling salts. God loves you most, which is why He wants to daily give you the best. Himself!
If you are living with an expectation the life will just happen because you turn-up on weekends, not only is this understanding foolishness, it does not reflect the type of immersion that results from the Gospel. You can’t flourish this way. You won’t flourish this way. This is the way of malnourishment. This is not wisdom. You need a daily process. Then it becomes something you live, and not only something you periodically do. This is inside-out living. This is knowing God. This is the way of covenantal true love. This is the way of biblical marriage.
As Christianity posts further in the West, this absolute process demand will grow, because life will become more challenging, and you will need the application of more grace, for the fight. This may already be happening. Many times it’s not what we do, but what we do not do, that is the real issue. This means it could be more about what you need to add, and not subtract.
If this is news to you, please get connected!
Cultural Value: “Flourishing Demands Process. Programs and Moments have a Place, But Remain Additions, Not Foundations.”
This is RELOVUTIONARY!
For the Fame of His Name