Practical Consequences

November 9, 2011 by Leave a Comment

This world has plenty of consequences to deal with as it is, than to push people into a fetal position with fear of afterlife-punishments. People have a difficult time with concepts about an afterlife that has never been scientifically proven to exist in the first place.

But do we really need to be in fear of fire torture, when we can clearly see that stealing is punishable by getting arrested? Not only that, but they disgrace their family, might appear in the newspaper, and isn’t all that enough to teach people? Why do we need to heap additional unproven ‘consequences’ on them?

I am a firm believer in ‘reap what you sow’, or as some call it, ‘What goes around, comes around’. I think this is a decent enough of a spiritual concept that has more validity and documented evidence than afterlife type consequences.

I don’t think it’s necessary to use superstitious stories of an invisible boogie man or any other such nonsense to be Christians. I believe in practical faith and that every day living by faith can be done with simple beliefs in the reap and sow concept. If we live by ‘love one another’, ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you’, ‘with whatever measure you sow, that you will also reap’, then I believe we can do well.

If you need more than that to keep you on the straight and narrow, then you might want to consider getting a good therapist.

Filed Under: Organic Faith Tagged With: , , ,

Church is not a One Stop Shop

November 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment

With the hope of an upcoming move and a new community we have considered finding a church. My husband and I have discussed it, and while we both agree that we will never “join” a church again..we are open to the idea of attending.

The previous years of pain still haunt us, but we don’t want to be in a new city alone, in isolation, yet we are cautious of our hearts because the pain is still fresh.

And so it is with all this in mind that I considered that maybe church is not meant to be a One Stop Shop. Why is it that we assume that ‘such and such’ church has all our needs? Why is it that we assume that one specific church will have everything we’re looking for in a community? When we do this, we will always find ourselves disappointed.

Since we both firmly believe that we, the people, are the church, then perhaps the idea of church is not properly measured and boxed up in one specific location.

Maybe church is what we create around us. Prayerfully selecting friends to be our community of support. Gathering with them at various times over coffee, a dinner, or maybe a picnic lunch at the park.

They may not all have the same beliefs, creeds, or perspectives that we have and I think this is a good thing. It’s how we grow…by being around people who are different.

With this perspective we get to choose who we want in our ‘church’ without anyone feeling elitist..no one will know they were ‘chosen’. There is no membership required, no need to ask for money, no creed to abide by. We will have various friends and acquaintances, but some will be held closer to our hearts than others…and only we will know. They will be held close because they have earned our trust, not because they came with the One Stop Shop.

This is not a promise that these folks won’t be faulty people…but there’s a difference between faulty people who genuinely work at a relationship and faulty people who could care less.

I think when we pour ourselves into ministering to others, we become drained. I love to minister, but I need ministering too. I think it’s very important to get myself around people who can minister to me so I have the strength and energy to minister to others. We each have energy, but when we are around others who require energy from us, we find ourselves depleted and needing to be recharged. We need a healthy balance and only we know who charges us and who needs charging.

I also have a deep desire to find ways to minister that I know will be appreciated. Sometimes it’s good to minister in ways that we can be sure of a positive result of appreciation. How can we be so sure that our ministering will be appreciated? By ministering through nature. I have become a firm believer in giving back to the earth that God has given to us. When I till the ground to give roots more room to grow, I can see the appreciation when the plants grow larger. When we volunteer our time to pick up litter in the park, we see the appreciation on the children’s faces as they gleefully run through the grass and gaze happily up into the trees.

I think having a balance of ministering to nature as well as ministering to other humans will yield different forms of appreciation that nourishes us.

We also have a firm belief in sowing and reaping. The amount that you reap will be in proportion to the amount that you sow. However, I do not believe that giving $10 to the soup kitchen will yield an exact $10 back to you in a lottery ticket. I don’t think that’s how ‘sowing and reaping’ works. I believe that the sowing and reaping has to do with the heart and energy you put into something. This also means that the amount of negative you sow will be reaped as well. For this cause, I believe it is very important that we take our actions and thoughts more seriously and approach life with reverence and caution. Allow each day to be purposeful and reach out with a bountiful measure of positive energy.

Living each day in hope, rather than fear. Offer love and not rejection. Be wise and not flippantly disrespectful. Make the most of each day and the day will make the most of you.

This is how we will find community in our future.

This might be found in a family at one church and in the family that volunteers at the local park. It might be in feeling the warmth of the sun as we read books at the beach or in feeding seed to the birds at the wild life reserve.

Filed Under: Healing Tagged With: , , , , ,

Dual Citizenship

June 29, 2011 by Leave a Comment

There is a powerful truth spoken of in the scriptures that seems to get tucked out of sight in order to force another issue into our minds that leads us to think God will continue to dangle us over a hot pit until we get things in our lives all worked out. There are perspectives that will tell you that it’s not by works, but by His grace that you are saved and that “once saved always saved” but they keep dangling you over the pit as if it matters. Seems like a contradiction to me. Then there’s another camp that says you can still end up in the pit of flames even if you do believe in Jesus. I can see why they think so, because Jesus said many would say they served him, but he does not know them. These conflicting perspectives puts people in a constant state of panic, fear, and doubt that God has them securely in His grasp. So maybe it’s time we sort all these matters out and try to find some balance and accountability.

I know the hell debate has spanned for centuries, but for the sake of this very powerful, yet often ignored topic, lets put hell aside for the moment. I don’t believe that the popular doctrine of hell is needed in order to believe in Jesus. There are other denominations that do not believe that hell is defined the same way and they still effectively preach Jesus. I believe that in order for us to be able to really begin to be discipled we need to be able to put our full trust in the redemptive finished work of the cross. Until we do, we will continually walk in doubt and fear and that is not the way of the Kingdom. Jesus wants us to be able to enjoy the blessings of living the Kingdom life as a Royal family together. Trusting that we are reconciled to God through the work of the Anointing is just the beginning of our abundant lives.

If we think that living the Kingdom life means we walk a tightrope over hell and can fall at any time, then that is not the Kingdom. There are no threats in the Kingdom of God and Jesus said the Kingdom is within you. So lets put our perspective on the fact that he completed his work of reconciliation so we can learn to navigate this earthly life and walk in the Kingdom at the same time.

There is a song that says “This world is not my home” and for some this gives them the sense of what is to come and while this is a great and wonderful thing, let us not forget that the meek inherit the earth. Jesus said his kingdom is not of this earth, yet he also said his kingdom would be here with us and God told Adam to take care of the earth. It’s a paradox.

We have dual citizenship.

We live on earth, inherit the earth, and reign in the Kingdom as a Royal Priesthood all at the same time. Knowing how to navigate this earthly life is found in walking in the Kingdom. Here is where I will introduce you to such a powerful truth that seems to get ignored so much of the time. The King reveals to us that when we live by the powerful principle of “reap what you sow”, we can effectively live within the bounds of our dual citizenship. You may also see the same concept in the golden rule of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. If we took this matter seriously, then we do not need the threat of hell to navigate in this life.

Living by the understanding that we will reap what we sow is a powerful teaching of personal accountability. Some in the camp of “once saved, always saved” have committed such atrocities in the Body with the deception that their actions won’t matter because they are “saved and can’t lose their salvation”. I have ministered alongside my husband in an addiction and recovery ministry for over a decade and I can tell you very clearly from personal experience that our decisions always matter. We have seen pastors commit horrible crimes against their congregations and cover it up because they think they can “rule” their church kingdoms as if they are gods. Their actions have infiltrated their churches and put the lives of their congregants in a literal hell on earth and they think they are above the law. This is a gross misrepresentation of the Kingdom. Jesus is always going to bat for the oppressed and abused. Through their deception, the wounded now feel as though they will not be avenged because their abusive clergy is “the Lord’s anointed” and “saved” and therefore will not suffer judgment for what they have done.

Let me assure you that is not the case. We live in the Kingdom that is governed by the principle of reap and sow. Many clergy in several denominations have covered for molesters only to later fall victim to becoming a molester themselves or their kids grew up to be molesters. Clergy in various denominations have been deceitful in manipulating people to give money to their ministry and misused those funds only to be stolen from later in life. Ministry “leaders” have manipulated and abused clients in their programs only to later reap destruction on their ministries as another in their ranks swindles them out of their own ministries. Why do these things happen? Do the actions of a parent come back to haunt them through the lives of their children? Some seem to think so, but my friend Laurie pointed this out to me..

Jeremiah prophesied about the days of the New Covenant (which Jesus instituted) that: “In those days they shall no longer say:

”The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. ‘But everyone shall die for his own sin. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.” (Jer. 31:29-30)

Thank God there is great hope for my children – the hope of the Gospel, which is the only hope for any of us.

My friend Lois says, “No…..we can only reap in ourselves what we have sown…they have to do their own sowing and reaping.”

Then my friend David says, “No way! But we’re gonna totally reap what we sow to them by our deeds. Again and always, the thing is… teaching by example.”

In the examples of abusive clergy that I gave above, we can see all this advice from my friends is valid. Now what happens when an abusive Christian seems to get away with what they’ve done, because they had a hot shot lawyer get them off the hook? God doesn’t miss a thing! God has given us the nation’s justice system, but it is not a perfect system and although we have it at our disposal, we can not rely on it the way we can rely on the Lord.

It may be that an abusive Christian is Christian in name only and not really living the Kingdom life. They might look the part and participate in all the religious activities, but not have the fruit of the Spirit and they allow their flesh to run their lives. This is an unfortunate thing and there are times when we do need to BE the Body and step in to assist in situations that require our intervention. But even in the cases where someone seems to be getting away with what they have done, the Lord sees it all and will deal with them in his own ways. They will not get off “scott free”.

We need to take this “reap and sow” principle to heart! No matter what you believe about hell, the Kingdom is not governed by the threat of hell, it is governed by Christ and he clearly says that we will reap what we sow. If you reap ‘a hell’ on someone’s life, be prepared that ‘a hell’ will be sown in yours at some point as well.

Sisterlisa


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