Many of us have lost sight of the goal. Amid the noise of political debate and the warnings of economic disaster, along with the daily cares of life, it can be a struggle to keep a Kingdom perspective. A nugget from Dallas Willard helps me adjust my focus.
“Jesus did not send His students out to start governments or even churches as we know them today, which always strongly convey some elements of a human system. They were, instead, to establish beachheads of His person, [His] word, and [His] power in the midst of a failing and futile humanity. They were to bring the presence of the kingdom and it’s King into every corner of human life simply by fully living in the kingdom with Him.
“We must make no mistake about it. In thus sending out his trainees, He set afoot a perpetual world revolution: one that is still in process and will continue until God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven” – Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart
That’s something to ponder.
Archives for January 2023
Pondering ‘Ordinary’ Discipleship
I often ponder the nature and meaning of “discipleship.” The cost of discipleship appeals to me, perhaps because I love a challenge. But that is based upon human zeal, and human zeal will not take a person very far.
Oswald Chambers reminds us that “discipleship is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God. Walking on the water is easy to impulsive pluck, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is a different thing.”
“We do not need the grace of God to stand crises — human nature and pride are sufficient. We can face the strain magnificently; but it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours in every day as a saint, to go through drudgery as a disciple, to live an ordinary, unobserved, ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional things for God; but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things, to be holy in [ordinary] paths, among [ordinary] people, and this is not learned in five minutes.”
Holy Desperation
We are not likely to have a significant encounter with God until we become desperate. Dallas Willard puts it like this: ‘we meet God is at the end of our rope.’ Desperation provides the impulse necessary for us to be willing to lose our lives; and in so doing, we discover life. God will use dissatisfaction, frustration, and consternation to lead us to the place of reckless abandonment. There we will get a such a wonderful revelation of God that we are willing to make known to the world the truth of His Kingdom regardless of the price.
Jesus said: “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity. Anyone who wants to be my disciple must follow me” … John 12:24-26 (NLT)
The Birth of A Vision
Do you have a vision for your life? God does.
“I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). When we surrender our plans, God gives us His plans. As we seek an intimate relationship with God through Jesus Christ, we begin to get a vision of how His plans will unfold. That becomes our vision.
Vision must be birthed in each of us by the Holy Spirit. God may use other people to plant the seeds of our vision, but until the vision becomes personal it will never be our passion.
Owning another person’s vision will not suffice, even if that person impacted a generation or a nation. The other person’s vision may be noble, pure, and scriptural, and God may give us the same vision, but if we only receive it from a person and not from God, the fruit of our labor will be limited by human strength. We need God’s strength if we are to accomplish God’s work.
Ponder and pray over your vision, and God will bring it into sharper focus through failures and successes.
“… for this I toil, striving with all the energy that God mightily inspires within me” (Col 1:29).
And that is a point to ponder.