The danger in asking God to usher in reality is that He takes our request much more seriously than we do. There is a romantic ere to living "missionaly" that captures my heart, but as I seek to embrace this lifestyle I realize this is not a game. To live in harmony requires finding the rhythm and then yielding to its influence. The rhythm driving creation's song is the heart of the creator himself. God is present and active, and He cares about the way we live not just what we say.
"What God is after is a man so yielded to him, so completely surrendered, that his heart is easily moved by the Spirit of God to the purposes of God."
- John Eldredge
The quest for harmony starts with surrender. God must lead. Our agenda, no matter how noble, is not the point. The invitation is to join with God, not for Him to join with us. So harmony begins with yielding, then leads to integration. The way I love and lead my family matter as much as the way I love and lead the church. The two are inseparable...missional living must integrate home and work as well as heart and head. One of the effects the pursuit of balance has had in my life is the separation of the secular and sacred. I am convinced more than ever this is an unbiblical concept. Harmony says life is sacred...period. All it's components meant to be joined together in a single expression of worship.
Harmony is a choice. A decision for my life to be a verse in God's song of redemption. May we all hear the song clearly, and live intentionally.
The LORD your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.Zephaniah 3:17 (ESV)
2 comments:
Okay, I see where you're going now.
Saying that balance really just showed you a separation between secular & sacred makes good sense. I hate that!
And I know you didn't mention it here ... but I really feel like prayer is a beginning to this harmony and sense of the sacred. Don't you think? I mean, if you had to nail down one thing, would that be the first step?...
I don't know. Maybe I'm just feelin' the conviction that I haven't been praying enough lately.
miss those saturday mornings with you and tracey.
s.o. -
I always smile when I see a "s.o. said..." I miss our saturday mornings too... a little T.I.P. would do me some good. I miss you bro, more than you you know.
To answer your question about prayer, I honestly see no other place to start. Connection with God is my only hope for tapping into the rhythm that brings harmony. The question for me has been what "type" or "method" of prayer?
I have begun walking through the discipline of listening prayer and have learned I talk more than I hear. I'm so busy asking for things that I can't hear God's direction, much less words of comfort. My desire right now is too not "know more", but "experience more"...not some fuzzy emotional experience, but real, life changing time in the presense of God.
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