New Pillar

Bombarded with choices.  Perceiving and sensing endless input... continuous interpretations of what is real and what is not.  Trusting impulses or Pursuing dreams or Clenching for ...?  If you don't Stand for something... you'll Fall for anything!

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. --1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV

Familiar?  KEEP READING!  There will be a twist.

I think Jr. High was my first encounter with this truth. Instantly, a very specific set of issues comes to mind. In short, it's the go to text and, for years, has really formulated the bottom line for why we should always choose to be careful with our bodies.  It's the reason we don't have sex, do drugs or do any number of other things that can or will result in harming our bodies!  In turn, it's a good motivator to take care of our bodies, exercise and eat right.  While taking nothing away from the value of this wisdom, recently my mind shot to a new, but not new place.

It's an old story about God's presence and leading in a time when His people were lost and in need.  They'd been liberated from Egypt and slavery and were following God around the desert. It was a time of complete reliance on God. He feed them where there was not food, He dwelt among them and He guided them literally by day and by night as a visible cloud and as a pillar of fire. (Exodus 13)

How great that must have been!  I imagine what it would have been to experience that level of tangible, visible, concrete and obvious presence of God.  To be without the question of where to go or when to go, but to wake up each morning or exist each day knowing as long as the cloud is still there or the pillar of fire is not moving you were in the right place.  Oh, my heart gets caught up in these ideas... imagining what it's like... this beautiful time of intimacy between God and His people, a holding of hands... a definite walking with and among... maybe a mirror of Eden even or a teaser of an ultimate perfect renewal! My mind lost, my imagination tickled with an excited hope at this glimpse into the character and desires of God.  This provision and intimacy.  This nurturing presence and comforting strength.  These people consuming Him and walking next to Him and even carrying Him along with them while literally following Him.  Seemingly, No guessing, No Seeking... Just Seeing and Doing!  Right?! Being and moving.  Simple.  Together.

How great would that be!?   Deep Sigh... Dreamy gaze...

STOP!  Realization...   WE ARE the NEW PILLARS!

Do you see it?

If we are starving and thirsty wanderers, it's because we have never realized that the Kingdom has come!  That there is a new reality and the desert is a mirage!

We are NOT wanderers, we are the NEW PILLARS of fire!  Our bodies are temples of The Holy Spirit of GOD!  A light of unparalleled hope and blinding Love bursts through us into WHATEVER place we are WHENEVER and ALL the time!  New Pillars!!  For such a time as this or that!  WE ARE NOT OUR OWN!  We've been bought at a price, given a new citizenship, reality and clear purpose.  The old way... gone and the new way... NOW.  The One who once burned in the desert a brilliant burning pillar now brightens and penetrates the entire earth as countless spots of light bursting forth from the body of every one of His... Everywhere!  US!

Do you not know?

You walk His light into every crevice of your existence.  It illuminates lives everywhere you are and shines on every person you are near.  We are NEW PILLARS of burning fire that consumes the very essence of darkness and need.  It brings the dead to life and honors God!

Yet we wander?  Why oh why do we pillage and scrape along side those who do not know?!

No light... No life.

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. --1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV

PRAYER?: Sifted.

What is prayer, really? Communication, connection, intimacy with God. How does community fit into it? It's something we NEED to learn. Do we have a clue what we are doing? There are clues in this quote by Jesus.

"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.

But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."

-- Jesus, Luke 22:31-32

There are many questions about Satan and evil, especially on a university campus.  I don't begin to claim an understanding of the debates or all of the questions that start them.  I do ask questions, too.  There are different kinds of questions for God.  They all boil down to some form of Who, What, When, Where and especially Why.

When I read Jesus' quote, in context, I see more clues than questions.

They had all been having their Passover meal.  Some conversation had happened about one of them betraying Jesus.  Ironically, they all ended up betraying him to some degree not long after this.  So have we.  Most importantly, it's the things He's asked us to BE and DO that we've ignored.  The habit we have of leaving His side to walk on our own.  The times we let down those He'd have us Love.  The times we abandon His Kingdom for our own kingdom. It's interesting that the next conversation was about who is greatest among them.  Jesus straightens that out promptly!  The greatest is actually the one who serves... who gives Love away. Not the one reigning atop their own kingdom.  Then, 'You are those who have stood by me in my trials. And I confer on you a kingdom...'

Wait...

Stood by me in trials = confer on you a kingdom.  

Not leaving His side... Stand By.

Not Vacation... Trials.

Not your kingdom... His Kingdom!

His Way... His Kingdom... Is ultimately GOOD.  If it SEEMS it is not, then WE don't UNDERSTAND fully yet.  We do not see the whole picture.

We tend to abandon His Kingdom that He has conferred on us to pursue our own plans... for many reasons.  Oh, and having a Kingdom conferred on us is about responsibility, effort... LOVE... restoring others, sacrifice and the conferring comes by trial.

Then, our quote. "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat."  So, Satan asked to sift and apparently was given permission.  Trial?

"But, I have prayed for you, Simon"

If we are writing the story according to our expectations, God would stop the sifting because Jesus prayed for Simon.  And, if Simon still got sifted, then God must not exist... or He's just not powerful enough... or He just doesn't care.  The other side is that Simon didn't have enough faith... or Jesus didn't.  We tend to assume that Jesus prayed and so obviously He asked God to reject Satan's request and make Simon's path easy.

"But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail."

Let's change the way we think.  Open our eyes to His ways that are greater than ours.  Take a posture of discovery with God.  Learn from Him through the life of His Son.

Jesus, first of all, knew that Satan had asked to sift them...We should Ask God about people and situations with an expectation of gaining insight.  Jesus was ushering in a new life for humanity and He conveyed the watch and work to those who stand by Him in trials.  He is still with people in trials... if we are standing by Him, then we are too.

Jesus asked God to provide Simon faith that would withstand the sifting...

Trials, challenges, struggles, pain... these things strengthen us when we trust God through them.  We should Ask God to provide the Spiritual fruit and enable us and others to withstand the sifting.  It's all part of growing into who He intends us to be... DOing our part in a Kingdom for ALL people.

"And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."

When you turn back...

Jesus knew Simon would turn back and He spoke to him with confidence and Love.
Turning, wandering, questions, doubts, distractions, failures, abandoning, denials...  It really is all part of the journey.  There will be times that you find yourself, Returning to Him.  Understand, though, failures and questions do not change our responsibility to one another.  It doesn't make us worthless or powerless.  There is a standing invitation to turn back and your purpose and identity in Christ remains.  In all of it, we are works in progress and God has promised to see us to completion.  So, persevere and let God lead your thinking and your dreams and you'll know your purpose.

Small Effort... Huge Impact.

Over the course of the last semester one of our Cords (a small group with a balanced approach to spiritual community) was blessed with an opportunity to give Love (serve) a lady who rents a room in her home to one of our staff.  While she, Jackie, was out of town recently, her house flooded.  It was bad enough that carpet had to be replaced and furniture had to be moved around.  It took a week or two for things to be at a point that her things could be put back in order.  Becca, one of our most precious new alumni!!!, saw this as an opportunity to get our Cord into action!
She suggested that we find a time to gather at Jackie's house to put her furniture back, but while we were at it offered to brain storm a few ideas for rearranging.  Jackie was game.  So, the plan snapped into action and on a Wednesday afternoon we met at Jackie's and moved things around.
It was a very simple action.  We smiled, enjoyed her company, moved things and honestly had a great time.  She was very thankful and complementary toward us.  Avoiding all her efforts to pay us was the most difficult part of the afternoon!  She really couldn't get over how a group of college students would be willing to do such a nice thing for nothing in return.  From her perspective, people don't do things like that for each other.
I was filled with joy as I watched our students try to explain, I felt a great work of Love was in process.

Recently, our staff member who rents a room in Jackie's house, Cory, sent us this message.

Just wanted to let you all know Jackie, the lady I live with, has a picture of you from the day you moved her furniture. It is hanging in the kitchen with a picture of her deceased husband. That day meant a lot to her and she brings it up often. It had allowed me to have some great conversations with her about love and what it means to follow Christ. Just wanted to say thanks and you all are awesome! You did a small thing that impacted her (and my relationship with her) in a huge way! Hope you are having a great summer!

I have some things I could say about what God is doing through Cory as well, but that will have to be another post... be watching for that one!

One of the students who helped that day had this observation.

Yea I loved helping her, she was very lively, lol. It's sad that it took this long for her to realize that people just like to help without anything in return though.

God is moving all around us.  It is an amazing joy to see what happens when a few people take time to be intentional, begin looking to see God moving together and then consider it an exciting opportunity to give God's Love away!  I witnessed God, embolden a few people to step into a strangers life with Love, draw one more heart a little closer to himself and teach a few people how powerful seeking Him together can be.