1. The world suffers pain and travail, always in desperate need of this God it knows dimly or not at all. People live their lives never imagining this God lives desiring to be discovered and known through what he has already revealed in Jesus and what he has made.
THEREFORE, BY SEEKING HIS GRACIOUS ENABLING EACH DAY, I WILL TRY TO:
Be an instrument of his redemptive revealing in the remaining days I have been given.
Reflect him in thought, attitude, word and action.
Graciously subvert people's fears and skepticism about this God without wounding or oppressing them in any way.
Free the captive so they can discover him to be a liberator beyond their imagining.
Help the poor so they can discover his care and generosity beyond their imagining.
Open the eyes of the blind so they can discover his beauty, truth and power beyond their imagining.
Heal the broken-hearted so they can discover his compassion and affection beyond their imagining.
Refresh the weary so they can discover his rest and gentle empowering beyond their imagining.
Enliven the crushed in spirit so they can discover his promise for the future that gives them meaning beyond their imagining.
Love the unlovely so they can discover his delight in them beyond their imagining.
Free the embittered so they can discover his invitation to forgiveness and peace beyond their imagining.
Encourage the humiliated so they can discover his gentle ability to "lift their heads" beyond their imagining.
Befriend the critical so they can discover his truth and find felicity beyond their imagining.
Give a voice to the voiceless so they can discover this God who helps them find their unique place beyond their imagining.
Defend the oppressed so they can discover his justice on their behalf beyond their imagining.
Live the Good News so they can discover he is the seductive joy of hope beyond their imagining.
2. This Trinitarian God is the most spectacular Being without parallel in the entire universe, utterly transcendent and fully immanent. There are no other gods before him or after him. He is breath-taking in all his attributes and deserves to be shown as so.
THEREFORE, BY SEEKING HIS GRACIOUS ENABLING EACH DAY, I WILL TRY TO:
Never present in my thoughts, words, actions or attitudes a God who is puny, boring, tamable or worthy of ignoring.
Point to his unfathomable power and incomparable greatness as the Creator and LORD of the universe along side his profound humility and saving graciousness in Jesus.
Guide people to the unbounded magnificence of His Being in what he has made in Creation, and how he has ennobled men and women with the ability to create culture in all its multitude of forms.
Never knowingly contribute to the "binding" of God through man-made systems of thought, tradition or innovation whether from within the Church or without.
Ignite the stunningly creative love of God which subverts hatreds of all kinds, heals severed human relationships, turns horrific wounds of the heart into the means by which others are healed, and gives true life to people who have lived blindly under the thrall of death their entire lives.
3. This wildly unfettered God who is infinitely more than we can imagine does not rule over the world as a capricious tyrant, but as the wise Creator, Servant/Savior/Redeemer and Benevolent Lord (the Good King) who voluntarily withholds his rightful power to judge and punish in favor of redemptively subverting the obdurate human heart through grace-filled love which will ultimately set everything to rights. He is under no compunction to do so beyond his own freedom and joy.
THEREFORE, BY SEEKING HIS GRACIOUS ENABLING EACH DAY, I WILL TRY TO:
Recognize and move toward my constant need to be redemptively subverted by God's grace-filled love so I can be free to not use or dehumanize others for my security or gain, even those who wish to do me harm.
Reflect the intention and character of God, by how I treat others, always working to subvert what wounds and demeans them (even of their own making), and turns them toward true life and relationship.
Glorify this God by being transparent toward him and real toward others such that he is discovered.
Find ways of celebrating the beauty, mystery, and dignity of all people, including those who do everything they can to destroy those qualities in themselves.
Spend my days redemptively subverting anything that turns people away from this God toward impotent idols and counterfeit gods no matter how much they seem to glitter.
Spend my days trying to open others to the Triune One who is far more more than they can imagine and wants to reveal his heart to them, each one.
POSTSCRIPT: I know none of the above is even remotely possible for me without his help every minute of every day. I am utterly dependent on him to "unlock" me. But, I can see no other way of life that makes sense or offers the kind of real joy and freedom my unruly heart has always longed for and believed was possible. In fact, I no longer look for any other option. As it is, I hope I can spend the rest of my days living as I have described. If I can, I think it will have been a life well lived for me, my wife and family, and the people God has brought across my path to receive from, give to, and work with.
SOLI DEO GLORIA
2 comments:
Kit,
I too as I age have become more and more of a rebel in the subversive manner in which you speak of. Perhaps it is the confidence that comes with being older or perhaps it is just being willing to fight more than I have before, discovering the fighter in me. Because of that, I love hearing older men refusing to resign or retire or simply give up and go into retreat. I have all intention of pushing back the fall of man until I breathe my last breath. Your words are so full of life and hope. Thank you for being a role model again for me. I may not ever plant a church (but I may!) but I feel as if I am off on a new quest in my life of undefined boundaries right now. I am starting to work with fathers as well as with fathers and sons. I continue to work with teenagers at the school, but I think God is sending me out on something new and fresh that has something to do with turning the hearts of the fathers back towards their children.
Anyway I just wanted to thank you for the boldness and audacity of starting a church as you have at this stage in life. The risks were huge and still are. I love that type of "in your face" subversiveness. And your prayer retreat with me continues to still bear fruit. The healing in my life has been unbelievable, and I have started writing. Who knows where it will all go? But I am OK following God and His wildness. Bless you, my brother.
Bill
Bill, I am so encouraged by your words. Please know that my heart leaps when I know someone I have had the privilege of helping follow Jesus is doing so and with vigor. Word of freedom still wrecks me with joy. What you are doing these days sounds redemptively subversive in its own right. What a great focus.
May you never falter or turn back.
BTW: I love your words: "I have all intention of pushing back the fall of man until I breathe my last breath." They are fresh and inspiring to me.
I am also thrilled you are writing! Let 'er rip, brother.
Keep me apprised of how God is continuing to call you forward.
Peace
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