“O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, Behold, I will set your stones in antimony, And your foundations I will lay in sapphires... "Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows the fire of coals And brings out a weapon for its work; And I have created the destroyer to ruin. "No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their vindication is from Me," declares the LORD.” (Isaiah 54:11, 16-17)
What is it that Worship song “Everlasting” says... “So many times I’ve failed, still Your mercy remains, the art of losing myself in bringing You praise, Everlasting...” that’s the way I feel today.
So what is it going to take for us to begin “being The Church”, a bride properly prepared for the lover of our souls to come again and betroth us finally to eternity? God has been pressing in on me individually and showing me “The Church” corporately in a whole new light beginning this year. But “what does that even mean?”, you might say. I agree, it’s just about the simplest concept to understand, at the same time as being the most complex spiritual and emotional propositions that anyone has or will ever consider. There’s a line from a song I won’t mention, by a band that has the last thing to do with faith or a walk with God. But I believe it to be particularly relevant and apropos to describe us (believers) at this unique moment in history. It goes this way,
“She is such a pretty girl, Her shape fits well into a mould. Her mind removed, her body's sold, She does exactly what she's told. And he is such a brave young man, If his brain can't then violence can. His mind was drained since life began Of the compassion he once had.”
We are His beautiful bride, His chosen sons. Though, rather than embracing our unique, free, alluring, singularly designed, foursquare identity, and running headlong into the arms of what our upmost and highest doubtlessly acknowledges as “His will”, here we sit.
Minds removed, bodies sold, blindly believing and obeying all of the wrong voices in our actions, betraying ourselves, listening to wrong thinking, and doing exactly what the World says is “right”. All along the way God’s Spirit shouts, pleads with our hearts, to even for a moment sit and listen. To be filled up with His voice and, heaven forbid, embrace the lineal posterity and power He gave us from before all time.
“...our address used to be paradise, remember?... but we don’t live in that world anymore... Eventually something comes along and touches those essential places in you, to awaken the “more” you were meant for... Invite Jesus into a time in your life when you knew you were loved, into the desire awakened in that memory.” -John Eldredge (Restoration year)
We serve an “out of the box” God. We, I, you, need to start living as though we understand what that looks like. Don’t worry about it if you don’t know, just ask God (James 1:5). Need a set of instructions, He left us a book... Need an interpreter? He left us the best tutor in the universe to explain it, to reveal ourselves to us, to confirm, qualify, and enable us in every way (John 16:12-15).
Being “The Church”, corporately and individually, means drawing and coloring outside of the lines of what we call societal norms. Unashamed and unafraid, declaring that we know who we are. We know the difference between counterfeit and authentic. We know what we were created for. We know what the difference between a friend and an enemy, and that in all these things we will without reservation acquit ourselves accordingly.
I say let it begin with me, I’m not there yet. But let us, every one of us who proclaim Christ, aspire to this. Let us not “be destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6), let ignorance be put away. God, the Father Son and Holy Spirit, put it in our DNA desires, goals, gifts, talents, the things that fill us up. You’ll know them because when they happen, when you act, you’ll feel His Joy and that is unmistakably real. We can’t deny it, can’t hide it... who would want too??
Only one thing to leave you with after all of that.. Let’s do it His way shall we?
“Moral zeal is necessary even for the Christian (Titus 2:14), but if our religious devotion is pursued in our own strength or for the sake of personal praise (Gal 1:14) we will find ourselves deceived and heading for destruction.” -Pastor, Ed Allen