Revelation

After unlocking my first two convictions in ‘part 1‘, I want to conclude this mini-series with two more (despite the fact they are three months overdue – my apologies).

In the spirit of ‘better now than never’…let’s dive in!

Know you are known.

One of my biggest vices is wanting to be understood…

…the thought that if people just gave me time, be it quality time, time to speak or time to adjust, they’d like what’d they see.

However, as I’ve recently rediscovered: The problem with this mindset is it sets unfair expectations, fuels ego, and fixes identity on satisfied love languages.

As Scripture attests, a pure desire to be known strays once it seeks to self-satisfy (Romans 8:5-8; Galatians 5-6 MSG). Like a stealthy narcissism, a warped desire to be known is not only egocentric but often can’t function without pride or manipulation. Even if the pride is silent, it can still hinder relationships through the anticipation of self-preservation and withdrawal. Consequently, if we cater to this type of insecurity, it shouldn’t surprise us to find ourselves sealed in cynicism and complacency.

As for the corollary, one of the best ways we invest in others is not preemptively burdening them with a want to be understood. Take it from one who has failed at this time and time again:

If there’s ever a way to trust God as more than enough, it’s through our ‘loved by God’ identity and our ‘love one another’ commission.

Don’t ever put yourself behind the ‘8 ball’ in fear others will set you there first. Instead, cast all fears and anxieties (Psalm 55:22, 1 Peter 5:7 ESV) before they take root knowing God gets you, what you’re going through, and what’s best for you. Trust the Lord will provide the social desires of your heart and focus your mind on loving Christ through serving His people. Surely the arm of the Lord will be with you and enlighten the right minds at the right time along the way.

Bottom line: The human heart wasn’t just made to be known and loved; it was made known and already loved.¹

After all, we were known before we were formed (Jeremiah 1:5, Psalm 139:13-16 ESV) and created for intimacy in a way only God could understand (1 Corinthians 14:2 MSG). ²

As the Psalmist declares…

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Yet, even there, “you desired faithfulness…and taught me wisdom in that secret place.” ~ Psalm 139:13, Psalm 51:6 (ESV)

Discern the Why’s and the Ways of God

Whoever said Stephen King has been writing ‘2020’ couldn’t have been more accurate.

In a year featuring a global epidemic, killer tornadoes, police brutality riots, and economic recessions, the narrative has been turbulent to say the least.

Yet, despite the political and social unrest, there have been silver linings: Families coming together, spouses maturing in awareness, enterprise and liturgy finding new creative ways to connect and serve. Honestly, the list is longer than you think.

Hence, I’ve been wondering if part of God’s plan for 2020 is to start healing our land from the inside-out. Yeah, yeah, I get why some might think God is wanting to make us more uncomfortable. Like many, I’ve heard the ‘shake, not break’ sermons. But the way I see it, to stop there would be deceiving.

‘Cause truth is: While God may be exposing our privileged mentalities and independencies, His end goal is to perfect our hearts in the abidings of His love and draw us closer to glory. Accordingly, if you’ve felt the divine pruning or sensed the Spirit shaping your reliance, by all means, rejoice and receive God’s work in your life. Don’t waste time focusing on what you lack, but rather in faith, inquire without expectation the ways and why’s of God.

As John 14-16 reminds us…

…to ask of Him is not to be entitled, but to know you’re entrusted.

Even though you may feel pigeon-holed in this time, remember whenever you’re stuck in the corners of life, the only way to go – the only place to look – is up. In every journey, there are fires, conflicts, and forks in the road. But ultimately, the same God who fashioned you is the same God in the thick of your tribulations and decision-making. All the more reason to cherish 2020 knowing God as author, answer, and strength is in it.

Bottom line(s): 1) Know where your help and healing come from. 2) Pursue the bonus opportunities God is directing you to. 3) Embrace the burn as you yearn, the unseen in quarantine. 4) Remember that “God entrusts [you] with a bit of His extraordinary.” ~ Lana Christian

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” ~ John 16:13-15 (ESV)

“‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear. This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty.” ~ Haggai 2:5-7 (ESV)

Selah.

Footnotes

Per David, it’s interesting to note how godly sorrow and godly happiness points back to our ‘loved by God’ identity. If we’re to learn anything about the man after God’s own heart, it’s how to center faith, hope, and love through the emotion of our worship.
Put another way, we were made by love with love for love.

Cover photo creds: DesiringGod.com

So last week I’m on a Messenger Zoom call discussing Triune worldviews when a chilling question is raised:

Are we, as rising, maturing believers valuing the blood¹and living in light of that ‘precious flow [making us] white as snow’?

Certainly, it’s easy to think we are given Christ’s death and resurrection is the cornerstone of Christianity.

But what if I told you to the extent we detach God’s communal nature as a foundation of love from our corporate theological foundation, to that extent we reduce the blood as nothing more than a sacrament. Would you agree?

If not, permit me to connect some dots after laying some groundwork…

1. To construct a worldview from the core of God’s nature, we must accept the fact God is a Communion of Three Persons in perfect love.

2. From there, we can establish and grow Biblical community in the same way God does His work: by multiplying what He is as a communion of love.

3. Only then can we value the Gospel and consequentially, understand the destructiveness of sin.

Unfortunately, as we progress in this post-Millennial age, the more young believers are distancing themselves from the saviorhood of Jesus². As a former student pastor, I can attest to this. For many youth, believing the universal lordship of Jesus having once saved is far less challenging than accepting their current need for a sovereign Redeemer who continues to save.

Granted, our culture’s emphasis of reason over revelation and self-autonomy allots sense to the trend. That said, one must wonder how a world system based on deficiency is affecting the church’s thirst for relevancy.

Take ‘mission’ for example. For most, mission is seen as a journey, an assignment or a means to an end; however, when we note the Godhead, we find ‘mission’ to be an overflow of an established nature.

You see, before love could be extended, there had to be an identity with the ability to love; hence, why so many feel the weight of performance given they’re trying to abide in love not knowing who they really are and as such, forget the key to anything starts and ends with being loved by God.

The question is…

Are we abiding in love…or are we searching in love to find ourselves? Are we trusting God to fill our needs or filling our needs to trust in God? Are we forgiving having received grace or seeking grace in order to forgive?

Either way, it’s worth reminding ourselves…

There’s no depravity God can’t redeem.
Abiding in who we are in Christ is the blueprint to Holy Spirit dependence.
The bedrock of truth, especially as revealed in revelation, is cemented when we allow God to reveal Himself in all circumstances.

As for the blood’s depreciation among ‘next gen’ believers, it’s important we, as the body, perceive the issue as a conflict between identity and performance. For as long as Western individualism exists, so will the temptation to approach mission as drive, fellowship as metric, sin as shame…and thus, the blood as obsolete.

Yet, when we remember we were bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:20), when we accept Christ’s atonement as the security of our freedom, only then will we understand the blood’s purpose in all things.

For instance…

The blood is central to our community:

“Take care and be on guard for yourselves and for the whole flock over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd (tend, feed, guide) the church of God which He bought with His own blood.” ~ Acts 20:28 (AMP)

The blood is central to reconciliation:

“…and through [the intervention of] the Son to reconcile all things to Himself, making peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, [I say,] whether things on earth or things in heaven.” ~ Colossians 1:20 (AMP)

The blood is central to redemption:

“In Him we have redemption [that is, our deliverance and salvation] through His blood, [which paid the penalty for our sin and resulted in] the forgiveness and complete pardon of our sin, in accordance with the riches of His grace.” ~ Ephesians 1:7 (AMP)

The blood is central to cleansing:

“But when Christ appeared as a High Priest of the good things to come…He went once for all into the Holy Place [the Holy of Holies of heaven, into the presence of God], not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, having obtained and secured eternal redemption. For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer is sufficient for the cleansing of the body, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal [Holy] Spirit willingly offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works and lifeless observances to serve the ever living God?”~ Hebrews 9:11-14 (AMP)

“Let us approach [God] with a true and sincere heart in unqualified assurance of faith, having had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” ~ Hebrews 10:22 (AMP)

Get the picture?

My final thoughts are:

1. To minimize the blood is to minimize our freedom in Christ as it stresses our fear of deficiency over God’s sufficiency (2 Corinthians 12:9).

2. Instead of wanting to be relevant, why make the Good News³prevalent? After all, the presence of goodwill⁴is a testament to the Good News of the Gospel – the fact Jesus continues to heal the oppressed and set captives free having reconciled us to God through…(wait for it)… His shed blood.

3. Accordingly, by downplaying Christ’s sacrifice, we risk performance systems bridging the gap not only between identity and sin, but also church and mission (more on this in a future post).

I don’t know about you, but give me Jesus and the power of the cross as the divide between those medians.

Looking ahead, stay tuned for a sequel post where I’ll dive into more detail on how we can better educate young people on how to live in God’s present ministry of reconciliation⁵.

‘Til then, peace be the journey…

~ Cameron

Selah.

Footnotes