When we dont value a space we dont take care of it.
When we dont take care of a space, we dont value it.
It's harder to make a messy room less messy than it is to keep a clean room clean. It's even harder to clean a room when you live in a dumpy house- cus who cares? it's a dump!
Christian, do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Cor 3:16)
Some of us think we are a dumpy temple. God thinks otherwise. If we are formed by God we have the best blueprint and design ever. Along the way we may have strayed from the blueprint and done things contrary to design but a holy temple with an ugly rug and bad wallpaper is still a holy temple.
Many people see the Holy Spirit as a sort of nanny- cleaning up some of our messes or pointing them out to us so we clean them up. Worse yet, we see Him as a naggy hall monitor restricting us from acting as we please and blowing a whistle at our every mistake.
The Holy Spirit is also called the Spirit of Truth. He is not a whistleblower, a naggy nanny, or a strict party pooper. He discloses and leads us into the Truth. and the Truth brings life.
When we allow the Holy Spirit into our lives, we are following the blueprint of God. All of a sudden our body and our souls are aligned with God's design and we can begin to see our bodies for what they were made to be- holy temples of God, and we can see our souls functioning as they should- bearing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.
God fully recognizes our perversions, distortions, and mess ups- we are not living as we should in many ways. Religion points out all of our shortcomings and focuses our attention on fixing them with the hopes that in the end we will look presentable to God. We are trying to tidy a place that we are being told is a dump- as a result, it is a burden to clean and no matter how much we clean it will always be a dump.
What if, despite our shortcomings and our mess, God does not stand far off and point out the dirty spots but actually comes in and cleans them himself? This is a foundational truth to Christianity. But I still think that its implications are somewhat lost. God is not cleaning up our dumpy place. He wants to awaken us to the reality that we are made in His image, we have infinite value, we have purpose, and we have a divine design and destiny.
When we realize who we are in Him we begin to truly value our lives- the actions follow. Nobody carelessly puts their feet up on a king's table. or puts a cheap spoiler on a lamborghini. or leaves trash around in a palace. You get the point. Our actions reflect the value we place in our lives.
There are many people out there pointing out the messes in other peoples' lives. You need to fix this, fix that. Dont you know that God doesnt like that? People in the slums dont act like kings unless you put them in a palace and show them that they're royalty. You can take the kid out of the ghetto but you cant take the ghetto out of the kid-- until the kid is adopted by a perfect father who shows him he was never meant for the ghetto and demonstrates a life worth living and lays down His life for the kid. That'll take the ghetto out of the kid. That'll give the kid purpose and a reason to live.
There are a lot of people out there pointing out messes because they believe God is looking for fixer-uppers He can move into. They see the potential in people- if only they would fix this or fix that. They try to get people to realize that things are all wrong and they need to renovate their lives. People live wrong because they dont realize their value. and people cant make changes unless they see the blueprint and have a vision for the final product.
When we begin to value other people and recognize them for who they were designed to be. They begin to value themselves in the same way. They'll clean up without us having to constantly tell them they need to clean up. When Jesus washes us, He's not cleaning junk. He's washing away junk to reveal what He created underneath (see the Angel in the Stone post below!!). He's tearing down ugly wallpaper, removing bad rugs, and reconnecting circuits to their rightful place.
"You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you" (John 15:3)
"You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession" (1 Peter 2:9)
"We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works" (Ephesians 2:10)
When we dont take care of a space, we dont value it.
It's harder to make a messy room less messy than it is to keep a clean room clean. It's even harder to clean a room when you live in a dumpy house- cus who cares? it's a dump!
Christian, do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Cor 3:16)
Some of us think we are a dumpy temple. God thinks otherwise. If we are formed by God we have the best blueprint and design ever. Along the way we may have strayed from the blueprint and done things contrary to design but a holy temple with an ugly rug and bad wallpaper is still a holy temple.
Many people see the Holy Spirit as a sort of nanny- cleaning up some of our messes or pointing them out to us so we clean them up. Worse yet, we see Him as a naggy hall monitor restricting us from acting as we please and blowing a whistle at our every mistake.
The Holy Spirit is also called the Spirit of Truth. He is not a whistleblower, a naggy nanny, or a strict party pooper. He discloses and leads us into the Truth. and the Truth brings life.
When we allow the Holy Spirit into our lives, we are following the blueprint of God. All of a sudden our body and our souls are aligned with God's design and we can begin to see our bodies for what they were made to be- holy temples of God, and we can see our souls functioning as they should- bearing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.
God fully recognizes our perversions, distortions, and mess ups- we are not living as we should in many ways. Religion points out all of our shortcomings and focuses our attention on fixing them with the hopes that in the end we will look presentable to God. We are trying to tidy a place that we are being told is a dump- as a result, it is a burden to clean and no matter how much we clean it will always be a dump.
What if, despite our shortcomings and our mess, God does not stand far off and point out the dirty spots but actually comes in and cleans them himself? This is a foundational truth to Christianity. But I still think that its implications are somewhat lost. God is not cleaning up our dumpy place. He wants to awaken us to the reality that we are made in His image, we have infinite value, we have purpose, and we have a divine design and destiny.
When we realize who we are in Him we begin to truly value our lives- the actions follow. Nobody carelessly puts their feet up on a king's table. or puts a cheap spoiler on a lamborghini. or leaves trash around in a palace. You get the point. Our actions reflect the value we place in our lives.
There are many people out there pointing out the messes in other peoples' lives. You need to fix this, fix that. Dont you know that God doesnt like that? People in the slums dont act like kings unless you put them in a palace and show them that they're royalty. You can take the kid out of the ghetto but you cant take the ghetto out of the kid-- until the kid is adopted by a perfect father who shows him he was never meant for the ghetto and demonstrates a life worth living and lays down His life for the kid. That'll take the ghetto out of the kid. That'll give the kid purpose and a reason to live.
There are a lot of people out there pointing out messes because they believe God is looking for fixer-uppers He can move into. They see the potential in people- if only they would fix this or fix that. They try to get people to realize that things are all wrong and they need to renovate their lives. People live wrong because they dont realize their value. and people cant make changes unless they see the blueprint and have a vision for the final product.
When we begin to value other people and recognize them for who they were designed to be. They begin to value themselves in the same way. They'll clean up without us having to constantly tell them they need to clean up. When Jesus washes us, He's not cleaning junk. He's washing away junk to reveal what He created underneath (see the Angel in the Stone post below!!). He's tearing down ugly wallpaper, removing bad rugs, and reconnecting circuits to their rightful place.
"You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you" (John 15:3)
"You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession" (1 Peter 2:9)
"We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works" (Ephesians 2:10)
