A Thanksgiving Revelation

Oftentimes we, as humans, tend to fall into a homeostatic state with our spiritual environment. Homeostasis is a fundamental concept in Nature. However, when considering spiritual climates, it can be used for us or against us. Let me clarify, if you have a glass of lukewarm water and drop an ice cube in it, we would all expect for the water to become colder and the ice cube to melt. They both blend to try to meet a common point. This happens spiritually, as well. And never are you more aware of the spiritual climate of the place you dwell than when you leave it for a while and return.

I recently went to Charlotte, North Carolina for several days over the Thanksgiving holiday. I was very blessed to spend a good deal of time with my brother and a group of intensely God-fearing Christians. It was marvelous. It is such a testimony to the love of Christ when you are a stranger and they invite you in. I shared Thanksgiving with about a dozen strangers who welcomed me, fed me, encouraged me, prayed for me, loved me. I tell you what, THAT is what Christianity is all about. After only a couple hours, I felt I was among family. They really were my brothers and sisters ... in Christ. And Christ is a stronger binder than blood. Needless to say, it was hard for me to leave, knowing that more than likely I would not be seeing them again... at least in this life.

Anyway, I share that story to explain the context of the main content of this entry. I am currently back in Lansing - I pulled into the driveway at 3:45 AM this morning. I was tired, but I was living in a perpetual state of heavenly ecstasy. For the last five days I had been surrounded by Christians who loved the Lord and loved others. They didn't just love people for what they could give them or teach them - they just loved. And many of these people had a wisdom of Christ that was magnetic and humbling. But, yet, there was love. So, here I was, having just spent all this time with them and having listened to Christian music and really just dwelling in the Presence of the Lord for a good chunk of the time. This "high" lasted all through the day, here in Lansing, while I prepared for CMA. I felt good. I was loving the Lord. I was feeling light as a feather, no burdens, no heaviness, just peace.

CMA started and it was really wonderful. We had great conversation. I had assumed that much of what I wanted to share was gonna be a little hard to explain, but together we came to understand new things, or at least see them in a fresh light, and I think we had our faith stretched a little too. The Lord was faithful once again. After the CMA meeting, during the men's group session, I wanted to try to share with the guys a bit of what I had experienced over Thanksgiving. So, I put in a Jason Upton praise CD and just said, "Hey, guys, let's listen to this music, do some praying for each other, maybe get into some Scripture if the Lord lays something on your heart. But let's really just spend some time with the Lord and let Him do some internal surgery on our hearts." So I turned the music on and started to pray and seek after the Lord.

The first song on the CD is "They Will Know we are Christians by our Love." And partway through the song, Jason starts repeating and pleading with the Lord, "Make us ONE... Make us ONE.... Make us ONE... Make us ONE!" A desperate cry of unity - which has also been a big theme through the CMA Bible studies that I have been trying to stress. UNITY! LOVE! FREEDOM! LIFE! I was getting into the worship mode and praying for my brothers there, and I heard some wrestling of pages... presumably Bible pages. So I looked up to see a friend of mine reading the Scriptures. (NOTE: now, what I am about to share is not in any way meant to put this person down. I love him dearly and know that he loves the Lord very much. So, this is just to illustrate the power of warfare and different mindsets.) I asked this friend, "Hey, do you have something for us? Go ahead and share it if you do!" I was hoping that he was trying to get into the mind of God and that he would be delivering an encouraging word to us guys for our edification. "Yeah, I do have something here. He (Jason Upton) keeps on saying 'Make us ONE... Make us ONE...' but in the Bible Jesus says that He came 'to bring a sword and division.' " I knew exactly what he was getting at because he and I have had many, many discussions about sin and law and obedience and loving Jesus and following His commands, and who has a message for whom, and this group follows the commands better, and the rest of you are following satan. So, admittedly, I responded more boldly than normal. "You're wrong!" I really did say that, and in retrospect, I'm glad I did, actually. This is not to say that Jesus is wrong, but it is to say that Jesus's words were being read through an intensely religious spirit. See, my friend had nothing on his mind other than pulling down what he thought was wrong. He did not have the ability to rejoice in all that was right and good. (Check my Bible study called "Sunday" for more on the religious spirit.) He could not see that, goodness, Jesus PRAYS in the Garden of Gethsemane that "all those who would believe in Him through the message of His disciples would be ONE!" The message IS unity! It is love for each other regardless! But for my friend, he was paralyzed by fear of being wrong in doctrine so he could not agree that unity is Jesus's desire for us. This ended up blowing up into an hour and a half discussion about being united to "sinners" to different denominations uniting, to judgment, to love, man, just to a lot of very heavy, heavy stuff.

I have to say, additionally, that this religious spirit affects us all. It really does. We all deal with it to some degree and at some times more than others. So, I'm not meaning to point a finger. I know that I often have a plank in my own eye. Again, I love this brother and know that he has a heart and a burning passion to be sold out to the Lord. The observation about spiritual warfare, though, is that prior to this encounter, I was on fire, glowing with the love and grace of Christ. I had spent my whole day with Him, let alone the whole weekend. Now, after just an hour and a half conversation with a BELIEVER, no less, I feel heavy and dirty and sad and tired, just like I have been loaded down with a bunch of crap that I was not meant to carry. This is not to say that we should only remain where we are comfortable - NOT AT ALL! But, when you know that you have been with the Lord and you have been drawn up into His climate, then you know more astutely when that climate has changed. And it can really wear you down.

It's funny, though, that before going to Charlotte, I had had many similar conversations, but I had not had the same contrast in my spiritual demeanor. Again, it's not to put anyone down, but we really need to be spending time in the Presence of the Lord as individuals... and not just being satisfied with learning and head knowledge. If we don't learn to love first, we are just resounding gongs and clanging cymbals - no matter how right we are.

Odds and Ends

As I already stated beneath the title of this new addition to my web-weilding dabblings, I anticipate this becoming a place where I can stash all the flighty thoughts that pass through my incohesive cortex without feeling the need to be attentive to aesthetic appeal or consistency of composition. Appropriately named "The Junk Drawer," if you search through its contents, you will most likely find a lot of worthless jabber. On the other hand, as is with any good junk drawer, you just might actually find the vey thing you were looking for. So, dig deep, but watch out for the random nails and staples! whatever that means.