"Imperfection" IS perfection

I've been trying to see through new windows lately and this is one of the things I've been working on for the past few months. I'll soon write about this when I get my thoughts organized.

Saturated by Ruach Elohim (Spirit of God)

Recently, I finished a book about the Holy Spirit that, quite honestly, messed me up. In this book, it talked about how we as Christians tend to ignore and suppress the Holy Spirit’s active leading in our lives.

Our relationship with God can often become quite one sided. We ask Him to bless us with this thing or that issue. We pray that He would bless our situations, our families, and our nation. We place Jesus fish on our cars to let people know we are Christians. We remain conscious not to swear because, well thats just not a Christian thing to do. Our focus, priorities, and goals continue to be “of this world,” the only difference is we sprinkle a little Jesus on top which makes us feel like a good Christian. My question through all these nice little Christian scenarios is: Are we keeping in step with the Spirit of God? Maybe some of us are in step with the Spirit, maybe some of us front the Spirit’s leading. However our relationship with God works, if we are ignorant of the Spirit of God and His leading, then any relationship with God we have is quite one sided.

The scriptures tell us the effects of remaining in step with the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5). Other phrases such as: “abundant life,” “eternal life,” and “life that is truly life,” tell us of the life God meant for us to live by embracing His Spirit.

The book I read messed me up because it challenged me to seek God in more deep and intimate ways. Instead of being a “outside of the cup” kind of Christian, I want to embrace the fullness of the Spirit in the deepest corner of my soul. I want God to saturate me with His Spirit, transforming me to look more and more like Jesus everyday. This is how God created us. He created us to be temples of the Holy Spirit. If the temple doesn’t embrace what is was made for, then it’s just a shell; useless.

May we all embrace the Spirit of God’s leading. May we all join together in one purpose, one song, opening ourselves to let God work in and through us for his purpose, His Kingdom.

Ideology of Perfection

Jesus once said, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

A day or two ago I was eating an apple. By the second or third bite, I noticed something: this apple was perfect. It was perfectly round, had no bug bites, was picked at the right time, and had a wonderful flavor. That same day I was driving my car into town and I passed a yard with landscaping that probably cost more than my car. While in town, I washed and waxed my car to get rid of the dirt and give it a glistening shine. Whether this is a cultural thing or not; we as a people seem to be obsessed with perfection. Our fruit, our houses, our cars, and our lives often portray this value.

We tend to point out, identify, and correct flaws; some of the flaws we’re most aware of are the flaws in ourselves. We rarely tell people these flaws, and if we do they usually are the closest friends in our lives. Some of us even pretend that these blemishes don’t exist. Many of us like to see ourselves as the apple: flawless. Some of us even pay money to correct our defects. Surgeries, cosmetics, tanning beds, clothing, and plenty of other coping mechanisms are used to divert attention away from our flaws and on to another object.

You have to start to wonder something: If we really learned from Jesus, would we see things differently? Maybe Jesus is telling us that perfection comes not through focusing on ourselves, but focusing on others and following Him. Maybe we need to stop trying to perfect all the flaws in our lives, but embrace them. Maybe by embracing these flaws and looking outward beyond ourselves; we will see a worldview where things become more about “us” than they do about “I.”

Jesus is talking about an awareness more concerned with the needs of others, an awareness larger than the “me.”

The Spirit of God will give us the ability to see beyond the apple to the tree.

So you have to wonder:

What if Jesus really meant what he said?

Creative Life

What kind of creativity did it take to make this flower?

As i try my hand at close-up photography, I see fresh details I’ve never seen before. Like, the God who created us has this unlimited, infinite imagination. Sometimes, by looking at the small, we get an inside view of Big. Creative!

Its interesting.

Genesis tells us God created man in His likeness. It goes on to say He created man in his own image.

Genesis 2:7 says, “the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

Look around.

Cars. Road Systems. Science. Architecture. Technology. Medicine. Farming. Literature. Art. Music. Language.

Incredible creativity and imagination!

You can’t tell me people aren’t creative. God gave “man” the ability to be imaginative and creative.

But lately I’ve been struggling. I find an alarming decline in imagination and creativity when it comes to being a follower of Jesus. We don’t smoke, drink, or do drugs; we come to church every Sunday. Are these few virtues what it means to follow Jesus?

Where did our imagination and creativity go?

Is this what Jesus had in mind when he said, “Follow me?”

Jesus’ teachings are full of unlimited creativity we sometimes miss because of our familiarity. Look at His parables and see the imagination.

I’m convinced that the same Breath, the same Spirit that the LORD breathes into us will give us an outflow of creativity as we love God and people.

Romans 8:6 reads, “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit (breath of God) is life and peace.

Life and peace.

An eternal, infinite, creative LIFE!

How creative are you?