I keep coming back to this concept: I meet so few people who, when I am with them, influence me to want to love God more, be more idealistic, and live more by wild faith and life-sacrificing love.
And yet I find myself amidst so many who are overloaded with the mundane tasks, feeling bored, and dead of soul...
When the life of Jesus is in our midst, there is a palpable crackle in the air, a sparkle to the lights and shadows of His dance amongst us.
Imagine--the creator of the universe--the one who played games with galaxies and atoms, designed romantic love and many-colored roses and sunsets--He in our midst.
And yet, most people I know (including me so much of the time) live as though their feet are tied to the ground by heavy loads of duty, works, "shoulds", guilt and worry and sighing, comparing, inadequacy, and boredom.
He did not create us to live in such a way. He came to give life--and life abundantly. The joy of the Lord is to be our strength--and yet--what have the voices of this world done to our joy?
How have we been affected by … The "how- to's" instead of lessons in humility and redeeming the lost? The “great accomplishments” instead of the faith exhibited?
Who in your life points you passionately, irresistibly, into the arms of a loving God, a gentle shepherd, a compassionate Father, an interesting artist, the God who longs for us to live, celebrate life, exist above the present mundane, and to perceive the invisible life of the Kingdom He is shaping through us for eternity?
Is it any wonder when college students lose their faith because Christianity has been for them a list of moral rules that do not captivate imagination or stir hearts that long to find purpose and to be a part of a great cause?
Do we focus on laying on guilt? Living by works? When it is He--Jesus--the Life--that we were to be living incarnationally, realistically in our home by relentlessly pursuing His love in our actions?
Knowing Him should create in us a powerful sense of life, excellence, and expectancy from a heart filled with faith, love, and anticipation.
So, I ask you today--are you finding deep fulfillment and a bubbling up of love from deep within? A feeling of heaven meeting earth in your home right where you are today? Are you sensing the pleasure of God as you see the color of spring and all the beauty surrounding the moments of your life?
It is only in pursuing Him, the Life that comes into the world, enlightening every man--not rules or laws or formula or morality---but the Person--who has so very much more to offer those of us who would leave all behind, and sell all that we have to grasp and hold fast to the pearl of great price.
To find Him and to live vibrantly in the reality of His ways and His presence requires living out of the box.
So, how about you? In the box or out?