What’s this about?

     As disturbing as this image may seem, it is an accurate depiction of what happens when plans are not determined by an all-encompassing purpose, unless of course, in this case, the purpose is to cause personal injury.

In Ephesians 1:5 we see that God planned to adopt mankind. This adoption, God’s plan, could only be accomplished through His all-encompassing purpose: to display His love by offering His Son as the atonement for the distance placed between man and God by our sin. Since God the Father makes His plans based on His purposes, doesn’t it make sense that we should follow this pattern?

     But you already do this don’t you? If you purpose to get away you plan a vacation right? If you purpose to get a raise you plan to prove you deserve one don’t you? If you purpose to make a difference in your community you plan to get involved in politics, civic organizations, or in the local school right?

     So what would you say your plans are for saving the life of your child? Not necessarily their physical life but more so their human existence and eternal destination? Seneca the Younger, a first century Roman philosopher, said, “Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.” Sure we want our kids to be healthy, successful, productive members of society but how do you plan to make that harbor?

     Have you considered that the purpose you have for your kids might be best communicated not in the plans you make for them, but by purposing to “adopt” just as you have been “adopted”? When your kids experience your parenting they benefit from it, but isn’t that your job? When we fail to parent our own kids it is called neglect. When we fail to parent every kid it is just called minding our own business. The irony in this is that the God we serve patterned parenting by giving up what was precious to Him in order to adopt “a wretch like me.”

     This is not to say that every kid is our personal responsibility, but it is to say that if we filter those we decide to “adopt” based on perceived “wretchedness” Lord willing God our Father won’t go by the same standard.

A good test of our plans and purposes would be to ask, “If I keep this up, am I shooting my kid in the foot?”

Pics Worth Thinking About

Guest Blog

A friend of mine has a pretty healthy blogsite going and asked me to contribute on the topic of intimacy of service. Posted here is my contribution to his blog:

 

Intimacy in Service :: Luke 7:36-50

Let’s consider the life to which Christ calls His followers. From the beatitudes we see that a covenant of blessing is made with the beggar in spirit, the conscience-stricken, the unpretentious, those that starve for righteousness, the compassionate, the transparent in heart, those who embrace peace, and the tyrannized. (Matthew 5) What would we call the disciple of Christ in which this sort of character is found?

In Luke 7 Christ calls her faith-filled.

A woman, by all indication not far from the sort dragged before Him in John 8 who was caught during the act of sexual lawlessness, held Jesus Christ in such high regard that she, in spite of His audience, subjected herself to the ridicule of on-lookers just to approach His feet. Imagine the back-story of this woman. If she was indeed a prostitute, had she plied her trade the previous evening? Since she was a “sinner known to all”, had someone approached her “to conduct business” on her way to find the Christ? Is this the sort of person we would bid God-speed while proclaiming their faith to all within earshot? Don’t worry, just like in everything else, if we won’t, Jesus will.

In being asked to contribute an article on “Intimacy in Service” I found myself at a loss. I had no idea where to start the conversation as to how we are to go about serving on an intimate level. Today I see that this came from the realization that I had no idea where to start because I have never experienced the sort of brokenness the woman with the alabaster box knew. You see when I approach Christ I am aiming right for His face. I need Him to see me. I want to know He knows I am there. Kind of like, “a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel.” (James 2)

But if the real church is to truly stand up when it comes to intimacy in service, we must be prepared to sit down. Sit down at the feet of the Master, down there with the rest of us sinners that populate this wretched planet. Because if the statistics are true, and we are willing to accept that perception is reality, then there is a world of hurt out there not looking to the compassion of the church because they believe it is a myth, and if they believe that the body of Christ serves the broken of this world is an urban legend, then what do they believe of its Head?

 

Pray

Hannah Black, one of my high school students, was in a wreck on the way to school this morning. Spring Break starts this week for Lauderdale County schools.