I posted the title, "So What" in a draft page last night before going to bed. I was already feeling a nudge, a sense of need to share more of the why for yesterday's post.
Yesterday seemed eerily necessary after such a compelling dream. For those just coming on board, I am referencing the age specific detailing of my journey in Christ. This day now calls more for a discussion of the "why" we live!
Your life may be light-years more intriguing and successful than my own. I have friends that have amazing successes behind their name, that's not the point. All of us were uniquely crafted in our mother's womb, with amazing possibilities. Your life has Kingdom purpose! The key to life is unpacking your "why", not simply preparing your "how."
It occurs to me as I write, the negative impact that learning and earning has had on our why. Learning and earning simply shapes and provides one's how so that, we might better unpack our why.
Though I am a believer in Continuing Ed., Jesus never advocated such, in fact it seems those "well degreed" with whom he spoke were often the challenge. The "how" though beneficial, can actually become a distraction, a theft of time, an enemy of the why!
My friend Michael Hyde, retired Ph.D., noted scholar, communications specialist, author, with accolades infinitum, often reminds me of his Jewish roots and implications for us captured in the "I Am" moment of Moses:
"I Am that I Am" is a common English translation of the Hebrew phrase 'ehye 'ăšer 'ehye. It can also be translated as "I will become what I choose to become", "I am what I am", "I will be what I will be". (Thanks, Michael & AI!).
Notice both the messages, given the statement of God's Being, as well as God's becoming! I find that intriguing.
We are Human Beings that are becoming. Generational progression should be a reality for you and yours! I thank God that I Am not what, nor where my dad was when he was my age. I am also grateful that he desired to be and do so that would be possible!
What is God, the I Am, saying you shall become? That "Word" spoken through you that speaks to others about Him? Again, pardon the pronoun.
God appearing in flesh by way of the Christ was about more than simply rescuing sinners. If that's as far as your faith goes, you'll likely never unpack the unique "piece" of God "that passes understanding" assigned only to you.
I must daily separate myself from the means by which I am sustained, lest I derail the legacy, the why of my life. I was not called out to be an educator, an executive pastor, a mayor nor a commerical realtor. Those were necessary life experiences by which I would gain input and clarity for my unique calling to community!
Jesus was also unique, not only in that he was a caring carpenter's son, a water to wine wedding goer, a sardine dividing multitude feeder, but a demonstration of God in man, so that we could grasp the magnitude of who we are in Christ.
Read that a second time so it can sink in!
Somehow we chose to only worship him, rather than live into what his life implied. Again, my Wilber Rees favorite line, "I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please. Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk, or a snooze in the sunshine. … I want ecstasy, not transformation!"
Yes, there are huge implications for us in Jesus' birth, death and resurrection, but so much more that we seem to miss in those daily occurrences in between each era of his life, the "why" he lived. He even said, "this is the Way, walk you in it." He wasn't referencing Christianity, for that word did not yet exist.
Occasionally a Jan Hus, a Dietrich Bonhoeffer or Corey ten Boom steps up and we exalt them for their contribution, yet seldom does it occur that we too have a role to play.
Not sure what my fourth quarter holds, but I am unwilling to settle for mere mortal status given the Christ, the Love of the I Am in me. The reality is that I represent the "hope of heaven" for someone's life whom I have yet to meet!
Be it sorrow or success you have a purpose in the spiritual ecology of God and it's not merely to one day escape earth's challenges by way of His righteousness, though this boy is grateful for all of it!