The Place Our Possessions Hold in the Ordering of Our Lives

The earliest Church practiced something they called Ordos Amor in Latin— ‘the right ordering of the loves.’ There is a proper love for Peanut M & Ms; there is a proper love for medium rare rib-eye; there is a proper love for brick-oven pizza, California Zin or Australian Shiraz. But it’s not the same love we have for a faithful dog. And the love we have for a dog or cat, or whatever your pet is, is not the same as the love we have for our friends. And the love we have for our friends is not the same as the love we have for a husband or wife {or even our children}; and the love we have for friends, children, and lovers is not the same as the love we have for God. The right ordering of the loves, everything in its proper perspective. This reveals a strong soul, a healthy heart on its way to wholeness. Jesus said, “all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength… and love the other [which is what the word ‘neighbor’ means], those in your periphery, those immediately around you, as yourself,” Matthew 22:34-40. Nowhere in there does it say, “Love the things you own so that they end up owning you.” Or “love your bank account, love your bottom line, love the house you can’t afford with the entirety of your being!” It doesn’t even hint at that, does it?

Having seen the teaching of Jesus on the incredibly idolatrous place “treasures on Earth” can occupy in a human heart and life, what is the singular lesson to learn for our hearts and lives? It is this: that in the final analysis, all things belong to Abba. Scripture makes this abundantly clear: in Psalm 24:1; Psalm 50:1-4 and 9-12. Understanding this and, even more importantly, putting faith in this, has profound repercussions in how we orient ourselves to material reality. The ultimate ownership of all things belongs to God. There is nothing in the physical and material world— no matter how many warranties we have on it— over which you and I can say factually, “This is mine and mine alone.” Do we own certain things? Yes… but not exclusively. Our reality as the sons of God in a material world is that whatever ‘this’ is— car, home, clothes, land, accounts, possessions, retirements, five year business plans— belongs to Abba. “These belong to my Father, and my Father has allowed me to use them. My Father has entrusted them to me.” This is the basic reality of our lives, running completely counter to capitalism and a consumerist culture. We don’t, in fact, have ‘the right’ to say, “This is mine… and I’ll do whatever I want with it.” As those who owe allegiance to a higher Kingdom we say, “This is God’s, a gift of His grace, and I’ll do with it only what its Owner would want me to do with it.” This is the training of our souls to one Day rule with God!

How to Liberate Your Soul from a Consumerist Identity.

Released in the HJC Bulletin on 2.7.10.

So, how does Jesus’ rule, power, and authority liberate us from our mighty enemies, set our souls free to worship Him wholeheartedly? The first necessary thing is to acknowledge by our lives, as author Brian McLaren states, that “the Kingdom of God …is a revolutionary, countercultural movement— proclaiming a ceaseless rebellion against the tyrannical trinity of money, sex, and power.” As citizens of this Kingdom, we “resist the occupation of this invisible Caesar through three categories of spiritual practice.” These are disciplines borne out of desire. Uno, we “practice a liberating generosity toward the poor” and impoverished, those whom welfare was originally intended to serve: the broken of body, the scarred of soul, the aged, infirmed, and handicapped among us. And we start doing it now: “to dethrone greed and topple the regime of money.” Dos, we “practice a kind of prayer {the Disciple’s Prayer} that is a defiant act of resistance” to “the prideful pursuit of power, pursuing forgiveness and reconciliation, not retaliation and revenge.” Tres, we “practice fasting {yes, I said ‘fasting’} to revolt against the dominating impulses of physical gratification— so that the sex drive and other physical appetites will not become our slave drivers.”

There are many forms of fasting; fasting from food and drink is just one of them. It’s the form which has been practiced by apprentices of Jesus for 2000 years, but there are others. How about fasting from talking about yourself for 24 hours? Go an entire day without using terms like ‘I, me, my and mine.’ I’d like to see the pastors and Bible teachers who make fun of fasting as a spiritual discipline pull that one off! In fact, I dare them to pull it off, to go 24 hours without promoting themselves or their ministry. Any takers?  I didn’t think so.  If there are any intrepid souls out there, let me know how it went for you. 

You can fast from television for a week, fast from entertainment— it may be time to emerge from the ocean of entertainment and take a deep breath of the pure air of intimacy with Abba. You can fast from alcohol, if you happen to like it, and fast from just water if you’re a modern-day Pharisee.  Have that glass of wine with dinner; your husband or wife will love it. Fast from sweets, or chocolate, for a week. Fast from buying yourself new clothes for six months. What!? That’s insane. Is it? Fast from buying anything other than necessities for one month. Food, shelter, soap, etc. No new clothes, no new cars, no I-Pod, I-Phone, no new technology, no software, no shoes. Nothing, nada, zip, zilch. You are more than what you buy. Liberate your soul from a consumerist identity!

Self-Appointed Saviors....

Released in the HJC Bulletin on 1.17.10.

Not all Gospels are equal. How’s that for an intro? And not every approach to Life in the Spirit of Christ lines up with reality. We need to have the courage to say so.  Don’t just stay with something because it’s the only something you’ve ever known. Your loyalty is not to a ministry or movement, a denomination or doctrine, your loyalty is to Jesus Christ the King!

I love what Orwell said along these lines, “Sooner or later, a false belief bumps up against a solid reality.” Several months ago I found this quote by him, a writer who, beginning his career as a Socialist / Communist, understood very well the tyranny of those who are convinced they alone are right and thus, by default, everyone else must be wrong. And if wrong, must be corrected, herded, and directed by those who know better than they what's good for them. The last thing “they” need is a taste of Freedom and of Life. It reminds me of so many men and women I’ve known through the years within the Faith who were utterly convinced their ‘way’ of doing things— be it their theology, their attitude toward others who differed some way spiritually, or their very approach to teaching or worshiping or serving or praying— was the only way. There could be no other. “God cannot work in ways other than those of which I have personally approved.” Think about that mentality for a moment. Then get a nice, long, hearty laugh out of it.

How grateful we all must be that after two thousand years of getting it wrong, Abba has sent us a new set of saviors so we can finally ‘get it right.’ It would be hilarious, if not for the unbelievable arrogance it exemplifies. ‘O Lord, whatever You do in all our lives to break down the barriers between us and You, save us from ourselves. {And while You’re at it, save us from our self-appointed saviors… please.} Amen.

Is Greed the American God?

Released in the HJC Bulletin on 1.10.10.

Money, let’s face it, is about two things: values and control. You can read the level of control people have on their own existence by observing how they embrace money, materials, finances, how they use or abuse the wealth God has given them.

Now, is it wrong to own things? Of course not; and God never says it is. But it’s wrong to let your things end up owning you. If you spend more time polishing your speedboat, your car, or your computer screen than you do with your kids, it owns you. If you spend more time glorying in 21st century technology than engaging and interacting with real flesh and blood people with real flesh and blood problems {and sometimes solutions}, entering their soaring joys and crushing disappointments, it owns you. If you give more of yourself, your soul, your blood-sweat-and-tears to a business, to a corporation, to the Almighty Dollar and the pursuit of the American Dream {success, adulation, applause, luxury} than you give to your family, to a wife or husband, to your children, to the Community of Christians God has given you, your idol owns you. If you spend more time thinking about what you’re going to eat and drink than how you’re going to walk the Master’s Way by service and sacrifice, with faith and humility, a false god has you in its grips.

Maybe we should listen to Paul when he said to the Ephesians, “You can be sure of this: The Kingdom of Christ and of God will never belong to anyone who is impure or greedy, for a greedy person is really an idol worshiper— he loves and worships the good things of this life more than God,” 5:5 {TLB}. Really? Greed is the same as idolatry, worshipping at the altar of a false god, embracing a pseudo-security, deceiving myself into thinking everything’s good with my soul and spirit because my body is ensconced in layers of luxury? Do we …worship and love the good things of the world more than the One who ransomed us from it? Are we …the greedy people who bow down daily before economic idols and ideology? We better find an answer to those questions, and we better find one fast. Our lives in the Spirit of Christ depend on it.

For the Love of Money

Released in the HJC Bulletin on 12.20.09.

Two thousand years ago, the apostle Paul said, “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” {NIV}, the “first step toward all kinds of sin....,” 1 Timothy 6:10a {TLB}. Thirty-five years ago, the ‘O Jays said: “For the love of money people will steal from their mother… rob their own brother… people will lie, they will cheat… people don’t care who they hurt or beat. Almighty dollar …does funny things to some people …can drive some people out of their minds.” Oh yeah, you think?

Ever heard people say, “Money does strange things to people? Money makes people act in some weird ways?” Ever heard that before? Here’s something I’ve never heard, and I bet you never have and never will. “Money has done some strange things to me. Money makes me act loony as a road-lizard.” Don’t you find this rather illuminating, that it’s always someone else who is greedy, money-loving, or materialistic? Not me. Never me, right? Money has never made me jealous of who someone is, envious of what they have or where they are; money has never caused me to act differently toward somebody, to treat them with deference or an undue amount of affection, become overly conscientious in their presence; money has never made me kiss up to a boss or stab someone in the back. Materialism and the lust for more has never seized my soul in an orgy of consumerist ecstasy during a half-price sale at my favorite clothing / sporting good / shoe / electronics / music / book / fill in the _____ store. Especially during Christmastime, which we were told as kids was supposed to be about the birth of Christ. Or have we missed that somewhere along the way? Aren’t the Holidays supposed to be Holy Days?

The birth of Jesus, God in human flesh, the King of all Creation submitting Himself to Creation, the Lord of Glory ‘away in a manger’ …this is the Reason for the Season. All we do to celebrate the Season is because of that, in view of that, captured in the glorious light of that single event. My concern, my fear even, is whether this will be the year we stop the ‘mad dash for more’ long enough to ask, “Whose birthday is this?” Really. Spirit of the Living God, whose birthday is this anyway? What would you have me do with that, about that? Everyone of us ought to be praying fervently, sincerely, earnestly, “Lord, light within me a firestorm of generosity and compassion for those who have not while I have so very much. Show me, teach me, train me, Jesus, in how to give generously— and even more important— how to live generously. In Your precious and powerful Name. Amen.”

The Power of the Cross or the Power of the Sword?

Released in the HJC Bulletin on 12.6.09.

The worst thing to ever happen to “the Faith,” as the earliest disciples called it {Acts 6:7; 13:8; 14:22; 16:5}, was when it became the ‘official religion’ of the Roman Empire… sanctioned by the sword and all that that implies. As one writer puts it: when “Constantine claimed to convert to Christianity in the early 4th century the Christian faith had gone from being an unknown religion to a misunderstood religion, to a persecuted religion, to a tolerated religion, to a favored religion, to the official religion of the Roman Empire.”1 

Do you see what’s happening here? It’s a stroke of genius by the enemy, a masterful countermove: can’t conquer it by persecution, can’t destroy it from within by falsehood and Gnostic fables, give it green-light status in the Empire’s arena and seduce it with wealth and luxury, prestige and power. We moved from faith in the power of the Cross to faith in the power of the sword. Why concern yourself with the Resurrection when you’ve already ascended the imperial throne? It’s a heady thing to finally have real, raw power in your hands, as any teenage boy in a Trans-Am will tell you. But the lust for power and prestige in the eyes of the world is a dangerous deception— one deadly to the Kingdom Christ told Pilate was “not of this world” and which He instructed His disciples did not operate like the kingdoms of this world.

In this Kingdom the only authority that counts is that exercised by the King, which supersedes all other authority. In this Kingdom, the only power that matters is the power of love: love for Abba with everything we are, love for others because of how He loves us, and love for our enemies because our Father is more merciful than we can ever imagine and in a world overflowing with petty conflicts, quarrels, hatreds and grievances, He is infinitely forgiving. In this Kingdom, the only example to follow is the Master’s Way of Humility; in His Kingdom, the last are first, the servants are the leaders, those who sacrifice— time, money, attention, affection, respect, compassion, mercy, tenderness in the Cause— may lose some things in Time but will gain all things in Eternity {Mk. 8:34-35; Lk. 18:29-30}.

“‘I tell you the Truth,’ Jesus said to them, ‘no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this Age and, in the Age to Come, Eternal Life,’” Luke 18:29-30 {NIV}. “Then He called the crowd to Him along with His disciples and said: ‘If anyone would come after Me [this is what a disciple does, an apprentice to a master, he ‘comes after,’ he follows in the footsteps], he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me and for the Gospel will save it,’” Mark 8:34-35 {NIV}. …Amen.

Where Do You Stand?

Solomon said, "The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern" {Pro. 29:7}. Don’t let the world, and especially not the Church, domesticate your Faith, rob you of passion and holy desire ...numb your consciousness of sin and righteous indignation. I fear far too many of us modernized, Westernized, comfort-conscious Consumers, for far too long, have been lulled into complacency by a pseudo-Christianity, a false Faith that has no relation to the Bible. None. A Faith where we worship in order to get, not in order to give, when the truth is as Jesus told us, it's more "blessed to give than to receive," {Acts 20:35}, to serve than to be served, to become the least and the last in the eyes of the world in order to be the first and the greatest in the Kingdom of God, to live in humility and not arrogance toward others, to believe with all your heart that compassion is better than cruelty, love can conquer hate, the Kingdom is not brought to bear on the lives of others with violence, and our mercy can do more than our anger ever dreamed of {Jms. 1:20}. To follow in the footsteps of Jesus means that for us the sign of the Cross holds greater allegiance than the sign of the dollar.

 

The Facts: “The total market value of illicit human trafficking is estimated to be in excess of $32 billion {U.N.}. Human trafficking is the world’s third largest criminal enterprise, after drugs and weapons {US State Dept.}. Trafficking in humans generates profits in excess of $12 billion dollars a year for those who, by force and deception, sell human lives into slavery and sexual bondage. Worldwide, there are nearly 2 million children in the commercial sex trade {UNICEF}. In many countries around the world, pedophiles find that they can sexually violate children with impunity. Sex trafficking is an engine of the global AIDS epidemic {US State Dept.}. Approximately 80 percent of human trafficking victims are women and girls, and 50 percent are minors {US State Dept.}. 1 in 5 women is a victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime {UN Development Fund for Women}. Around the world, women suffer the double indignity of rape and seeing their perpetrators face no consequences for crimes of sexual violence”— figures and quotes taken from the International Justice Mission website {www.ijm.org}.

 

What can we do about the evil we see all around us, and the evil we can’t see and would like to turn away from?  My personal policy is that something is always better than nothing. So, here’s what we can do.  We can pray, we can give, and we can engage; we can raise, like my brother Bary and my nephew Nick are doing, both money and awareness; we can be the Voice that will not quit for the voiceless of the Earth {some of whom are right next door}. If you knew your neighbor or co-worker was selling her children for sex, would you do nothing, just let it go on? “Well, there’s really nothing I can do. I’ll just leave it in God's hands.” No way, you'd do everything in your power to get the authorities involved, to rescue that little boy, that little girl. What if it was your daughter, your son? My point exactly. By our willingness to go to battle in this righteous Cause, armored up in the “full Armor of God" {Eph. 6:10-18}, we can open the eyes of the slumbering Body of Christ in the self-satisfied West. It’s time, and we know it... time to take a stand. “When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers,” Proverbs 21:15. Amen.

The Message of the Master (Part II)

Don’t you think it’s time we ‘lived out’ the teaching of Jesus instead of putting it off till another ‘Day,’ to seek a deeper and more fundamental relationship with the Holy Spirit instead of brainstorming about the ‘ministries of modern technology’ while real people in real trouble are passing us by?  You know what we’re doing in the fading light of the West?  Atheists are asking, “How could a good God allow so much suffering?”  And while the academics in their ivory towers squabble and squawk over pronouns and prepositions, whether it’s “with the Spirit” or “by the Spirit,” God is asking His children the very same question. “If you are the hands and the feet,” Abba’s saying, “the eyes and the ears and the mouth and the heart of the Body of Christ, why is there so much suffering in the world?”  Even better, “Why are there so many hurting people in your midst?  No one in the Brotherhood suffers in silence!”

The world around us couldn’t care less about our ‘raging theological debates’ {most of which are neither raging nor are they theological}; all they want to see is the Spirit in action, our reality and not our rhetoric. Maybe that’s our problem… while our rhetoric is Biblical, spiritual, theological, maybe our reality is no different than their reality.  “Is Jesus alive in you people or is He not?  Is He real… or is this just a game you play— like a civic club or a Rotary Luncheon, a social ritual accepted by the masses, an hour on Sundays before 8 hours of football?”

In the Master’s Message are two relational realities, one with Abba and one with others, which Jesus reveals as the central ethos of all divine revelation.  The essence of a real and genuine holiness, a Jesus-centred spirituality {inspired by the Spirit}, is “to love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; and to love your neighbor [those within your proximity] as yourself.”  For “on these two commandments,” Jesus said, “depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”  I believe those who walk in the Light of Grace will desire holiness as a reality in their relationships.  There are two ways in which this works, two realms to play this out: Loving the Lord and loving people; loving God and loving people {cf. 1 Jn. 3:11-24}.  How we treat people {real flesh and blood people, not impersonalities, and how we treat them} is the second most important aspect, the second most critical component of our character and convictions, our holiness and humility.

To love people means to live in the Cause for which Christ came: “not to be served but to serve” and to give our lives for the ransom of many.  Remember that line from Tears of the Sun, “The lives of many rest in the courage of a few”?  This means we’re committed to investing our lives in the lives of others, in the only thing that lasts, the only thing that will carry on from here to Eternity: the hearts and souls of men and women.  We “love one another” in the Family of Faith by caring for each other— mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually and relationally.  We pursue things like honesty, openness, transparency in relationships. We tear off the masks and drop the defenses— like name-dropping and sarcasm, defensiveness and judgmentalism, the need to be right {even when everyone can see that my attitude is wrong}, the arrogance of exclusivity, badgering and belittling, tyranny and untruth.  These have no place in the lives of Jesus’ Followers!  You see, that’s how we learn to love.  And to love is something we must learn, as the Father through His Holy Spirit pours out more and more of Himself within our hearts {Rom. 5:5}.  Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-34; Luke 10:25-28 all paint a picture of the same situation. So if the entirety of divine revelation comes down to these two issues, you think maybe we ought to put some focus on this area of faith?  You think?  Just maybe loving God and loving others is the very heart of a Christ-centred spirituality.  For no one ever lived these two realities out any better than He did.

-- Ric Webb

Pastor-Teacher

Heart's Journey Community

www.hjcommunity.org

The Message of the Master (Part I)

Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard speaking of Scripture and we who claim to follow its Author, of the power of the Living Word to form and inform our hearts and lives, said:

"The Bible is very easy to understand.  But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers.  We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly.  Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly.  My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world?  Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship.  Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be ‘good Christians’ without the Bible coming too close.  Oh priceless scholarship, where would we be without you?"  {Italics Mine}

Some may find this humorous, some may find this blasphemous, and some may find this deadly in its accuracy.  I see traces of the first with a prominent dose of the last: a sharp angle of accuracy for the doctrinal know-it-alls, whatever their denomination {or non for that matter}, and a quick jab of humor for those who take themselves just a little too seriously.  Lighten up, ladies. For those who see it as the second, your pseudo-scholarly halo may be on a little too tight.  Unloosen it a tad and your head won’t hurt so much.  You’ll feel a whole lot better.  And yes, I did say “feel.”

Regardless of how you find or don’t find Kierkegaard’s quote, in a world as deceptive as ours, flashing its images forever before our eyes, the postmodern faith of Capitalism and Consumerism dominating the Christian landscape as far as the eye can see, something needs {or many things, in all reality} to be reevaluated in the light of Jesus’ Message and Mission.  Who we are at the centre of our souls, that is, those parts of us that line up with Jesus’ Message of deep humility, profound faith, unflinching courage and uncompromising compassion, limitless love and righteous wrath, tender mercy and supernatural strength, and Mission— “to seek and to save what was lost… to heal the brokenhearted and set the captives free” {Lk. 19:10 and Isa. 61:1}— need to be nourished and nurtured by the water of the Word, strengthened by the Spirit and sustained by our practice; and what we do that doesn’t, i.e., the ways we live that violate the Law of Love and the Kingdom of Grace, need to be jettisoned, tossed overboard as quickly as possible.  And in my opinion, the sooner, the better.

-- Ric Webb

Pastor-Teacher

Heart's Journey Community

www.hjcommunity.org

A Kingdom Not of This World

Originally Released On 10.4.09.

Historian Will Durant, in The Story of Civilization, wrote that “There is no greater drama in human record than the sight of a few Christians, scorned and oppressed by a succession of emperors, bearing all trials with a fierce tenacity, multiplying quietly, building order while their enemies generated chaos, fighting the sword with the word, brutality with hope, and at last defeating the strongest state that history has known. Caesar and Christ had met in the arena, and Christ had won.”

Contrast the presence of the Spirit of Jesus so prominently on display in the lives of His earliest disciples with our present day tendency to rely on effort and ingenuity, democratic will and political pressure, to ‘achieve’ our desires in the public sphere. Pretty stark indeed. Instead of concentrating on the invisible, the eternal, the spiritual, we worry about which politician can represent us best or which political party has our interests in mind. Let me clue you in on something: None of ‘em. On one occasion Jesus said to the Pharisees, “the Kingdom of God is within you” {Lk. 17:21b}; on another the apostle Paul said, “the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” {Rom. 14:17}; in yet another he wrote, “the Kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power” {1 Cor. 4:20 NAS}. Jesus paints a picture of a Kingdom far different from any man has imagined. The very essence of its rule, power, and authority is spiritual and divine. The intrigue and power-brokering of our politicians and their parties have no lasting effect on its existence. None.

 

Think about elections, at every level, in the US and consider whether Jesus wondered if Octavian or Tiberius, Claudius or Caligula, was ‘God’s man’ for the Empire. Do you think the Apostles and apprentices of the early Church worried about whether there was prayer in Roman schools? You never see them in Scripture saying, “Oh no, Nero is a murderer, an adulterer, and a homosexual, what in the world are we going to do?” They understood that the Kingdom of Christ is, in His own words, “not of this world” {Jn. 18:36a}; therefore, all the kingdoms of this world with their power, persuasion— even persecution— could not stop its advance. It will go on conquering— be it the souls of men or the evil of the enemy’s institutions— unto Eternity. Our role and responsibility is to give our lives over to it, wholeheartedly, to labor in the Cause of our King and to pray again and again and again, “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done.” Done how? “On Earth” exactly “as it is in Heaven.” Yes, Lord, yes. Let Your Kingdom come in the hearts of men, let Your freedom reign in the lives of Your own, let Your soverign rule be seen in every word, every thought, every deed of every disciple. In Your mighty name. Amen.

 

 

-- Ric Webb

Pastor-Teacher

Heart's Journey Community

http://www.hjcommunity.org/

Quality ...Not Quantity.

I came across this phenomenal quote several weeks ago in The Way of the Wild Heart by John Eldredge.  He quotes from 19th century poet and pastor George MacDonald who said, “As soon as [any] service is done for the honour and not for the service-sake, the doer is that moment outside the kingdom.”  Whooaahhh!  Read that one more time just for clarity’s sake.  What he’s saying is the very moment we begin to serve or to speak or to give or to build, to encourage or— what we really like to do— correct, to offer our lofty and unlimited knowledge to the poor befuddled masses, in order to be recognized… seen as superior in knowledge, as kind or witty or wise or loving or giving, as soon as we seek to build our own personal empire of acolytes and accolades, we are outside the Kingdom of Christ.  I.e., we’re laboring under the mighty weight of human effort with, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:12, “wood, hay,” and "straw." 

Wood, hay, and straw are readily available materials, easy to get ahold of, easy to find, easy to gather, and relatively simple to use.  Very similar to what technology is to us today.  Easy to operate to your own advantage.  As soon as our service in the Cause of our King turns to what I can get out of this, or how I’ll be seen because of this, or who will notice me, my efforts, my ministry, my ingenuity, we’re outside the bounds in which the Spirit chooses to operate. We are, in effect, on our own.  And an industrious man or woman can build much to their glory on their own out of wood, hay, and straw— occasionally even a masterpiece.  The problem is it will never last.  A little Time, a strong wind, a single match, and boom …it’s all gone.

Remember this: motive, the ‘why’ behind the ‘what,’ is the deepest level of holiness in our lives.  It’s true.  The one thing that won’t be weighed at the Bema of Christ, the Tribunal of Eternal Reward, is quantity.  What will be weighed, “revealed with fire” to use the Apostle’s language, is the quality, the quality of how we labored on the foundation of Jesus Christ to build up, strengthen, and solidify the Body of the Lord.  “The fire,” Paul say’s, “will test the quality of each man’s work,” v. 13b.

Did we labor in the Spirit or in the strength of self?  Did we walk according to the Word or use clever devices and market management principles to build our micro-managed empires of tyranny and control?  Did we listen for the Shepherd’s voice, the Spirit’s counsel, the Father’s guidance, or just come up with one idea after another and shout out, “This was God’s idea, not mine!  This was the Holy Spirit’s doing” loud enough and long enough that no one questioned us?  The only thing that will matter in the end is Abba’s work done in Abba’s way.  It’s quality, my friends, not quantity, meaning how much of our hearts {and the hearts of others} was truly in this.

-- R ic Webb

Pastor-Teacher

Heart's Journey Community

www.hjcommunity.org