An Apocalyptic Mind

Hello friends!! Sorry for spending so much time away from the blog. Honestly I have been having a hard time finding time to write and I have been kind of torn by the reaction or lack there of to the past couple of blog entries I have written. Anyways, I’m back and I have a couple good ideas I plan to present soon. So hang in there and if something spurs a reaction please tell me, I would hate to be sharing my heart so openly and not at least get a rise out of you.

About a month ago, two of my best friends, Gab and Phoenix were playing grocery store at our house while I was on the computer writing (Gab is 3 years old and Phoenix is 2). Spurred on by a new toy grocery cart, the kids and my wife were having a ball. Theresa had out some groceries from the pantry and plastic bags to bag them. More often than not I am an active participant in their games and this was no different, that day I was the sales clerk. As I was checking them out I asked for the money to pay for the groceries and Phoenix said that she had “pink”. At first I thought she misunderstood and I tried to explain it, Later I discovered that what she said was incredibly profound. She loved pink, it is what she valued, so it was what she was offering to me…  I want to dive into this idea of value and the perspective that we hold to as people but most of all as Christians.

When sin entered the world so did the need for payment. Up to that point there were no worries about the Home Owners Association in the Garden of Eden. All of what Adam and Eve ever needed they had because they were participants in a trusting relationship with God, without any doubts or fears. But when division was created through sin a new and awkward way of life was created. The only way to redeem this selfish and unloving system was to destroy sin which Jesus Christ has done for us through the cross. This redeeming act brought a new way of the life called the Kingdom that is present right now and accessible by all those who accept Jesus as their savior. As a result in the book of Acts after the life altering Holy Spirit came to bring truth, the apostles had all things in common, if people owned land they went and sold it and gave it to the entire community.

Unfortunately, things are a little different in the 21^st century as Christians… It doesn’t take long to see that the love of money is the root of all evil. I’m sure you know of a friendship or two that has been destroyed over money. I bet you can even feel the desire to cling to money and trust it instead of God. We like to buy and sell land and even covet others possessions, but if we believe in the God of the scriptures more than in the cultural portrayal of possessions, none of it is really ours, but it is owned by our Father in heaven. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

So we have Netflix and recently we were sent a movie that I don’t remember putting on the cue. It was Imitation of Life, a movie made in 1934 about a widowed mother and daughter who hired a wonderful woman named Delilah to be their maid. Delilah worked for room and board for her daughter and herself. While Delilah was taking care of this family she made pancakes for them that were so good that they went into business together. After years of work they boxed up the pancake recipe that Delilah had brought to the family and made a lot of money. After they had received one of the first huge checks, Delilah was told that she didn’t have to work anymore, and that she could have a house of her own. At that, Delilah became instantly sad, she wanted to continue to live with the family and take care of them, She said, “who would take care of you and the kids”.   Delilah valued taking care of others and having a family to share life with, money did not mean anything to her. Now from the typical American mind you would probably say that she was ignorant. But I say that she has an Apocalyptic mind.

This is what Jesus was alluding to when the disciple came to him at the well after he had discussed the Messiah with the woman at Jacob’s well in John chapter 4. He said that he had food that they didn’t know about. He said that His food was to do the will of the Father. And in a fashion very much like Phoenix’s remark about “pink” Jesus relates to the disciples about a principle that was beyond there understanding. Jesus got fulfillment from doing what God wanted, he got satisfaction, and he got life. So we must continue to readjust our lenses to the world as we learn more about God. Some people honestly think that it is God’s will to be rich and God’s will for someone else to be poor.  It is God’s will that you share with those in need.

So today I pray that you will allow God to open you eyes even further to the otherness of His Kingdom and I pray that the things of the world will grow strangely dim. That what you use to value will soon be lost from sight and that you will have a dire hunger for the Father’s will.