In
PART ONE of this message I shared my epiphany-experience at a recent pastors retreat...how God showed me to stop dwelling on "what" unity looks like, but rather focus on "who" it looks like: Jesus Christ. As I said last time...
Authentic unity looks precisely and only like Christ. No other model even comes close.
A "what" approach to unity often leads me to guilt...both from the unrealistic demands I put on myself to the unrealized expectations of others: invitations, emails, voicemails...all unanswered. Can you relate?
My soul always complicates things; God's Spirit always simplifies them.
The Great Commandment (loving God and one another) and the Great Commission (showing others how to do the same) are all you and I truly need be concerned about...and God empowers us for both through His concentric circles of priority...
"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:8)
Jesus tells us His kingdom is "at hand." (Matthew 4:17) That means His daily plans and purposes for me are right at my doorstep, right in front of me...
In other words, Deanna, my family, and our "first circle" friends and fellowship (my "Jerusalem") is a higher priority than my connections with other leaders across the country or even around the world (my "Judea" and "Samaria")...no matter how profoundly called I am to work with these other folks.
I'm not saying I'm not supposed to stretch beyond my daily routine for unity's sake (I hope my life models such an understanding); I'm saying GOD KNOWS what-and-who He's called me to. After all, He is the very One who has placed these concentric circles of priority around my life.
In a book I'm presently finishing, I say the following to my three kids, Michelle, David and Bryan...
"At the end of the day, I'm a son, a husband, a father, a friend and a pastor, in that order. But sometimes I pay more attention to the distractions in front of me than the Truth inside of me, and then I'm out of order. You three have always been more important to me than all the "ministry stuff" I've allowed to steal my attention.
Time I started treating you like it."
God wants me to to pay more attention to my marriage than my mission; He wants my devotion to my children to supersede my availability to the pastor-in-need across town or across the country; He wants me to honor my parents every day, not just on holidays and special occasions. Simply put, God wants me to surrender my time and my attention completely to Him...every moment is His.
I'M ALWAYS PREACHING in this forum about our mutual need to stretch beyond our comfort zones and reach out to one another. That message is still theologically spot-on, still resounding from the depths of my heart. I'm not recanting...I just believe God would remind us all---again and afresh---that His daily "due season" opportunities for us to reap "if we do not lose heart" (Galatians 6:9) are at hand...right in front of us...always in line with the demarcations of His concentric circles of priority.
As we enter the holiday season, let's do so with a renewed focus on "who" unity looks like...our Savior and King, Jesus Christ. Perhaps God would renew our focus on the "first circle" people in our lives..unto His profound glory! Grounded firmly on the Solid Rock of Christ, let's encourage one another to be poster-children for unity, without a tinge of guilt.
AN IMPORTANT P.S... In my last email, I mentioned feeling like I'm supposed to ask you to strongly consider sowing a significant year-end gift into our mission. After much prayer on this prospect, I have decided to talk very plainly with you about our needs and our future plans in the wake of unexpected challenges. I will do so on Tuesday, December 1, 2009.
This has been a long time coming... For these same reasons, I pulled the plug on a public announcement of our "homestretch" plans last summer. Rest assured, these inordinate delays are not the result of any cavalier attitude on my part toward God's goals for this mission, nor are we finished. "He who has begun a good work in [us] will complete it..." (See Philippians 1:3-11)
