There Isn’t One

A formula, method or practice that will cause God to do what you ask.

My Point Is

I can’t speak to Rich Mullin’s point in his address to the folks at Wheaton College  as I haven’t read the whole text but I’m pretty sure he wasn’t saying that selling everything is better than being born again. The reason I shared this story yesterday was to encourage you to hear from Jesus yourself. Seek Him for the answers to your what should I do questions and do it. If He says sell everything, do it. If He says to be reborn or put your past behind you, do it. Don’t get caught up in religious formulas or one size fits all Christianity. The relationship He wants with you is unique.

Thumping

Because of God’s uniqueness along with His one of a kind love for each of us, relying on formulas and programs is not the best way for us to touch people’s hearts. This is where intimacy with Him really comes into play, where the trust we’ve been talking about over the past several days has its opportunity to shine. It’s by His leading that we are most effective in loving those He puts in our lives. Because He knows so much better than we do, we must rely on Him to prepare the way and to present our chance to touch folks. Jesus (obviously) was the perfect example of this for us. He sought The Father with all His heart, loved the people around Him well and when God led Him to a special encounter He responded. Never the same speech, He didn’t hand them a flyer or lump them into a group. He let them know they were special even when what He had to say was difficult.     

If So…

We spent the past few weeks looking at the varying degrees God is real to us and also explored some of the things that keep us from more of Him. It makes sense to move on to how our life might look if we truly allowed Him into every area. So over the next few days let’s see what we might recognize in our life as fruit and also take a look at what might be areas still under cultivation.

Remember there is no formula and the thoughts shared here are in no way meant to be a list of things to mimic in order to appear like God is involved. We also need to be careful to examine ourselves as opposed to finding the flaws in others. There’s nothing more personal than your relationship with God so I hope that as we dive in here He meets you in new and wonderful ways.