Resurrection Reverence

I may well date myself with this statement, but then again, if that were important to me there is a lot I would not admit.  I can remember a time when I was young when Good Friday was held with such reverence that everything stopped at 3 PM.  Stores closed their doors, church bells rang and everyone stopped to meditate on what happened at that hour on the day of the crucifixion.  In contemporary society, few people stop to think about what Good Friday is all about.  However, far more compelling to me is the larger statement that this behavior makes about the priorities of our culture.  The telltale signs are everywhere.

This past Sunday during our worship service we celebrated the resurrection and the fact that He is Risen, Risen Indeed!  Yet while a very important message was being shared with us, individuals were carrying on conversations about a variety of topics, phones were ringing and yes, people answered them.  Parents allowed children to play with electronic games with the sound on.  Not only was this distracting for those wanting to focus on the message, but it demonstrated how far we as a society have departed from demonstrating honor and reverence for the House of the Lord.

Call me old fashioned, but my roots were developed deeply that when we entered the House of the Lord, we did so with great respect and honor for Who "owned" the house.  Even though I was raised Catholic and learned quickly the importance of reverence through simple things like bowing my head when we said the name of Jesus, and genuflecting before sitting at church, I observed the same reverence at my grandparents' very small Methodist church in their little town.  Although I did not truly understand reverential fear of God until I was born again, I certainly was in awe of the power and authority of God from the time I was old enough to reason.  When I listen to people talk about life and God, I sometimes wonder, do they not understand who God is?

I must ask your indulgence for my soap box mentality today.  As the contrasts in our society become more pronounced between those whose passion is Christ and those whose passion is the world, I find my vision become sharper.  As I read my devotions each day, Old Testament as well as New, I find myself digging deeper into the Word and seeking greater revelation from the Source.  What is He calling us to do in these volatile times?

The first thing that I hear is, "Daughter, examine thyself!"  Are my words consistent with my beliefs?  Are my actions Christ-like?  What am I doing to advance the Gospel message?  Sadly I come up short in response to each of those questions.  I think about those individuals whom I admire and who I believe emulate the lifestyle that seems to fit the Gospel and then I look at myself.  While I believe that Jesus Christ Himself is the one that we need to emulate, I must admit that I do look at those individuals who appear to be meeting the mark better than myself and use that as a starting place to ask myself a series of questions.  

We each have our own way of examining ourselves.  One thing that I combat regularly is the performance mentality.  I strive to refine who I am not to earn His love but because I love Him.  Yet performance is an ingrained aspect of who I am.  Always has been.  So I must daily combat the behavioral tendencies that are part of me.  Nothing I do will cause Him to love me more or love me less.  So if that is what I believe than why does the disrespectful behavior of others upset me so?  He loves them exactly as He loves me - no different.

I believe that at issue is the fact that we have become seeker friendly.  As a whole, we are more concerned that someone entering our churches (or our homes) is not upset or made uncomfortable by anything that we say or do.  So we modify our level of our tolerance, even the message that is being spoken so that it will not offend.  Yet do we stop and think about how we are offending God Himself?  No, I am afraid not, and that is where we are no different than the Israelite people of the Old Testament who assimilated themselves into the pagan cultures so that they would not be different and would be accepted.  Where did that get them?  When the German radicals in WW II were attacking the Jewish people the vast majority of the population who professed to be Christian ignored what was going on in their front yards.  We all know the result of that inaction.  Where is our behavior getting us?

You may have observed in many churches, individuals come dressed as if they are going to a nightclub.  People walk in half way through the service as if there is no need to come on time and not be disruptive as they find seats.  People are up and down, in and out of their seats as if this was an informal gathering in their living room.  Think about it.  If you paid to attend a show at Fox Theater, you are ushered quickly and quietly into your seats and often are not allowed to be seated once the show has begun.  Why is there more respect in a theater than in God's house?

Maybe it is time that we speak up and require respect from all people who come into the House of the Lord.  Maybe just maybe if we require reverence, reverence will happen.  Maybe just maybe, we need to defend our God and our beliefs and stand up for them.  Maybe just maybe it is time to stop being seeker friendly with words that tickle ears and begin speaking truth that pierces into the depths of the soul.  Maybe just maybe, time is getting short and we need to decide Who it is that we do not want to offend.  Maybe just maybe.......

How's Your Wattage?

Remember the last time you had a three way light bulb reduce itself to one way?  Usually the lower or middle wattage.  You turn the light on and no matter how often you turn that switch, it stays dim.  Can't get that brightness to kick in.  Oh well, off to your supply closet (or the store) to replace the bulb.  Sometimes we replace a 100 watt bulb with a 60 because that is all we have on hand, but oh how much we miss the brightness!  Recently while in a gathering of believers, the Lord showed me everyone in a "different light".  Suddenly all of the earth suits of folks were gone and replaced with white spiritual coverings.  However there was a unique characteristic: each one had a light within that was visible through the translucent covering.  What caught my attention was the variance of the lights.  Some were very bright, creating an aura around them.  Others however were so dim that they were difficult to distinguish among the more vibrant ones.  Some were even flickering, reminiscent of when a light bulb is about to blow.

Needless to say, I immediately began seeking revelation from the Lord for what I had just seen.  Much like in the gospels when Jesus explained to the disciples the meaning of His parables, He began explaining to me what He had shown me.  The light is His light in us.  This is how He sees us; not in our earth suits which cause many of us such consternation.  The varying degrees of brightness are directly related to how connected we are to the power source - Him.  The stronger our connection, the brighter the light.  The weaker the connection, the dimmer the light.  The flickering is caused by short circuits - when our spirit man's connection with the source is being interrupted.  Think about that power cord in your garage that got in the way of your hedge trimmer....  protective coating has been cut away and now the wires are exposed and vulnerable to being cut themselves.

Let's explore this analogy a little further.  First begin with the source: Hebrews 1:3 The Son reflects God's own glory, and everything about him represents God exactly. He sustains the universe by the mighty power of his command. After he died to cleanse us from the stain of sin, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God of heaven.  Christ is the reflection of God's glory.  God's glory is so bright that man was cautioned to not look upon it, Moses being the exception.  The book of Exodus tells us that once Moses looked upon the glory of God, his own face was so bright that he had to cover it. (Exodus 34:29-35)  His intimate relationship with God was reflected in his countenance. 

When we accepted Christ, we entered into the beginning stages of that intimacy.  It has been our choice since that moment how deeply we go.  Romans 8:29-10 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.  This is an unqualified promise - He glorifies those that He has called and justified.  

I had a wonderful opportunity to share with a group of passionate women about my own personal walk and what real repentance means to me.  In the process of that conversation I likened my walk with the Lord to coming out of darkness into shadows then into increasingly brighter light.  When I first accepted Christ as my Savior and accepted His forgiveness, it was as if I had come out of the darkest of nights and stepped into the shadows created by moonlight.  I could see the source of the light but I was not directly in it, at least not enough to really see well.  As my walk has progressed over the last 20+ years, I have stepped further away from the shadows and into the light.  I have gone from moonlight to sunlight and can see much more clearly that which I need to change - that for which I need to repent.  Brilliant light is very revealing!  So is His glory.

I truly believe that the distance that we keep from our Lover God, our Creator, our Abba, actually correlates to the level at which we can reflect His glory, His light.  Personally I want to be in such direct line with His glory that I can be like the magnifying glass that once the sunlight is focused through it can ignite a fire!    But for a moment let's consider those flickering lights.  All of us, myself included have had those seasons where the distractions have been tantamount to chaos in our lives.  The causes for "short circuiting" are as numerous as the stars in the heavens.  Whatever the cause, I believe we know when we are in danger of disconnecting.  God never gives up on us and He will not let the enemy have access without His purposes being fulfilled.  When we begin to get those electrical jolts from a forthcoming "blow-out" there are signs.  We simply have to be in tune enough with Holy Spirit to pick up on the cues.  We can avoid that blow-out and get back to full power through the strength of the Lord.  We will not get it back on our own.  We have no power unless we are connected and plugged in.  The light bulb will not glow unless it is both screwed in and plugged in!

How tightly are you "screwed in" to the lamp through which the power flows?  More importantly, is the lamp plugged in to the power source?  Finally check on the wattage you are exhibiting.  Does your life give light to the lives around you?  My prayer is that each of us is glowing with the maximum glory possible for this moment in our lives and that we will always seek to move to a higher wattage!