God’s Transforming Presence
December 9, 2008
“As a young follower of Jesus, I was taught that Jesus had commanded his disciples to go into the world and make disciples. It is ture. He did.
However, I began to notice that while many missionary-driven, transform-the-world types were passionate about making a difference in the world and effecting change in other people’s lives, they often failed to invest the same energy in transforming their own life. When they did make personal adjustments, it was often motivated by their desire to be more effective in their world changing.
It began to occur to me that if the God of the universe has truly taken up residence in us, radical changes in us should be inescapable. No gardener takes over a new plot and doesn’t remove the weeds, prune the trees, and introduce and nurture new, more appropriate, and beautiful plants.
It also occured to me that as a world changer, Jesus was not very strategic. He arrived in a small, somewhat inconsequential country, spent three years with twelve uninfluential men and a broader gathering of unknown men and women, and oh, by the way, changed the world. I decided that either Jesus was doing something wrong or contemporary world changers were.”
- Dick Staub in The Culturally Savvy Christian
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Too often, church leaders (the “professional” Christians) mimic the plumber whose own pipes rattle and the lawn specialist whose own front yard is weed-filled. This is not to demean those for whom this is reality. Rather, it’s simply to underscore the reality. Gordon MacDonald wrote a great article in Christianity Today where he states that the cultivating of the soul to be the dwelling place for Jesus is the highest calling/priority of the Christian (leader). Unless we are intentionally engaged in the process of being conformed to the image of Christ…in community…for the sake of the world, we consign ourselves to the margins of spiritual effectiveness and maturity. Now if I can just re-read and put into practice what I just wrote!
Another great example of how the “Jesus way” is running in opposite direction from the “world’s way.” May God grant me the grace and courage to follow Jesus.