I always used to giggle a bit when I heard Kim Walker of Jesus Culture launch into her declaration on one of their tracks, but it carries a new weight for me now:
The love of God changes us, and we're never the same. We're never the same after we encounter the love of God. We're never the same after we encounter the love of God.
I believe that God has been changing me little by little over the last few years but in the last two weeks especially God has met with me in such a profound, tangible, amazing, awesome way and done something remarkable in me and I will never be the same again.
I posted a little while ago about how I was reading this book by Shane Claiborne and pondering on Matthew 25 and becoming a part of a community in order to bring change from the inside. I missed one vital thing, which I think actually, maybe Shane has missed too...
Once again, the intricacy of God's planning has blown my mind! I was recommended a book called Beautiful One which was sitting on my shelf, waiting for when I finished reading The Irresistable Revolution and it could not be any more perfect as a follow on. Beautiful One is a collection of writings from some really influential female speakers and opens with chapters from Heidi Baker and Beni Johnson. It was in reading Heidi's chapters that I discovered what I was missing, something that Heidi had missed at first too...
Heidi said that her and her husband would choose to wash in cold water, even if hot water was available out of solidarity to the poor, they would be constantly hungry and she would get stressed out at the Western church for being frivolous. But God opened her eyes to His wish to lavish on us (see Ephesians 1 and 1 John 3).
To give or bestow abundantly is how the dictionary defines the word lavish - God wants to give or bestow on us abundantly.
Wow!
God's love for us is abundant, bountiful, extravagant... he doesn't want us to have a spirit of poverty, because his Way is the way of freedom, fullness, abundance.
I've realised that God knows I need things rammed in my face if I'm to take the hint, so of course He didn't stop there in teaching me this lesson. A few of us went to an event at St Barnabas in Kensington on Friday night that was being held by New Wine and the Eden Network. Andy Hawthorne was teaching from the account of the Feeding of the Five Thousand in Mark's gospel and funnily enough, the word he brought spoke right into this very thing!
He was talking about the abundance of food that came from the offering of, as he put it, "5 pitta bread and a couple of sardines". His point was that the miracle could have stopped at enough food for the 12 disciples, but as they passed the food on out, the abundance of provision grew and grew. In the end they were left with twelve baskets full of leftovers - Andy pointed out that the word in the Greek that is used for basket indicates that it wasn't just a small basket, but like a laundry basket. How incredible, they were left with far more than they started with. Everyone that had gathered was fed their fill and the disciples walked away with a laundry-sized basket each, full of bread and fish - now that is a lavish feast!
And so it all falls into place, this is the example that we are to follow, yes we are to feed the poor, yes we are to offer what we have, but wow, look at what God does with the little that we bring! Look at God's heart for those who are willing to give up what they have to serve him, he wants to bless them back in abundance!
No comments:
Post a Comment