Read this today and thought to pass it on to you for whatever its worth...
"Another shift that Jesus invites us to make is from producing to growing. A producers puts parts together and makes something new happen. you produce a veggie lasagna from cheese, asparagus, tomato sauce, and pasta. Throw in some eggplant if you like. You produce a BMW from auto parts. But everything you produce is already dead. Its just a thing. One day it will get old and rot or rust and waste away. Compare a producer to a grower. A grower stand in his garden. He leans over growing things to tend them with water and fertilizer and loving care. He watches with pleasure and expectations as his plants accomplish the one thing he can't make happen. They Grow. The Kingdom of Jesus is alive and growing, but not because we make it grow. We plant seeds of life. We water and weed. We sweat and hope and pray. but the dynamic of life in the garden is the kingdom at work . it is the life of god springing up around us. In the kingdom, the places we put our heart into and work at are places where we are collaborating with kingdom life. We don't collaborate with programs or buildings or technologies, although God can use those for important ends. Rather we notice and invite and affirm the kingdom people:
In the nervous young mom next to us in the bus
In the migrant farm worker waiting in line ahead of us at the 7-Eleven
In the man next door who's ducking it out with old age and chemo
In the child in our won household who's crossing the threshold from playground to pimple hell
The kingdom is. We are witnesses. Kingdom life is found when we articulate the Good news of Jesus Christ to those who not yet heard. Jesus is the doorway into the kingdom. But kingdom life thrives also in the beautiful ordinary, not just when we're doing ministry or working at a church."--Rick Mckinley, This Beautiful Mess.
No comments:
Post a Comment