Godgrown

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  Mark 12:04 pm on December 22, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  God’s Department of Transportation and Agriculture 

  One of my favorite things in Isaiah is the unique language and imagery that helps enrich our understanding of God, his world, and ourselves.

  Isaiah 35 is a great picture that the prophet describes as he’s painting what a world run by God himself might look like. Isaiah  has this dynamic picture of both garden and civilization - one where no one, not man or nature, is completely in control – but all the earth submits to God.  In this chapter – it is a desert that transforms into a garden, and a highway (civilization) goes through through this new garden.  But this highway, typically a place where you are vulnerable to attack and exploitation, is now a redeemed space – where there “is no danger” and only “the redeemed travel.”  This highway leads right to Jerusalem, the place where “sorrow and mourning disappear and they will be filled with joy and gladness.”

  So what does a world in God’s image look like?  Its a garden from the desert – and a highway…of peace. This brings under God’s power both the world of nature, and the world of humanity - and helps design a new project, the missio dei - one in which salvation no longer is a personal decision, but is a world-wide event.  Suddenly – its not just about you coming to terms with sin, but its about you gaining citizenship in a holistic world of peace.

  This image has something for the city-slickers and the country-folk.  It is a message of hope, and a message of warning.  This message says – “your world is not under God’s submission, and it must be redeemed.”

  But it also says, “there are parts of what you deeply love that God deeply loves too, and he wants to see it thrive.”

  Does your view of God’s Missio Dei include both personal and social?  Does it include both nature and city?  What would change in how you lived your life if you truly believed that this image was the aim and end goal of God?

  
   

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  Mark 10:09 am on December 4, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Damascus, Humana, Lehman Brothers   

  Diversifying My Trust Portfolio 

  The city of Damascus is situated in the foothills north and east of Israel, and was (and is) a part of Aram, (Syria).  Damascus is one of those ancient cities that remain mysterious to archeologists, mainly because it is still a living, active city today!  In the Eighth Century BCE, it was another town in the cross-hairs of the Assyrian Empire, and Isaiah was spelling out doom for the city, even as he prepared for his home town of Jerusalem (to the south) to become yet another casualty of war.

  Isaiah 17 takes a hard look at the idols the citizens of ancient Damascus employed to secure their trust and safety.  Isaiah declares that a diversified portfolio, when it comes to dieties, is not just a bad idea, it is what will get you the very thing you are trying to protect yourself from with all your idols…death!  Oh, they continued worshiping Yahweh – they just thought he might not be enough to cover their hineys in the event of a famine or war.  And yet, not many years after Isaiah’s prophecy – the whole city was pillaged and destroyed.

  If the trouble with Damascus was putting their trust in too many things, too many gods, then that leaves me to wonder – where are the bald spots in my faith in God? Where do I relegate my trust to other “gods,” even as I profess Yahweh God as my Lord?

  What about my money – my savings – my retirement?

  What about my health – who insures me; Humana, or the God who created me?

  My safety?  Is it this apartment?  The police?  The military?

  Where do I trust my future with?  Cable news?  My government?  My own children?

  Each of these areas of my life can live in submission to the one true God, or they can end up being gods in my heart – diversifying my trust portfolio JUST IN CASE this stock with Yahweh tanks.

  The only trouble with that strategy is – all the other stocks are already bankrupt.  Putting trust in them is like putting all your bets on Lehman Brothers today – 2 years after their collapse.  Its like worshiping a dead piece of wood or a potted plant.  Any power it might have is only coming from the true source – the Divine God who holds you close in the hollow of his hand.

  
   
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  Mark 12:41 pm on November 28, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  A New Way to Be Human 

  Ever wonder what would happen if the whole world took God’s pleadings for his creation seriously? And by ‘whole world’ I don’t just mean humans.  I’m talking about the entire universe. What would happen if each of us saw our relationship with our Creator as something that had holistic implications for the rest of our lives, and how we interact with our surroundings.  Attuning to the Divine, listening and following the LORD GOD, what would it change about… how you treat your kids, which groceries you’d buy, what clothes you’d wear, how you’d pay your taxes, your views on immigration, your views on war and the  military, the federal deficit, your personal deficit, your competition at work, your marriage, what you do for fun, and who you believe you truly are…

  …to say it another way – what if your pursuit of God actually mattered in EVERYTHING else about your life?

  Isaiah, using prophetic imagination, paints a picture of an entire universe investing in the alternative Way – the Way of knowing and listening to God:

  6 In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together;

  the leopard will lie down with the baby goat.

  The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion,

  and a little child will lead them all.

  7 The cow will graze near the bear.

  The cub and the calf will lie down together.

  The lion will eat hay like a cow.

  8 The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra.

  Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm.

  9 Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,

  for as the waters fill the sea,

  so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord. (emphasis mine)

  What will prompt this drastic change in today’s world, obsessed with blood-lust and savage behavior?  It is the coming of a new kind of King, and a new kind of Kingdom.  A fresh expression of humanity – a new way to be human.  There seems to be some sort of syncronicity between people and God, and between animals and all Creation… fear and competition cease, ancient foes become intimate friends…

  What if North Korea and America took these verses seriously?  What if oil companies took this image seriously?  What if I took this seriously??? We can only pray that this day comes sooner rather than later.