Dispossessed

Convergence: What? (1 of 4)

Wednesday, November 07, 2007 8:56 AM

Convergence is a technology buzzword that is thrown around regularly by marketing executives and yet seems to have no real meaning to most people other than that it sounds techie. Simply put, convergence is the uniting of two disparate technologies to automate, simplify, enhance or otherwise improve another task. Social Networking is an example of true convergence. The designers of these sites have united messaging and browsing to simplify and enhance the task of relationship maintenance. The goal of current technological innovation is to create convergence.

As I think about holiness and the separate disciplines it demands I relate this call to a sort of spiritual convergence. Christ called his followers to a path that demanded bridging two disparate religious pursuits to form a convergence he referred to as holiness.

In my life I have been taught by those who claim righteousness as the sole duty of the Christian. I had teachers who proudly recited the adage, “I don't drink, smoke, or chew and don't associate with those who do,” as an actual badge of honor earned through the tireless work of their own righteousness. Righteousness when placed as the spiritual center point results in the burden of insecurity and judgment. It's penalty is a teeter totter effect between self righteousness and self condemnation. The toll of this form of religion is a self obsessive,consumerist spirituality looking for the next quick fix. The adherents of “righteous religion” become crack heads to their appetite for a spiritual high that makes their righteousness feel safe.

Charity is a deceptive idol of false religion also. The obsession with serving others absent of relationship with God is a hollow exercise as well. It overwhelms the participant and leads to depression and despair. The charitable life absent of Godly motivation becomes a spur of bitterness to the participant. Eventually the “Christian Philanthropist” gives up cold and bitter that their passion was not shared and participated in by their peers. Eventually, they wander far away from the cold reality of their failure.

I have seen the righteous have no time and no place for servanthood. I have seen the charitable celebrate licentiousness in the name of freedom. The two ideas are not competing religious paths, instead they are disciplines that when mastered together are the lifestyle convergence that Christ called his followers to adhere to.

The convergence of righteousness and charity will both simplify and enhance the Christian's life. The abundant life promised by Christ to his followers is fully realized when this true holiness is lived out in our daily routine. The convergence that brings true joy to our life is this call to holiness.

Labels: Convergence, Holiness, Hope, Righteousness, Servanthood

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My Hope Is In Christ's Kingdom

Wednesday, August 15, 2007 8:25 AM

My grandfather told me when I was a young man that everything can be taken from you except your hope. I was a young man and had no understanding of his words at all, yet I have treasured them in my heart all these many years since his passing into glory. It has been 19 years since and I am a "man" now with a wife, a family, a job, and a great hope. Yet, I have not suffered. Still after all these years my understanding of his wisdom is only academic. I empathize with those who have only their hope yet I have never walked in their moccasins.

I think suffering is an advantage, because it aligns your hope. I was reading 1 Corinthians 13. I was reading it because I LONG to LOVE the way Jesus loved. I got to verse 13 and God revealed a beautiful "rhema" to my heart.

1 Corinthians 13:13

But now we still have faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

My experience in life has been insular with "Christian" people. As I have known them, most all of them have had their faith in Christ. Their forward looking truth has been in the promise of salvation. The faith leads them to a righteousness that is modeled in Christ, the apostles, and the heroes of faith. However their faith, is as far as their walk with Christ ever goes. I have struggled to love like Christ, because I have placed only my faith in him.

My hope, and the hopes of those I have known, are not placed in Christ. My hope is placed in my wife, my family, and my job. I hope to have a happy marriage. I hope to have children who are obedient responsible members of society. I hope to be making $150K a year. My hope, or "my treasures" as Christ also calls them, are stored up here on earth.

God spoke to me in that verse and opened my eyes to the fact that I could not achieve the "greatest of these" so long as my hope was still placed in carnal accomplishments. I could not embrace the power of agape love so long as I was the center of my treasure. As I have been busy building my kingdom, I have been unable to become like the King of the eternal kingdom.

As I begin this process of moving my HOPE to Christ. I begin to understand 3 very important truths.

1. Faith is the substance of things hoped for (Heb 11:1)- My faith takes on new dimensions with each day that I move more hope to His Kingdom rather than my kingdom.
2. There is Nowhere to Go, since only Christ has the words of life (John 6:68)- The comings and goings of this life make more sense when I hold on to the only direction that bears life.
3. Abundant Life is a good thing (John 10:10) - The saints of the persecution and the heroes of awesome faith like George Muller and Mother Theresa are marked by their embrace of abundant life. Their hope being placed in Christ's kingdom allowed them to understand that physical peace and economic comfort were mere shadows of the Abundance that was promised.

My grandfather was right. No matter what mankind takes, when our HOPE is in the KINGDOM OF GOD, when we understand that he is making all things NEW! That is the kind of HOPE I want to have!