Exo 20:18-19 When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, 19 and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.”
We were afraid to listen to God on our own because of the great images and sounds that accompanied God's arrival. Is it not ironic that now God tries to come to us with a still small voice, but we are so completely engaged and distracted with images and sounds of our own that we refuse to be still and listen?
It has never been God's intent for the parent to be separated from the child. God does not want the things of this world; popular luminaries or charismatic pastors to come between you and God. God does not want the world or the church to come between you and God. God wants relationship with you, with no one and nothing between you and God and with no one and nothing in the way. Doesn't the Bible teach that all of us will ultimately stand before God alone?
Romans 1:20 says, "Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made." God made the world and God made the church, but neither pantheism nor religion is God. Being a God seeker is all about seeking face to face relationship with God, fellowship, intimacy. The reality of that intimacy manifests itself in our relationships with others, not checking items off a 'do' and 'don't do' list. So how are we doing in our relationships with one another?
Many Christians accuse various entities and organizations for lack of prayer in schools, moral decay and depravity, but how are Christians different? Are we reflecting the intimacy I was referring to or are we reflecting something else? Is that something else what non-seekers hate?
Being hated for the color of our skin, ethnicity, heritage, status, position, life style, looks, age, physical disabilities, poor choices (sin), beliefs etc. are no indication of whether or not we are in relationship with God. That kind of bias and short sighted thinking exists on both sides of stained glass windows.
The world is changed and transformed when one person seeks and embraces intimacy with God. That person becomes an extension cord; an extension of God's love and an exhibition of God's power. The extension cord does not place itself front and center where it can be tripped over. God places it along the wall, behind the chair, under the rug, out of sight so it causes no accidents, so it is not confused with the real source of its power.
The effectiveness of the church is limited by those members and pastors who are reluctant to become extension cords, reluctant to spend time quietly before God, reluctant to get plugged into an intimate relationship with God, and reluctant to echo John the Baptist who said, "He must increase, but I must decrease." John 3:30.
Comments
What is so evident in this analogy is the lifeless power that exerts from within us when we are disconnected from the Power Source; how our lives just don't seem to work. Perhaps another example would be the battery and the power that is LOST or slowly drained if we do not recharge daily or if we allow the things of this world to infiltrate our minds. The love for ourselves and of others seems to be sucked right out of us. With the battery, the effects are not as abrupt as if unplugging the extension cord but ultimately both lead to an existence void of a life being used to its full potential. There is a path that seems right to a man but in the end, leads to destruction. Proverbs 14:12. We are all prone to this so staying unplugged is detrimental. With personal experience I have come to find that without God life has no meaning, no joy, and no hope.
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