Moving at the Speed of Creativity

Traditional roles to avoid:
- passive
- observer only
- attender
- not invested or really involved

Authentic roles to seek and promote:
- active
- committed
- contributor
- engaged

Rick Warren points out that the original meaning of the word “membership” according to the Apostle Paul was to be part of the body of believers– not cut off from others. We are called to live in active fellowship, not as observers who go to a church service (or a classroom for that matter) to passively consume and be fed.

These are good thoughts worthy of contemplation, reflection and meditation. I am convinced that many of us in 21st Century culture, myself included, need to do a better job of living intentionally. These verses from Paul in the book of Ephesians, Chapter 4, seem to speak directly to this idea, of not merely being affected by the culture around us, filled as it is with issues and topics of the moment which often do not have any real importance or relevance to our lives:

“Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”
- Ephesians 4: 14-16

We cannot and should not attempt to “go it alone” in this world, to be spiritually isolated, to be disconnected from the fellowship of other believers. This is not Biblical and is actually a directive of “the world,” not of God. We should focus our minds and our hearts deliberately on the message of Christ and on God’s word. If we are to be equipped for the spiritual battles which rage all around us, often unrecognized and ignored in our haste to complete our daily “to do” lists, we must take up the Sword of the Spirit, which is God’s Word, and know it intimately, for it is our primary weapon against the spiritual powers of darkness.

This is most certainly an active and deliberate process. It is a pathway of discipline and determined focus, rather than carefree and careless living. It is simultaneously a pathway that requires us to be open to the direction and voice of God, however, because his Spirit does and will continue to provide guidance and leadership to us amidst our struggles. To hear Him, however, we must spend time with Him. We must slow down, be quiet, and LISTEN. We cannot do all the talking. Silent prayer and meditation is judged by the world’s standards to be idleness and wasted time. Yet by God’s standards, it should be an essential part of our daily routines.

The key idea for today is that we are called to struggle together, not in isolation. We are called to live together in the light, choosing to reject the darkness and the temptations with which it attempts to lure us.

“So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
- Ephesians 4: 17-24 (NIV)

We are called to live in the light of God as children of the light, and do so in fellowship and regular relationship with other believers around us. This is not an option or an elective, it is a commandment. I know I will benefit from some time spent in prayer and meditation on these words.