Flies part 1
The other day I told Logan the age-old adage, "You catch more flies with honey than vinegar." And he looked at me like I was a lunatic and asked, "Why in the world would you want to CATCH flies???" Out of the mouth of babes, right? But the adage IS true. And I think that's where the "church world" has really kind of missed the boat. Because it seems all the church can figure out to do is try to scare people straight. More (completely) concerned with behavior modification than eternal life--which is knowing the Father and the One He sent. Living in the context of Sonship. Living IN Daddy's love, and living OUT Daddy's love. Receiving it and releasing it. Showing people that there IS something better out there. A more excellent way. I mean, it's like we really don't understand that it's the GOODNESS of God that leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). It's literally the honey (revelation) and milk (righteousness) that catches us. It's the grace of God that grips us. Look at Jeremiah 31:3 in the NLT, "Long ago the LORD said to Israel: "I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself." And that was in the Old Testament! How much more so now that we have the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, leading and guiding us into all truth? How much more so now that we can know Him as a loving heavenly Father? But here's where I really want to focus for this Rant series: He has drawn us to Himself. With His unfailing love. Song of Solomon 1:4 says it like this, "Draw me, we will run after thee..." And the part I always liked about that verse is that after HE draws me, WE will run after thee. Because He didn't just draw us TO Himself. He drew us INTO Himself! And now it's HIM running in our feet! It's becoming what you behold. Seeing the glory of God in the mirror (with a face unveiled, or with the stone of the Law rolled away) and being changed into that same image FROM glory TO glory! See, He already drew us to Himself. That's a done deal. We start at glory. Because that's who we are. Even when it doesn't feel like it. We are the righteousness of God in Christ. All the time. Even when we make a mistake. Mistakes don't disqualify us. They give us something to learn from. And even though we are in Him (because He's in us), there is still an everlasting-life-long journey of discovery. Not "getting" to Him, but finding out what it means to already be there! Not becoming perfect, but understanding what it means that we ARE perfect! We ARE complete in Him, right? So how much more perfect could we be than to have the Perfect One living in us, and through us, and as us? So instead of telling people they aren't good enough... instead of heaping condemnation on them in the hopes that that will somehow force them to change, maybe we ought to try something different. Maybe instead of telling people what they should do we ought to tell people who they are. Give them some milk and honey. Righteousness and revelation. It flows in the Promised Land, right? And that's where we already are, right? You can't give what you don't have and you can only give what you do have. So since we know it, we ought to throw it. Since we have it, we ought to share it. Draw people to ourselves with love even as Daddy drew us (and, in a sense, continues to draw us) with love!