Tag Archives: love

October 30, 2014 · 10:11 pm

Can We Carry The Evidence For a Culture of Everyone?

No person is an island; therefore, the number of people who influence our lives in this technology driven culture is increasing daily. Also, true is that number of lives we influence is beyond measure. Gone are the days where the only influence is the members in our small community of friends and family. By influence, I mean every moment in our lives when we have said in our hearts, I want to be a firefighter, teacher, artist, scientist, soldier, or business person. Like an asteroid hurtling through space being bumped by smaller asteroids and pulled by the gravity of large objects, so too is the trajectory of our lives constantly changing.

Following the renaissance humanity saw the emergence of the nation-state and today humans are witnessing the birth pangs of the global-state. Already the mindset of inter-national relations has given way to terms like world economy, global security, global consciousness, global communications and planetary ecology which is now becoming the new human point of view.

When Jesus made the claim that greater works, you will we do as compared to Himself, it was for a day such as this. Our interconnection with the 7 plus billion members of the human family is astounding. If our working definition of love is to dissolve the separation between humans then, we are living the dream. It may seem that we have never been more separate but actually at this moment in human history we have never been more connected.

Revelation 5:9-10 (NKJV) …Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, ¹⁰And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.”

Revelation 7:9 (NKJV) After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne

Revelation 14:6 (NKJV) Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people

Today it is important to see and understand that the human community is developing into what I will call a “Culture of Everyone”. This does not mean our individuality will diminish, but it means that the things we have in common will become easily recognized as the things that bind all humans together.

Even the traditional interpretation of the last book in the bible is for the end of a fractured human culture. But what is overlooked is that when human culture begins to come together it will include all the people’s of the earth. Today every religion dreams of an end-time human culture of peace and harmony, but they usually only include people with their cultural background.

Ephesians 1:15-17 (NLT) Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, ¹⁶ I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, ¹⁷ asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.

2 Peter 1:3-4 (NLT) By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. ⁴And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

My encouragement is that we let go of our fear that there is not enough material or spiritual resources. Humankind must begin to carry the evidence for a “Culture of Everyone”, which is God’s true Kingdom. God who is infinite has placed us humans on this planet and through Jesus’ example, we each have also been given access to the very spiritual Presence of God. Even if the population gets to 14 billion there is more than enough for everyone.

If we can get past the fear of not enough then we can relax and begin to appreciate the beauty of all things. We can begin ponder a life of peace and happiness for all who inhabits this planet. Love is the opposite of fear. Beauty is the dissolution of separation between things and love is that dissolution between people.

We are all on this path set in motion before we took up physical form and now the question is, are we going to help or hinder this inevitable flow? We are more powerful than we think and quantum leaps can be achieved (relationship from the inside with everything and everyone) while we are in bodily form.

The culture of everyone is a reality today. The ultimate question is can we see it and can we begin to carry the evidence of its reality. If our worldview has no limits then, we can begin to use the technology of our day to help forge a reality that is dawning in the hearts and minds of our fellow humans.

When we awaken to the fact that, God is our Father then all other humans become our sisters and brothers. Once lost we have all been found and now we must welcome everyone into our family. Through Jesus, the daughters and sons of Adam and Eve can now awake and be quickened to the actual truth that we all have always been daughters and sons of God. We are all part of the culture of everyone.

Luke 15:31-32 (NLT) “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. ³² We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!'”

Evidence Of Being

Some of my favorite scriptures has to do with the creation of man and the descriptions of God. What we humans are beginning to notice as it relates to our development is that we have the ability to gain understanding from the perspective of others. And if we could turn on the quantum engine functions of our brain we could create a mental picture with many points of view giving us a non-local vision and understanding.

There is a movement in humanity that is growing in popularity today and it believes humanity’s next evolutionary step is happening now. But the mind blow is, that for the first time in human history we can observed our own evolution in real-time as it is happening on a global scale. In the past when we humans were evolving, things were happening but due to our localize point of view we could not see the changes happening.

If our next evolutionary step has to do with our understanding of consciousness then our ability to observe this evolutionary process as it pops up in the various communities and cultures worldwide will be a first in human evolution. Our communications technology has enabled a global brain and along with it a global consciousness is emerging and this will allow various cultures and their individuals to perceive from different points of reference.

This is not only having an effect on a cultures political and economic structures but this new conscious awareness is having effect on the various spiritual communities throughout the world. These changes in the human points of view are causing fundamental structural changes in every religious tradition in the world today. With this new consciousness our understanding will give way to new spiritual practices and new interpretations of scripture will begin to emerge to the forefront in traditional religion.

Genesis 1:29 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; ….

The traditional way of scriptural interpretation is to look at what is being said from a human (earthly, material world) point of view. The above scripture reads that humans were created in the likeness of God. Traditionally that means we humans look in the mirror of scripture to ascribe human qualities to God and see how God is like us.

But what is now happening and causing big changes in fundamentals of Christianity is that some of us individual humans are making our point of view from heavens perspective and we humans are beginning to understand and relate with one another as having the qualities of God our Father. It is common to hear the term “Sons and Daughters of God” but the traditional hierarchy would prefer that we remain to relate as separated sheep for the sake of unity.

Let’s practice perceiving from a change in our point of view. From the amount of scripture we currently know we can easily create an image of God that looks like us humans (which violates the 2nd commandment). So let’s try it the other way around. What scripture or beliefs (be very careful with beliefs) do we hold that describe unique attributes about God. Here are my top four:

Omnipresent
Omnipotent
Omniscience
Never sleeps nor slumbers

So starting today and for the next few weeks while you are going about life see if you can discover if there is any part of yourself that has these qualities. Here is a hint from scripture. When God first gave his name he called Himself “I am”. So what likeness to God do we have that we should call ourself “I”? What is it that makes up our “am-ness” that is like our Father? As we survey these things notice if they have any qualities of God. Let’s look at the quality of love. Also let’s bring heaven’s perspective to earth instead of the traditional way of reading scripture.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Romans 8:38-39 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Referring to the 3 scriptures above we can get understanding about Gods love as compared to human love. If we look at these scriptures from a human point of view we can get a much different take away than if we perceive from God’s point of view. God views all human as His children. There is no event, human created or not, that could ever cause God to stop loving us.

All the problems in humanity today stem from the false belief that God’s has stop loving us and that we are now estranged from our Father. A lot of the practices in traditional human religion is an effort to help us return to this place of unity or oneness with God. Humanity as a whole has no peace nor does it rest, because of this false belief. It is hard to just “be” if you are in fear. Unfortunately a lot of religions perpetuate the fear to validate and justify the need for their existence.

Philippians 2:5-6 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,

If we interpret and understand that to be equal with God means to be one with God, then we will begin to see the God is willing to go to any length to convince us that His love for us has never and will never end. A child continually needs reassurance that a parent really loves them. Our ability to just “be” is a form of evidence of our understanding of God’s love. Our ability to “be” with any human also presents evidence of God love, ability to forgive, and power to overcome worldly sin to the other person we are with. After all if God is in us then at that moment He is with them through us.

This evidence of God’s love is contagious and in our world of global technology God is choosing to go viral. What is needed is for more vessels of God’s Presence (you and me) to walk and relate with other humans while being mindful of our heavenly Father’s love for all His children. We cannot allow ourselves to fall back into the mindset of separation, fear all the while holding onto beliefs that God only loves a certain group of His children. God love rest equally on and in all humans.

We were created in peace and can experience the presence of just being. The great I AM is now living and having His being inside the I am of you, me and every human. As we change our point of view old beliefs will give way to beliefs that are more true. Children who once questioned their parents love will hopefully grow up to be parents that are aware and understand that it will be the perspective of a child to need proof of their parents love until they develop to the next stage.

Be encouraged because inside each of us there currently exist this precious type of evidence. It is the truth of God’s love for all humans. You can call it the Evidence of Being.

Galatians 4:1 Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all,

Our Spiritual Maturity is Evidenced by the Liberty We Extend to Others

One of the trends in Emergent Christianity and in the other novel expressions that are a part of this run-up to the establishment of Christianity 3.0 is the exploration for greater expressions of love and liberty. As we members of mainline Christianity begin our expedition for something more in our relationship with Christ and our fellow humans we will soon encounter two very different sensations as a response to our search for the hope we have for the next generation of Christianity. We are not people who are giving up on Christianity but we are a people who are desperate to find and be a part of spiritual communities that will love all humans equally.

Romans 8:20-22 (NLT) Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, ²¹the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. ²²For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;

As people emerge from their traditions they begin to seek Christian thought which is presented in a way that remains truthful to their beliefs but provides fresh expressions and novel ways to communicate the main point delivered by Jesus, our leader of this two thousand-year old movement. That main point being is love of God and love for all other humans equal to the love we have for self.

This sensation that people will encounter is either one of more bondage or one of freedom. As we grow spiritually we are no longer fooled by words. We begin to rely on a deep relationship we have with God who lives and speaks to each person equally on the inside. This voice continually speaks into every little detail in our lives, guiding us on how to bring liberty in every relationship we take part in. From the cashier checking us out at Target, to all of our co-workers including our bosses, to our neighbors and friends we interact with when taking our kids to ball games and to every member of our many spiritual communities old and new, we hear God’s voice saying love deeply.

As we all move from childhood toward spiritual maturity we no longer need the rigid outward rules to guide us. We can live, dress, eat, and pierce or tattoo any part of ourselves and still remain pure in our ability to sense the difference between spiritual liberty or spiritual bondage. Can you imagine the students on a college campus holding on to a rope being led by a teacher to get from one class to another? No we can’t because with maturity of any type there is an implied expectation of responsibility and devotion to purpose.

Jesus made one point very clear. Love is liberty. So if we have a loving relationship with God, one of mind, heart and strength then we will achieve max freedom with God. Jesus also places almost equal importance on this love/liberty that we experience, be at the root of every relationship with any human. And the point He makes is that this experience of love/liberty be shared equally with everyone.

Jesus the master teacher, even while bound by his Jewish tradition, was able to communicate this love/liberty relationship and start a new movement in the fabric of humanity which we have all inherited. Under the tradition of rabbinic Judaism after a disciple has completed his training he can become a rabbi. Like the kings and presidents of old these rabbis were itinerate but they would use their understanding of the Old Testament theology and Jewish law to help settle disputes in their region. Each rabbi had what was called a rabbinical yoke. It was his personal prioritization of the laws according to his understanding and relationship with God. Each rabbi used their understanding to help resolve conflicts of either spiritual or material nature when rendering his judgments concerning these disputes. Also each rabbi would also train a set of disciples that he chose to carry on and advance his yoke. Jesus willingly died that we all might be His disciples.

My encouragement for every Christian, is to more lean on the yoke of Jesus, because he has chosen us to carry on His interpretation of love and liberty. Rabbi Jesus summed the 613 laws down to 2 laws and when asked which of the 613 laws was most important to He responded “love God with all that you are and love everyone else with the same love you have for yourself.” As each year passes we become more spiritually mature and we come to understand God better and the result is that we will come to love and live in more liberty and understand ourselves and God better. Therefore our love/liberty relationship with all other humans should be maturing equal to the love and liberty we each experience with God.

So today in your mind take an inventory of everyone you personally know and then think of every group of people known to you including groups formed because social status, racial, religious, cultural and national characteristics. Then begin over the next few months as the situations rise in your conscience, to evaluate your thoughts, actions and words you express about these people you know and the people who make up these groups. What is it that you say and do with any of these persons. Everyday multiple times a day spiritually mature people work on their relationship with God. So I know we are all always changing in our relationship with God. And this personal change is the main cause of the Christian emergence.

In case you missed the memo we live in a global community. In my opinion the main reason for the move of those that are emerging is that our traditions require us to relate to other humans in ways that we sense remind us of bondage. Jesus however wants us to learn to love until we can see every human we meet as our brother or sister. Jesus does not want us to fall back and become like the enemy but He encourages us to express love and liberty in new ways that will create new lovers of God and lovers of humanity.

So my friends keep emerging by dropping the yoke of bondage and become more deeply yoked with Jesus. We Christians are disciples of Jesus, first and foremost. He alone is our Shepherd, Master, Teacher, Everything, in other words He is our All in All. Our evidence to the fact that we are disciples of Jesus is that we freely give the liberty that we were freely given and personally experience.

2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Gal 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

2 Peter 2:19-20 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. ²⁰For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. ²¹For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.

Matthew 11:28-30 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Acts 15:8-11 So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, ⁹and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. ¹⁰Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? ¹¹But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.”

Matthew 23:1-5 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, ²saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. ⁴For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. ⁵But all their works they do to be seen by men.

Tag Archives: love

Can We Carry The Evidence For a Culture of Everyone?

Evidence Of Being

Our Spiritual Maturity is Evidenced by the Liberty We Extend to Others

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