Paradigm Shift: A new way to fall in love

February 8, 2010 in 7. Paradigm Shift, Love, Spiritual | Leave a comment

I’m going to be writing this in a first person perspective for the sake of narrative and the writing style I chose. Please disassociate this from me -__-. It simply is to make a point. Change “Her” to “him” and “She” to “He” where it fits for yourself. Again, not about me, it’s just a general lesson. Enjoy!

God is so beautiful. I know this and see it. I love the beauty of God.

God seeks to serve others. He puts himself lower so that others may live better. He is intentional and spends time actively trying to serve others. I know this and see it. I love the servitude of God.

God loves to get to know people. He gets to know individuals in a much deeper, intentional way. He sees people alone and intentionally seeks them. And yes, He gets to know me. I know this and see it. I love how He seeks relationships.

These are a few things that I acknowledge are characteristics of God. I know these and see them. And I love these things about God.

And now I must acknowledge where I see God elsewhere in my life.

And when I look around, I see her.

She is beautiful. I know this and see it. I love the beauty of this person.

She seeks to serve others. She puts herself lower so that others may live better. She is intentional and spends time actively trying to serve others. I know this and see it. I love the servitude of this person.

She loves to get to know people. She gets to know individuals in a much deeper, intentional way. She sees people alone and intentionally seeks them. And yes, she gets to know me. I know this and see it. I love how she seeks relationships.

These are a few things that I acknowledge are her characteristics. I know these and see them.

And I love these things. These things that aren’t simply her characteristics, but real reflections of God. These things that I know are simply gifts and blessings that God has given to her.

I love knowing that I’m simply loving God, the creator, and not her, the creation.

I love loving not her, but God in her.

God is so beautiful. I know this and see it. I love the beauty of God.

These are a few things that I acknowledge are characteristics of God. I know these and see them. And I love these things about God.

And now I must acknowledge where I see God elsewhere in my life.

And when I look around, I see her.

She is beautiful. I know this and see it. I love the beauty of this person.

These are a few things that I acknowledge are her characteristics. I know these and see them.

And I love these things. These things that aren’t simply her characteristics, but real reflections of God. These things that I know are simply gifts and blessings that God has given to her.

I love knowing that I’m simply loving God, the creator, and not her, the creation.

I love loving not her, but God in her.

Paradigm Shift: Looking forward while Acting now

February 2, 2010 in 7. Paradigm Shift, Life, Spiritual | 1 comment

We are broken people. We are imperfect. Our society is broken. And we subscribe to our own brokenness and to society’s brokenness. Yes.

But does that mean we are separated from what God has to offer? No.

I can accept that I am inherently flawed. But I fear that I will simply look at some of the amazing, beautiful things that the Bible talks about and just see them as far away:

Acts 2 paints a portrait of a beautiful community that shares in everything, from their testimonies to their possessions. But instead, what we see today is a community that might not even be comfortable in sharing their troubles with each other, let alone all their possessions.

Matthew 5 describes a kingdom where the poor and persecuted are lifted up. But what we see today is widespread inequality and global cries of human trafficking.

Genesis 2 sets up the original intent that we were meant to live in a close relationship with God and all creation. But what we see now are generations upon generations living outside of the garden.

It’s so hard to see that any of these Biblical things could be possible now or in the future. Especially since we haven’t really seen it happen before. So we convince ourselves that it’s merely “what could be” and that it isn’t really about achieving it fully, but that all these things are simply what we “should strive for.”

But it is achievable.

That wonderful community in Acts achieved it. Jesus saw to it himself that a new paradigm emerged from partnering with the poor rather than the rich. And all of you that call yourselves followers of Jesus just try to tell me that you haven’t experienced moments where you felt in close relationship with God.

We love the idea of what it will be, yet we exhale heavy sighs as we acknowledge how far away we are from it.

Instead, we should subscribe so much with what Jesus has to offer, with what the kingdom will be, that our only reaction is to bring it now.

“We are broken! We are imperfect! How could we possibly achieve this?”

Well… That’s simple.

Jesus is whole. Jesus is perfect. We simply can seek and ask him, “How?”

Whatever holes we have, whatever faults we possess, Jesus can fill those gaps. Let us not concern ourselves with how to achieve these things like perfect community or bring about everlasting justice on earth. But rather, let’s concern ourselves with following Jesus, because He’s got the right answers. Our following Him should result in the direct outflow of all things Kingdom-like. He’ll tell us: “My followers, love God and love thy neighbor”, “Rich young ruler, sell everything and give to the poor”, and “Child, weary and burdened, come to me.” He’ll show us that what He has to offer is being offered not just later, but now. We must simply follow his will not just later, but now.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.