I have been thinking about several topics over and over again. So instead of wrestling with them alone, I will share them and see if they provoke you to ponder as well.
High priestly duties: make intercession for others/on behalf of others. Also accept and present offerings to God on behalf of others. Other priestly duties: How about contamination of houses? In we read about the priests duties to identify the contamination inside a house. Once identified, there were different courses of actions based on what was identified. No lets bring that concept into the spiritual realm of the New Testament. Since our bodies are a temple to the Holy Spirit living in us – do the priests of today examine the stains on our lives and help to cleanse the mildew – and then wait to see if it worked before declaring something clean? Do priests sometimes identify large sections of our lives that are contaminated and must be replaced? Or perhaps in extreme cases – we must tear down the spiritual foundation and build again on the rock that is Christ – a major undertaking. What do you y’all think?
Proper insulation results in non-interference. I have lived my life lacking in the proper insulation department. As a result, I have suffered many interferences from people, places and things alike. What constitutes proper insulation? For me it is keeping my eyes on God’s kingdom, thinking about what is above, and remembering it is not about my story but His-story. With a kingdom perspective I am no longer the subject, but rather a verb in the story of eternity.
I no longer fit into what I used to consider ‘normal church’. After reading the Bible a few times, I cannot reconcile Jesus Christ and the Christian life to anything less than out of the ordinary. Nothing mundane about following God, and yet, how many people do I know who act like it is the most boring life they could ever have. Is our faith supposed to be safe and dull and lifeless? If so, what Biblical examples would you care to use to make your point? I’m not sure which attributes of God people are worshipping when I first meet them, but after a while of listening, I can usually figure out who they pray to. Sometimes, they are not praying to God at all. I am patient with them, because they don’t even suspect there is more. I pray for them, that they will find time to have a relationship with God. If Jesus is to be believed, we now have the right to enter in and speak with God face to face. We are no longer His enemies, but His friends – His children. We have even become known as ‘the sons (and daughters) of God’. How close are we to Him? In Jesus says ‘I am the vine, and you are the branches’ . He goes on to say that true love is laying down one’s life for one’s friend. How many friends do I have? How many times have I been a friend? What does it mean to lay down our life? Have I ever really loved others the way my savior loved me?
