Romans 13:14 (King James Version)
But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
I was reading Romans chapters 13-16 last night and I couple things really stood out to me.
First of all we are making this faith life harder than it needs to be. Flesh empowered (small c) christianity is hard, mean and boring. While Spirit empowered Christianity (a.k.a living the anointed lifestyle) is simple, powerful and fulfilling.
When His life becomes your life and His desires become your desires the switch is flipped on and your faith will start working on an outrageous scale.
Romans 14:4 (King James Version)
Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
The other issue is the debate in some circles about the whole seeker sensitive movement and the recreational sport that a lot of us preachers play, namely "I'm holier, more in tuned with God and I really preach the gospel and you don't" game.
The bottom line for me is that if you are really living the life of Jesus you don't have time to be monitoring other folks' pulpit activities. Also when His life becomes your life, you'll seek the lost just like He did and seek to minister His life to them.
Jesus was and is seeker sensitive, but we don't have to wait until Sunday morning to dazzle them with our lattes and light shows. We can be led by the Spirit of God to minister to them at the point of their need and get them saved, healed and delivered on the streets, in grocery stores wherever it is required.
So for me right now the necessary order is first become sensitive to Christ in me and live His life, then empowered by Him become sensitive to the needs of those around.
It doesn't have to be either or.
image by chris moncus
