/*Adopt Ye, One Another, Even as I Have Adopted You: February 2007*/

"Adopt Ye, One Another, Even as I Have Adopted You..."

Not Shaker Theology, not a cult and not any sort of propaganda. An approach, by Heaven's Grace, to the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness. Do you want to see it? Do you want to see the Kingdom Of Christ? Say yes.

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Hopeless, Pointless, Useless except for the Grace of God

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Seek Ye First The Garden of Eden

Of course, you and I both know that there will be no re-entry into the Garden of Eden. That way is closed to us forever. (Genesis 3:23-24) However, my understanding of the Kingdom of God is that it's a close parallel to the Garden of Eden, only better. Furthermore, regarding inhabiting the Kingdom of God, we've been invited in. So, my question of you (and of myself) is: "Do you want to go?" (No, do you REALLY want to go?)

Think with me about some of the parallels between the Garden of Eden and the Kingdom of Heaven.
  • In the Garden, God provided everything needed by the inhabitants. (Doesn't Jesus promise us that God will provide everything we need if we make the Kingdom of Heaven our first priority?)
  • In the Garden, there were no neglected or discarded people. In the Kingdom of Heaven, don't you expect that the inhabitants will refuse to allow others to be discarded or neglected?
  • In the Garden of Eden, the world was clean and whole - there was no disease and no war. In the Garden, there was also no domestic violence or abuse of any sort. There were no toxic cities. There were no toxic personalities. The Garden was the PERFECT context for all aspects of existence and it was in that context that God gave us the permissive blessing (not a commandment) to reproduce. Can you honestly say that you're living in the same context within which that precious permissive blessing was given? Do you not think - until we're filled with and surrounded by the Kingdom of God - that we're abusing God's blessing by reproducing when there are SO MANY people who are currently being neglected and discarded? How can we ignore them? What kind of selfish, self-centered creeps are we, anyway?
  • In the Garden, before their expulsion, the people who lived there lived in a relationship of reconciliation with the One Living God. Don't you expect that we'll only enter into the Kingdom of Heaven by living in relationship of reconciliation with our beloved Heavenly Father AND with each other? (Matthew 5:23-24)
Now, of course, this wouldn't be one of my posts if there weren't some emphasis on adoption, right? Well, if you and I are living in the Kingdom of God it's because we've been 'adopted' into God's family - reconciled, by the Blood of The Lamb. Only one person was ever 'born' into God's family and all of the rest of us had to be 'reborn' or - in other words - 'adopted' to become a part of God's family (Kingdom). By the Blood of the Lamb, we've been given a new bloodline.

Okay. Let's get to the meat of this post. Why are our seminaries still teaching and our preachers STILL preaching that it's acceptable to reproduce when there are people ALL AROUND US who need the investment of our love and our investment of God's resources? You invest in your children because they have potential. But do the "vulnerable" people around you not have potential? You love your children because you think they're "like" you (and you probably have NO idea just how much like you they really are) but are not the broken, the halt, the lame, the blind, the lost and the downfallen really VERY MUCH like you and me? (I think we're living in De Nile when we say they're not.) They ARE our children and we MUST NOT deny them! (Reference: Charles Dickens, "A Christmas Carol" Ghost of Christmas Present, speaking of "Ignorance and Want")

And you still want to encourage people to breed as opposed to adopting? What ARE you?

I confess astonishment when people still believe that adoption is only for situations when reproduction is unavailable. These are CHRISTIANS? Did Jesus choose reproduction instead of adopting you and me? Did the Christ of God choose His own genetic legacy as opposed to shedding His blood to give you and me a new bloodline?

Dear Reader, I mean you no harm. However, I grow weary of the insolence of members of my faith who believe they can at the same time pursue their own personal empires and also give first priority to the Kingdom of Heaven. God's Kingdom and His work of reconciliation (adoption, reclamation) WILL be first for us or we will NOT go in. THERE IS NO ENTRY into the Kingdom of God for those who refuse to have EVERY aspect of their existences surrendered on their own crosses with Christ Jesus - every aspect including our lust for self-perpetuation.

They're already here, your children and mine. It's far passed time for you and me to claim them and bring them reconciled into our family: God's family. Without bringing them with us, we cannot go in. And, no, we won't be going back into the Garden of Eden. But if we're REALLY wanting to see change, we'll do what ever it takes to go into the Kingdom of God and to have His Kingdom living in us. We'll go as far as Jesus did. We'll adopt broken, dirty, worthless, hopeless, sinful people who would otherwise be neglected and discarded. And we'll take them with us.

Do you and I really even want change? Do we really even want to go into The Kingdom of God?

SAY YES!!!

Amen.

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