So, Do We Know Yet What Time It Is?

No, I don't think we do. Even though we've been reading about it in God's Holy Word for hundreds of years. Our beloved Father God has been telling us and His Only begotten Son has been telling us and we STILL don't know what time it is. Here in the twenty-first century, we have terrorism born of despair, we have dwindling resources, we have famine, war, pestilence, plague, disease and the HEARTBREAK OF PSORIASIS (sorry, I couldn't resist) and we STILL don't know what time it is!

Now, when Jesus said, "The poor, you have with you always", I believe he was at least telling the truth. There will not ever be a shortage of poor people - and therefore, there will not ever be a shortage of people, period. But I also believe Jesus was telling us something about the urgency of our time. Jesus went on to say (John 12) "but with me, it is not so."

The poor, we have with us always: the work of reconciliation is not complete (and likely will not be in the foreseeable future) but "with me" (the Prince of Reconciliation - the very Reconciliation of God) "it is not so". !!! The very Prince of Reconciliation... will not always be with us? !!! Surely, Jesus was talking about His coming crucifixion but was He also warning us? Was He also warning us that unless we harbor, nurture, honor, cherish and strengthen the spirit of reconciliation that is among us in Christ Jesus that the very Spirit that has given us the possibility of reconciliation could be withdrawn? (Withered, weakened, atrophied?)

Think about it! If I don't nourish my relationship with God, will that relationship not wither? If I don't extend reconciliation to my brothers and sisters, will my capability to be reconciled not shrivel? THE PRINCE OF RECONCILIATION IS NOW AMONG US! LET'S TAKE ADVANTAGE OF HIS BEING IN US / WITH US - WHILE WE CAN!!

"Well, um, okay, Tom. So, how do we do that?" We take advantage of the presence of the Spirit of Reconciliation by EXTENDING HIS RECONCILIATION to those who are not privileged to know Him!! We ADOPT THEM into the family of God or, as Matthew 28:19 says "Go ye, into all the world and" (Tom's translation) "ADOPT EVERYBODY INTO MY FAMILY". (Whew!)

Okay, so, all of my ranting is overwrought. No, NO, NOOO!! I don't have anything against reproduction. But at this point in human history, reproduction is fruit out of season. In reproducing, we're celebrating a gift that is not ours to celebrate at this time. We've made of it a counterfeit, an IDOL!! We have something MUCH more important to do!! The time now is to celebrate reconciliation and we are to celebrate (pursue, enact, re-create) the celebration of reconciliation until there are NO MORE UNWANTED, DISCARDED PEOPLE. That means, until ALL of the jails and prisons ALL OVER THE WORLD are empty and rusting; until ALL of the wars have ceased and their weapons are beat into tools for replenishing the Earth; until ALL of the diseased, discarded, aged, unwanted, outcast and misfits are claimed, loved and contributing, it's time for you and me to be pursuing reconciliation whole heartedly, as our TOP priority. Please remember Matthew 6 and remember what Jesus said we must seek first.

If you can remember what Jesus told us to seek first and if you can remember what MUST be our #1 priority, then you KNOW what time it is. Let's get busy.

"Adopt ye, one another, even as I have adopted you..."

The Worship of Human Fecundity

What an odd title. People worship human fecundity?

Well, let me ask you. If I'm making sacrifices to an idol, I'm worshiping that idol, aren't I? If I make my idol - which is unnecessary - a higher priority than that which is NECESSARY, then, I'm worshiping that idol, aren't I?

So, then, if there are people that I could adopt - whether they're eight days, eight weeks, eighteen or eighty-eight - and I choose instead to ignore / discard /cast out /blow-off any of those people to my higher priority of reproduction, then, haven't I SACRIFICED those people that are already here to the worship of my fecundity? MY, MY! Isn't that special??

If I use the resources that my Savior God has given to me on behalf of the creation of my own genetic / ethnic / cultural / racial legacy INSTEAD OF using His resources on behalf of claiming - for the family of God - the last, the lost and the least, have I not SACRIFICED those that I might have claimed to my own lust for self-perpetuation?? Is that NOT the worship of human fecundity?

Now, I will readily confess to you that "Adopt ye, one another, even as I have adopted you" is NOT the King James version of Christ's new commandment but I sincerely believe that it is the Word of The Living God. Else, I would not bring this to you here.

You and I do NOT need to reproduce. There will ALWAYS be plenty of people. What is lacking - at this point in human history - is for Seminaries and their graduates AND US LAY PEOPLE to have the courage to stand up and say:

"ENOUGH! ENOUGH OF THE PURSUIT of personal legacy and personal empire. THE TIME IS NOW for me and for all of us to give whole-hearted devotion to the reconciliation of God - claiming for our family (our family is the family of God, right?) those that would otherwise be discarded, excluded, ignored, wasted and sacrificed!!"

I don't have to be married to tutor a young person. I don't have to be married to visit the elderly - just to make sure that they're not deserted. I don't have to be wealthy to visit someone in prison. I don't have to be especially bright or attractive or even especially capable to "adopt" people into God's family. I just have to LOVE THEM the way that He loves me. This "adoption" is something that EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES IN GOD can do! HE POURED OUT HIS BLOOD to give me a new bloodline. HE HAS BORNE WITH ME PATIENTLY to teach me how to behave in His clan. I have been claimed for His household and He COMMANDS that I do the same for others. God have mercy on me if I don't.

The arrogance of the worshipers of human fecundity wears me down. God is patient. I'm only human. I would love to hear some preacher, somewhere, say "You know, the people that are already here are good enough for us to invest in. They're good enough for us to love, 'as if they are our own', the way that Jesus has loved us; the way that He commands us to love". His adoptive Love is how our transformation began. Our adoptive love - from Him - is the only hope for transformation of this broken and dying world. May God have mercy on us all.

"Adopt ye, one another, even as I have adopted you..."