Choose Today: Growth or Reconciliation?

So, what'll it be? Let me give you a little tip: choosing reconciliation does not necessarily exclude the likelihood of growth. However, choosing fiscal, physical or imperial growth to the point that reconciliation is discounted is a serious mistake. But you knew I was going to say that.

You see, choosing "growth", as opposed to reconciliation, has been the choice of the powers that be (including most of the world faiths) for generations. This misdirected choice is what led us into colonialism and the nightmares that have developed from that era. But go even further back in your "History of Civilization" memories and recognize that there were VERY few times when Queens or Kings or Rulers of any sort chose to pursue reconciliation as opposed to some form of imperialism ('Mammon-mongering', I like to call it). So, the nightmares started a long time ago.

Is there something that can be done about it? Well, yes, that's the whole point of this blog. You see, adoption is a form of reconciliation. We adopt / claim / include those persons who are vulnerable, relative to us, to help ensure that they're reconciled to the family of God. This is how Christians expend God's resources and this is how Christians expend themselves. We INVEST in those who are vulnerable, relative to ourselves (Isaiah 58). And that, very simply, is what I want the Church (and all faiths, for that matter) to teach: Adoption / reconciliation / inclusion / reclamation of the vulnerable MUST come first. (Visit Matthew 6 for more about prioritizing such pursuits as these). And do NOT come to me claiming that you believe the Bible literally until your household is FILLED to overflowing with those who've been included in God's family through His adoptive love, living in YOU.

"But Tom", you plead, "aren't our children important enough that we should invest in them? THEY'RE vulnerable, relative to us!!" And I respond, 'yes, they certainly are'. 'But which of your children are you referencing? Those that you so selfishly begat or those you're required to adopt but didn't?' I'll ask you again, "Are you really even a Christian?"

The Apostle Paul teaches us in 1 Corinthians 3 that (generally speaking) while Paul seeds and Apollos waters, it is God Who Gives the increase. (An example of reconciliation leading to growth!) I believe that here, Paul is teaching about tending the "garden" of the lives of the converts. Appropriate stewardship is manifested in the reconciliation of those in the "garden". Remember that in the earliest Biblical example of a garden, the people who were placed into that garden were put there to tend it: to "seed and water", to build on and continue the reconciliation that existed - at least for that time. (And the trouble all started when they ignored their relationship with The One Eternal and their purpose of reconciliation.)

Building on and continuing (extending) God's reconciliation is why you and I are allowed to breathe (if we're Christians) and we are NOT here to create our own empires! We are NOT here to discard or sacrifice or ignore the people that're already here nor are we here to discard / sacrifice any other portion of God's creation.

Now, could either Paul or Apollos have chosen to pursue "growth" for growth's sake? (maybe by claiming some miraculous superiority or by exploiting some form of sensationalism? maybe by pushing each other out of the way?) Yes, most certainly but instead, they both chose to engage in reconciliation (neither of them had any inkling of becoming famous televangelists), "tending the garden", seeding and watering. And the early church grew.

When you or I choose reproduction as opposed to adoption, we've chosen a miniature form of imperialism. We've chosen to ignore / discard / sacrifice someone who's already here and we've chosen to prioritize our own genetic legacy over the needs of someone who needs us. This is pretty much what the colonialists and other Mammon-Mongerers are doing: discarding the people and creatures and creation that's already here in favor of replacing it with their own design. Hmmm, have we really made any progress since the Sixteenth Century?

From the left and from the right, from the secular and from the supposedly faithful I meet people almost everyday who choose to reproduce as opposed to adopting. Yet they insist on claiming the Name that is above every name. Did HE insist on His own genetic legacy and choose to discard us? You know the answer. Yet we claim to be crucified with Him. We claim to be His followers. (Aren't we violating the ninth Commandment or something?) Nevertheless, I WANT you to claim that Name in sincerity and I WANT you to adopt, whether you breed or not!

So, this is what I want you to know and this is what I want ALL faiths to teach. We must prioritize reconciliation over growth. God Who Gives will give us growth if we prioritize His purposes. His purpose, I believe, is reconciliation. CHOOSE FOR YOURSELVES THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE. (Pssst! Choose Reconciliation! Choose HIM!)

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

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.