Grace and Truth: Conviction Without Compromise or Condemnation

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Grace and Truth: Conviction Without Compromise or Condemnation

“Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.” — Colossians 4:5

How do I live in a secular society and respond to sin without being self-righteous?

I am praying for a heart that responds to sin and approaches sinners the way Jesus does—treating people with compassion and as human beings. He dwelled with us and ate with us², with no desire to condemn us³, but wanting us to be saved⁴ and with Him in God.

How can I do that? What does that look like? I’m asking, seeking, knocking⁵.

Here’s what I’ve got so far…

Jesus’s presence is like the gate or door to an illustrious mansion, and at the gate all are welcome⁶.

There He presents goods that indicate how wonderful it is inside⁷, sharing the good news that we’re invited to live there, while also teaching what is required for entry—an abandonment of everything to follow Jesus through the complete transformation that is necessary to enter⁸. The main focus of His correction is attitudes and affections—heart conditions that would prevent entry⁹.

We are transformed as we enter, like the increasingly narrowing path of the “Eye of the Needle” that necessitates shedding ourselves of everything to get through—sanctification¹⁰.

There’s acceptance at the Door but exacting standards when one enters¹¹.

It reminds me of the ruler from Matthew 22¹² who asked his servants to go out and invite people from the highways and byways to fill his house. But once they were inside, the ruler finds a guest who doesn’t have on a wedding garment and is condemned because that guest should have been clear on what they were invited to and what it demanded—the wedding garment, which are the righteous acts of the saints as described in Revelation 19¹³, and would have been received from the Master of the house. Again that garment of righteousness is the Master’s work¹⁴, not ours, and we must be careful to abide in it¹⁵.

So what’s our role as followers of Christ?

To those outside, we are present in a way that proclaims and presents the treasures of the Kingdom, both in word and in deed¹⁶.

To those who come inside, we point each other to Christ. We serve, share, edify, and hold each other accountable¹⁷.
We don’t cause sanctification—it is God’s work¹⁸. But we walk together in it, helping each other continue as we continue ourselves¹⁹.

Legend of Scripture References (NKJV):

¹ Colossians 4:5 – “Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.”

² Luke 15:2 – “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.”
John 1:14 – “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”

³ John 3:17 – “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

⁴ 2 Peter 3:9 – “…not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

⁵ Matthew 7:7 – “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

⁶ John 10:9 – “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”
John 14:6 – “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'”
John 7:37 – “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.”

⁷ Matthew 13:52 – “Every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

⁸ Luke 14:33 – “Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”
Romans 12:2 – “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”
Matthew 24:13 – “But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”

⁹ Matthew 6:21 – “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Mark 7:21–23 – “For from within, out of the heart… proceed evil thoughts… All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”
Matthew 15:19 – “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries…”
John 8:43-44 – “Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do…”

¹⁰ Mark 10:25 – “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Hebrews 10:14 – “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”

¹¹ Matthew 7:13–14 – “Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life…”

¹² Matthew 22:9–13 – Parable of the wedding feast and the guest without a garment.

¹³ Revelation 19:8 – “And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen… for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”

¹⁴ Isaiah 61:10 – “…He has clothed me with the garments of salvation…”

¹⁵ John 15:10 – “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”

¹⁶ Romans 10:14–15 – “How shall they believe… unless they hear? …How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel…”
Matthew 5:16 – “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works…”

¹⁷ Hebrews 10:24–25 – “Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works…”
Galatians 6:1–2 – “Bear one another’s burdens…”

¹⁸ 1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 – “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely…”

¹⁹ Philippians 2:12–13 – “Work out your own salvation… for it is God who works in you…”

Why I Believe

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Why I Believe

The reason I believe.

I believe because of this indestructible, life-giving love.

It’s curious; I received Love, then I met Him. God loved me first, but I come to understand His love as I do it.

Imagine being healed. That’s amazing. But what is even more miraculous is being made capable of doing it.

I could dismiss being healed as a fluke or by attributing it to another cause, but to be able to do it (love) consistently is evidence and removes any doubt.

Jesus’s words are true,
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
— Acts 20:35

Because He loved me, now I can love with this indestructible, life-giving love, even toward those who are hateful toward me—utterly amazing, because I know how selfish I am.

It’s like a superpower.

I readily admit that I do it imperfectly, but His love is sanctifying. As He loves me, as I love others and I love Him, I’m being sanctified and my love is being perfected.

It’s a love that may start rough but still accomplishes its purpose (life), is being perfected as it continues, and it never ends.

“Love never fails.”
– 1 Corinthians 13:8

Hallelujah.

This is my experience. This is my testimony.

This is one of many reasons for my faith.

I’ve been told that this is my subjective experience and does not point to any objective reality.

I do not deny that it is my subjective experience. We may both know my wife, but my experience of her does not match your experience of her—subjective. We all experience a person subjectively, that doesn’t make them any less objective and real.

I can no more deny the person of Love than I can the love of my life.

God is love.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
— 1 John 4:7-8

Growing in love: learning more and more of His love for me, and loving others more and more—these things working in tandem—has been for me the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

#perfectourlove #love #testimony

P.S. Thank you, Pastor Jones, for being the vessel I received Christ and His love through.

Realizing the Wonderful Work of the Wilderness

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Realizing the Wonderful Work of the Wilderness

Money’s tight. Somehow in my mind that has come to mean I’m a failure. As I pray, looking for a way out, God shows me this is why He led me into the wilderness: sanctification. He allows me to walk in circles to kill off the Egypt in me that would even think in those terms. I will wander until I’m perfectly content being with Him wherever I am.

“Now godliness with contentment is great gain.”
– 1 Timothy 6:6

Then, and only then, am I truly free to have other things without them having me (1 Corinthians 6:12).

Am I growing spiritually? That’s the measure.

I believe I am growing spiritually, and that it has resulted in more life in me and my relationships. That’s success.

I’m not settling though.

I am still moving toward the full consummation of His kingdom, which includes His sufficiency. But the key difference is that my desire is for Him—not His sufficiency. And because I have Him, I’m satisfied wherever I am along the journey and content to wait for however He may provide (Psalm 23).

I am striving to make God all that I want. And I want all of Him in whatever form that comes.

#perfectourlove #DesiringGod #spiritualwarfare #TheRealBattle #desire

The Real Battle Is Our Desire

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - The Real Battle Is Desire

I prayed and asked,

“Jesus lived without sin, but how?”

I believe the divine response was,

“because He desired nothing besides the Father.”

Jesus was fully God and fully man. And, though He was fully man, His singular desire for the Father kept Him in perfect obedience to the Father and in harmony with His divine nature.

We who have received His divine nature can—by His grace: His nature, His power, and His guidance—walk in obedience to the Father as He did.

But why don’t we walk perfectly in obedience? Why do we repeatedly fall into sin?

Meet your opponent: your desire.

“But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
— James 1:14-15

What did Jesus have that allowed Him to walk in perfect obedience that we should also diligently strive for?

A singular, undivided, uncompromising desire for God alone. We should desire nothing besides God.

But, what does that look like?

Imagine a circle representing the Kingdom of God, and imagine within that circle another circle representing the life of Jesus Christ. Now include another intersecting circle representing the life of Peter.

When Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ this is represented by the part of Peter’s circle that intersects with the Kingdom of God. But when he attempts to convince Jesus not to die, this represents the part of Peter’s circle that is outside the Kingdom of God.

All the while, all of Jesus is within the Kingdom, including how He must die, and He rebukes Peter for tempting Him to go outside the circle of God’s Kingdom (His will), which is sin.

One of the biggest takeaways should be even though Peter was coming from an undoubtedly genuine place of care and kindness for someone he loved, it was ultimately evil because Peter’s desire was misplaced, and if followed, would have damned us all—just like the original Adam.

This is what God is dealing with me on. He has brought me to a point in my walk where my goal is to desire nothing besides God.

Lord, make me a man after Your own heart!

Does this mean I don’t love my family, my brothers and sisters in Christ, or you?

Remember the earlier Scripture from James 1:14-15? Read the very next verses:

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
— James 1:16-17

When God is our sole desire, we love what is in and we love from within God.

“If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”
— 1 John 4:20-21

That’s loving what’s in God.

“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, “that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
— Matthew 5:44-45

And, that’s loving from within God.

The goal is union rather than intersection—for God to be our whole desire, with nothing outside.

This is a picture of perfection, and the means of acquiring it: the heart God gives—Christ’s heart—that desires God alone.

The real battle is desire, and the stakes couldn’t be higher—our endless, unhindered enjoyment of God starting right now.

#perfectourlove #spiritualwarfare #TheRealBattle #desire

Knowing The Bible Is Not Knowing God

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Knowing The Bible Is Not Knowing God

Communication is not a relationship but a vital part of building a relationship. A relationship is established when communication with a person and experience with that person converge.

The Bible is God’s communication to us. The Bible is vital but it is not a relationship with God. It is tragic to know the Bible inside and out but not know God at all—and this is sadly the case for many so-called Christians.

Two keys to relationship are awareness and attraction—to know a Person exists and the desire to know more about them (Hebrews 11:6).

The Bible is essential for knowing God but it is not a relationship with God. Relationship requires another key: experience.

It is in our experiences with God that we develop a relationship with Him.

Have you been with God? Is He with you now? What have you experienced with Him? What is He like? Who have you learned Him to be? How does His presence change how you live?

This is the focus of a Christian, not debating texts, straining gnats and swallowing camels, but how is my Communion with Him and His family being perfected?

Heed Jesus’ warning to the Pharisees,

“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.”
— John 5:39

Don’t settle for the picture of Scripture when you can have the Person.

You can have a relationship with God. Moreover, it’s everything—without it you have nothing.

“He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
— 1 John 5:12

Take note that it’s not written, “He has ‘His words’ or ‘His works’ has life.” But what does it say? It says, “He who has HIM has life.”

There’s coming a day when a lot of people with seminary degrees, knowledge of the Hebrew and Greek, people who did “good” works will be rejected and condemned to Hell because they didn’t have Him.

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”
— Matthew 7:21-23

Does He know you?

Do you have a relationship with God?

Ask, seek, knock.

He wants to make Himself known to you (Luke 11:13).

Knowing the Person makes the picture more precious.

#Bible #KnowGod #perfectourlove

Heartstrings

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Heartstrings

What am I supposed to be doing right now?

As a member of the body?

Where is the Head?

Jesus.

He is about the Father’s business, making God known through love.

He is being obedient to God’s government and presenting a space where God’s kingdom is experienced that they may know God.

“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
— John 10:10

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
— John 17:3

In that greenhouse the Word is both communicated and experienced, and is where faith is born when it is received by the cultivation of the Holy Spirit.

Making God known through love that the whole world may be reconciled to Communion with God through Christ is the Father’s business.

It is something that has to be obeyed because I love. Which comes first, obedience or love, I do not know. Maybe they come together, they’re part of the same thing, integral to one another.

What I do know, is sometimes I will not want to, especially initially but the more I obey, the more I love.

“For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”
— John 6:38

The battle is one of desire—following my heart or obeying the heart He gave me—it’s about making God the only thing that I want.

“I don’t want to” means my desire is misplaced. I am mindful of the things of men and not the things of God (Matthew 16:23). I overcome through obedience.

Loving obedience is THE weapon for an adulterous heart (James 4:4-7)—love and obedience that is only possible through His nature and His power granted by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

So in obedience, I take a cue from the Proverbs 31 Woman. I purpose to do all in my power at all times to provide for my Lord’s house, and to perform, promote and support His enterprise—the Father’s business.

This is what I’m doing right now.

#love #perfectourlove

Making A Divided Heart Whole

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Making A Divided Heart Whole

My heart’s divided.

My head is all over the place.

This problem. That problem. I’m pulled in a thousand different directions.

It’s hard to concentrate. I constantly jump from one thing to the other.

It’s difficult to stay on task because attacks are coming in from every side and each one feels like an existential threat, all the while I’m looking for THE problem to solve that will solve many, if not all, of the rest.

What’s the thing, if achieved, that will secure me, that will remove the terror of death and give me peace?

Sudden ruin is the anxiety of my heart.

To defeat a demon, you must make it take shape by uncovering its name.

What, exactly, am I afraid of?

I’m afraid of:

Someone dear to me languishing and dying in poverty and my having done nothing to improve their situation.

Losing my job.

Losing my clients.

Not having enough money to pay for our house, our cars, our bills, our streaming services, our debt, to keep the lights on and to have enough left over to enjoy any semblance of life such as eating out and taking an occasional trip for a change of scenery.

The discontent of others.

The disapproval of others.

Being unworthy of respect because I failed to achieve financial success.

Being alone.

I cast the demon out by bringing it into captivity of Christ.

“But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.”
— Matthew 12:28-29

I accept Christ as King who is stronger than my enemy.

“[…] on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
— Matthew 16:18

I then die to this world to be released from being acted upon as its subject and am raised up to sit with Christ who reigns in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6) and acts upon it—the government of Hell shall not prevail against the government of Heaven.

I accept the loss of all the things of this world and no longer work for them.

You can’t scare a dead man with death.

“Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ”
— Philippians 3:8

And I focus on the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

I focus exclusively on gaining His character to be a vessel of His work—the blessed Oneness of all things in the Communion of God through Christ. And I trust Him for the rest.

“And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.”
— Luke 12:29-31

The irony is, while I’ve been anxious, He’s been doing this all along. Imagine the joy and peace I could have enjoyed if I had trusted Him all this time instead of worrying and fretting?

I confess this sin and repent. Additionally, I die to the world and accept whatever loss comes with that. If in the course of following Christ it dies, it dies. I will not allow it to make me turn back.

“Remember Lot’s wife.”
— Luke 17:32

I will work with a heart committed to fostering Communion and bringing everything in my sphere onto the mat—into the order of God’s government so that they may experience His wonderful kingdom.

So, however small my sphere starts, the question is how does my love for God and what have I learned of Christ about how to govern inform how I use what’s in my hand at this moment to provide for my sphere and bring it into His kingdom order for the purposes of glorifying His wonderful name and drawing all men unto Him in Communion?

“He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?

No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
— Luke 16:10-13

I want the true riches.

Practically, the way I provide for my sphere may look the same as any one else earning a living, but the reason and my reaction to the results will be drastically different, leading to drastically different outcomes—even materially, but especially spiritually.

The reason.

This is how I focus—remembering the Treasure I seek: God alone.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.”
— Matthew 5:8

This is how a divided heart is made whole.

#anxiety #love #perfectourlove #GoodWorks

Stay On The Mat

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Stay On The Mat

Love (noun – what it is): God’s government.

Love (verb – how it works): Obedience to God’s government that presents a space where the recipient of love experiences God’s kingdom.

I refer to that “space” as “the mat” and my goal is to meet people there.

The mat is love.

While these are not exhaustive lists (I hope to expound on this later), what is on that mat is joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

And what is NOT on the mat is bitterness, evil speaking, malice (Ephesians 4:31), selfishness, envy, unforgiveness, sexual immorality, (Romans 1:29-31) and things that may surprise you like truth that is not spoken in love.

This is deeply helpful to me. It helps me, at any moment, to orient myself spiritually and answer God’s first question to man, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9)

Love is obedience to God’s government that presents a space where the recipient of love experiences God’s kingdom.

My goal is “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” To make it real by presenting a space where others can experience it—the mat of love.

My goal is to stay on the mat.

#perfectourlove #heartwords #love

Why Get Up?

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Why Get Up?

It’s a struggle to get out of bed many mornings, to push past the darkness.

So, why do it?

Hope.

I have good reason to expect the day when the darkness will cease because the Son has come.

So, with eager expectation I move; walking by faith that allows me to maintain the fight even though my feelings suggest that I’m failing.

I’m fueled by the pleasure of seeing God’s kingdom order come to everything—both the process and the product—to this day and the day it will be fully consummated.

I do it because I believe the love He has for us (1 John 4:16), because I love Him, and I can’t wait for everyone to experience that when He’s King of all.

So, I make Him king of everything I can today.

“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
— 1 Corinthians 13:13

#thriveday #goodworks #perfectourlove

The Call To Communion

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - The Call To Communion

This revelation is one of the greatest and most recent watershed moments of my life:

Our entire mission and purpose in this life is drawing others into deeper communion with Christ by the lifting up of Christ through our deepening communion with Christ.

Communion is where we began.

Communion is where we will end.

Communion is what always has been.

This insight was the unexpected outcome of going through a book with our marriage ministry group written by our mentors,

“Intimates, Roommates, or Enemy Combatants: 7 Essential Paths To Marital Greatness” by Pearson and Pepper Liddell.

It came to me during the study of the second chapter called Focus 2: 1+1=1, where they pose the question “Why marry?”

Their Foundational Scripture for this focus was Genesis 2:24, “Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

But what really struck me was the verse that followed and that they later cite in this chapter of the study, Genesis 2:25, “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”

There was a term that the author used repeatedly as though they were really trying to hammer it home: “transparency”.

Here are couple of relevant examples:

“And it is not just they did not have clothes, but this nakedness is also apparent in the transparency of their relationship in all aspects of their lives. They kept nothing hidden from each other. This is God’s ideal!” ~Page 40

On the same page, they talk about the harmful games during conflict that couples play, such as “The Quiet Game”, “Darts” and “Tug-of-War”. They state, “The truth, however, is that all these games are sin because they lack transparency.”

These and statements like these impressed a phrase from Genesis 2:25 heavier and heavier upon my heart, “They were naked and not ashamed.”

This evoked in me a sense from Isaiah of the perfect and ultimate safety that will be established when the Lord’s kingdom is fully consummated in the world. For example, Isaiah 11:9 “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

“Naked and not ashamed” is such a stark contrast to our current state, to my current state.

I am clothed, veiled, and very much afraid.

We are all hiding behind some fig leaf of our own making.

It is the effect and cause of sin, the plight of the human condition.

So, the statement “naked and not ashamed” led me to ask God, “How were they naked and not ashamed?”

The Holy Spirit through our mentors and the book that they wrote, had already primed my heart for the answer: transparency.

And that led to yet another question. I understand conceptually what transparency is, but to yield such a remarkable phenomenon as “naked and not ashamed,” the transparency spoken of here must be special, right? What does this transparency look like?

The Godhead.

In God, there is only light.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
— James 1:17

The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit see perfectly, more than that, they share a perfect communion.

They are One, in perfect sync and harmony around a singular purpose: magnifying God’s glory, the limitless expansion of good.

Jesus spoke of Himself and the Father,

“the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” — John 5:19

And of Him, the Father and the Holy Spirit He said,

“when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said He will take of Mine and declare it to you.” — John 16:13-15

This is an image of perfect agreement and communion.

This brought to rememberance a previous lesson from the Lord that everything God gives us teaches us something about Him. This law is even how we can discern whether something is from Him. And, God gives us marriage.

The Godhead says with one voice, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion…” — Genesis 1:26

Then, in Genesis 2:18, God gives marriage, “And the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

God gives us marriage to do what He already declared, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…”

To reflect the trinitarian nature of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, there is now marriage: God, the Husband and the Wife.

Like the Trinity, members of marriage do not just exist aimlessly.

God said, “I will make him a helper…” (Genesis 2:18)

They work as one, in perfect sync and harmony around a singular purpose: magnifying God’s glory, the limitless expansion of good.

Magnifying God’s glory is the “what”, but “how?”

This was the watershed moment.

What we see in the Godhead is perfect communion.

This definition of communion was impressed upon me,

“Communion is the pursuit of oneness, where willing participants are bound by a common unifier. They intentionally share themselves and what promotes their union, while also seeking to remove what may hinder it, including obstructions within themselves.”

Then it was shown to me that in everything God does, communion is at play. Once we see it, it cannot be unseen.

In the Genesis, God says, “Let us”—communion.

God establishes marriage—communion.

The Passover meal—communion.

The Lord’s Supper—communion.

The early Church Fellowship (Acts 2:46)—communion.

The Marriage Supper of the Lamb—communion.

We are created in the image of God to reflect Him. That’s the what.

We do that together through communion. That’s the how.

So, how were Adam and Eve “naked and not ashamed”? They had communion with God. They dwelled with “the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

Earlier I cited a passage from Isaiah about a perfect and ultimate safety, Isaiah 11:9 that says “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain…”

The “transparency” that secures our safety was not by our seeing into each other, but seeing God. Isaiah 11:9 concludes, “For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

The authors of this marriage ministry book, posed a question, “Why marry?”

The answer is communion because it is a reflection of God’s character.

The purpose of my marriage is to provide an earthly representation of a heavenly reality, like Jesus, to do what we see God do and do nothing of ourselves, to make the Father known that He may be glorified.

It’s the reason to do anything.

Communion also gives us some insight into why God does what He does, what is permissible or is not permissible in the life of a believer, and what is pleasing to God or not is because of its effect on communion.

Anything that hinders communion is sin.

Adam and Eve were able to be naked and not ashamed because God established an order. As finite beings, like Jesus, we were to rely on an infinite God to navigate the challenges of our finitude. The order was for us to look to God who understands all, and then to each other in the illumination of His counsel. In His order there are no misunderstanding, allowing us to work in perfect harmony. That’s communion.

Sin disrupted that communion, throwing us into darkness (darkness being an allegory for disorder and misunderstanding). Rather than looking to God first, we now look to each other with incomplete and often incorrect information, thus misunderstanding and thus sin.

We’re all suffering being out of communion with God.

But, God.

We are brought into fellowship with God through communion with Jesus Christ.

Everything that separates us from God has been removed through His life, death and resurrection, which becomes ours through communion.

Communion is more than eating bread and drinking wine as a symbolic association with Christ. It’s much more.

Communion is the pursuit of oneness, where willing participants are bound by a common unifier. They intentionally share themselves and what promotes their union, while also seeking to remove what may hinder it, including obstructions within themselves.

Communion is the pursuit of oneness with God through Christ. Jesus is our common unifier. He is The Way to God, through whom we can relate to God, then to each other and all of creation. This is what makes for our peace.

Jesus alone sees the Father. He came to make Him known to us. We see the Father because we see Jesus, through whom we receive the Father for ourselves. Other’s see Jesus because they see us (beginning with the patriarchs, prophets and the apostles), through whom He is preached and they come into fellowship with Him to receive the Father for themselves. All of this facilitated by Holy Spirit, all for the purposes of magnifying God’s glory, the limitless expansion of good.

Oneness to this end.

We look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, as our example. We give ourselves as a living sacrifice toward promoting this oneness, giving all that we have, including our material substance. This is why the early church rightly came to the conclusion that “neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.” (Act 4:32)

Never again will we allow Satan to obstruct a right view of God and each other. So, we also make war against everything that hinders our expressing the oneness that already is, especially the obstruction within ourselves; lies, pride, selfishness, idolatries.

This is communion, or at least what I understand so far.

Our entire mission and purpose in this life is drawing others into deeper communion with Christ by the lifting up of Christ through our deepening communion with Christ.

For it is written,

“And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”
– John 12:32

Communion is where we began.

Communion is where we will end.

Communion is what always has been.

This is a call to communion.

Will you come?

Those who answer can then be naked and not ashamed, not only in heaven but now,

“For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
— Romans 10:11

Come.

*Special thanks to our mentors Pearson and Pepper Liddell for allowing the Holy Spirit to use you and for being willing participants, who intentionally share themselves, to draw me into communion with Christ as they draw nearer in communion with Christ.

I love you.