God is entitled to our praise and honor; man requires humility. Colossians 2:8 says in essence, make sure that you aren’t taken away by tradition, something that has been passed down as a truth or deceived by the culture of the world rather than what Christ says in His word.
I was about to learn the difference between the world’s values and God’s kingdom and it wasn’t what I expected. Many patriarchs of the Bible struggled with this same dilemma. Abram was told in Genesis 12:1 to leave his country, father’s house, and people and go to a land the Lord would show him. God wanted to show him a different way to live: by faith and He promised to bless him. This idea could not have been what Abram expected. He was 75 years old, settled and wealthy with friends and family. The Chaldeans were merchants. Nevertheless he went.
Joseph was the favored son of Jacob, called and chosen by God. When he told his dreams, his brothers became jealous, threw him into a pit, sold him to Egyptian traders, and he was hauled off to Egypt. There he was thrown into prison on a false charge, and he continued to minister despite his circumstances, interpreting the baker, and cup-bearer’s dreams, and becoming a leader right where he was. Years passed and a new Pharoah came into reign who knew nothing about Joseph. He had a dream and needed someone to interpret it. The baker finally remembered Joseph had interpreted his dream correctly and told the Pharoah. The Pharoah had him cleaned up, brought to him, and Joseph interpreted his dream. As a result, Pharoah made him second in charge over all of Egypt and he was able to save his family in times of famine. This was not an expected “training” for a favored son. God’s kingdom is not logical but followed by faith.
The last example of the unexpected was when Jesus, who had just been crucified, rose from his tomb and began walking to Emmaus Road where he found two men talking. They didn’t recognize him and were telling him the events that had just happened. They had so hoped this Jesus was the Messiah and had come to rescue them like a powerful king or warrior. Instead, he came to Jerusalem on a humble donkey and was crucified and even thought they had heard that the tomb was empty, they were trying to deal with their failed expectations. Not until they invited him to dinner that night and broke bread were their eyes opened by this familiar act.
God was breaking us of self-reliance, selfish ambition, pride, and our own expectations. I married a successful man in 1981. I had a savings and stocks myself and we were looking for the good life and upward mobility as our peers were. We were acquiring things like a beautiful home and furnishings, a porsche and a mercedes. These things seemed to anesthetize our pain and help us escape our issues for awhile. At the same time, God began giving us dreams. My husband dreamed he was washing his porsche from a wheelchair. I dreamed we needed a new foundation as wood, hay, and stubble, trash and debris was under our beds. We were wealthy but handicapped and needed a clean foundation.
We began going to a Bible study and growing spiritually. Our emphasis was changing from financial to spiritual. Our Bible study became a church and we welcomed the pastors from Canada. They had so many exciting stories about God’s spirit being still alive today with healings, deliverance, and hearing God’s voice. We went to church every time the doors were opened. After four years, we received some prophetic words about a call to go to Kansas City, the mother church of the one we were attending. Truthfully, I thought to myself: we are young and successful and now we will have a place of honor on the church staff, a spiritual guru…:) Little did I know that I was adhering to the same standard as the world’s which were promotion and gain expressed in money, possessions, and public recognition.
God wanted to show us a new way of living by moving to Kansas City. I know when God took the Israelites out to the wilderness in Deuteronomy 8, He was going to speak tenderly to them but also humble them and test them to see what was in their hearts so in the end it might go well with them. He seemed to have this in mind for us also.
It was a bit of a culture shock in Kansas. These were ordinary folks, not professionals. They seemed to have sincere hearts, didn’t mind if they wore jogging suits all week, home schooled their kids and lived in duplexes. They were training a unique generation that would recognize the difference between God’s kingdom and the world and not be so tempted by its lusts. When this group wanted a night of fellowship, they would all bring a dish and have one older child watch all the kids right there with them. They planned camping trips and were very conscientious parents. In contrast, a Texas night out would be: stash the kids with a sitter and go treat yourself to a dressed up nice dinner.
The season in KC proved to be a spiritual graveyard of sorts. We didn’t recognize Jesus on the Emmaus Road. We didn’t really know the ministry would entail dying to self, living to Christ. This WAS the lesson we were to learn from these people, more of Him, less of us. Part II next
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