Boasting and Ministry

I want to take more time to visit this issue of boasting. I am taking a little time to ponder each of these surrounding verses here in Romans 15 to find descriptions and associations that help me understand better what a true minister looks like and what legitimate boasting will sound like.

• Counterfeit boasting goes along with confused ideas of what it means to be a minister. Only true ministry can result in true boasting.

• A real minister is one who's focus is entirely on drawing attention to God and how good He is.

• Hope and joy and peace will be fruits produced as he reveals the truth about God.

• He will not encourage dependence on himself by those he is teaching but will affirm the talents of those he is encouraging to begin sharing truth about God as he is doing.

• He will have true boldness which overcomes fear and inhibitions because of the inner passion of God burning within his own heart to expose and tear down the lies about God that keep people from trusting Him.

• Counterfeit boldness uses shame to expose people.

  True boldness is all about undoing the lies and reconciling people's hearts to the heart of God.

• An authentic minister will convey truths about God to others with grace.

• A real minister will realize the importance of his own life being filled with God's grace.

• A true minister will act as a priest, interceding on God's behalf to people and taking onto his heart their sins and problems to pass on to God without condemnation. He takes their ignorance and lack of concern for their own souls before God and uses his own authority “in Christ” through intercessory prayer to unleash God's power to interfere with Satan's work of deception in their lives. He gives permission for God to do things in their circumstances and hearts that would not otherwise be possible.

• A true minister understands that he is not building up anything for himself but is working to attract others to fully devote their hearts and minds to God, the true Lover who only can satisfy their deepest cravings. This is the real meaning of sanctification.

• A minister of Christ Jesus will be a loyal friend of the Bridegroom.

• A real minister will abide in Christ, will live his life “in Christ” and will have Jesus living in him.

• Living from a position of being “in Christ” a minister will discover opportunities for legitimate boasting which is always and only focused on bragging about the accomplishments of God. He will do this for the purpose of attracting others to engage in the same relationship with God, to become loyal and active friends of the Bridegroom.

• But let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things," declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 9:24)

• A true, humble minister who represents Jesus will never indulge in drawing attention to his own accomplishments because he knows that everything he does is only by the motivation and empowerment of Christ.

• The results of a true minister will be seen in the spontaneous obedience in the lives of those affected by the power of Jesus working through that minister. It will not be a self-generated obedience or a fear-based obedience trying to appease the demands of rules or a threatening deity.

• This obedience will be far deeper than just saying the right words or subscribing to a list of approved doctrines. It will be an obedience that emanates from the whole life in the things people say and feel to how they act and how they treat others. It will not be a forced obedience but will spring from a heart melting under the influence of fresh revelations of God's goodness, kindness, compassion, justice, unconditional love and forgiveness. It will be an obedience that is simply reflective of the true nature of God Himself.

• When a person really abides in Christ and God is accomplishing His work through that person, power will be seen as a result and signs and wonders will become evident. The Holy Spirit will be more free to work and convict and draw all to the revelation of the truth about God as revealed in Jesus.

• True boasting never revolves around focusing attention on the signs and wonders but on the character of the God who uses signs and wonders to draw the affections of people toward Him.

• A true minister will have a servant-spirit like Jesus.

• The people who are drawn to God through the work of God through a true minister will become unified more and more as they draw closer to the heart of God themselves.

• A real priest-like minister will present the gospel of God. That means he will expose the good news about God. The results will always be that people must decide for themselves whether to believe and embrace that life-transforming reality or to reject it and further harden their hearts.

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To Minister Boldly

But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God, to be a minister of Christ Jesus.... (Romans 15:15-16)

For many others this may not raise anything out of the ordinary. But for me putting these words together into the same sentence raises memories that have potential tension. For most of the people that were religiously bold in my background were not usually the same ones who were known for the grace in their lives. There are certainly many people that like to brag about their boldness in standing up for God and for the truth, but the effects on people's hearts that results from their words and actions are not reflective of the grace that I see in the life of Jesus.

It certainly would make sense that if a person were to claim that they were a minister of Jesus Christ then they should reflect much of the same spirit that surrounded Jesus in His relationships with others while living here among us. And to be able to treat people with the kindness, patience and compassion that Jesus had on a daily basis requires that a person be filled with God's grace as Jesus was. It would be impossible to have that kind of endurance and unconditional love without supernatural grace filling the life and soul and spirit of any individual.

But how does boldness fit into this picture? Even having to ask the question makes me suspect that much of the boldness that I have encountered in the past is likely of the counterfeit version rather than what Paul must have been referring to here. So what I would like to know and even have much more of myself is the right kind of boldness that is not a counterfeit and that is full of grace given to me from God. If God wants me to be a minister of His grace (I am not talking about minister in the sense of religion commonly thought of with that word) I rather suspect that I will need a great deal more boldness than I currently have to overcome my timidity. And it will not be a boldness that will be offensive to sensitive hearts and damaged souls but will be a boldness to take the initiative to speak out in protection of others, to approach people with compassion when it is not comfortable, to not be afraid or intimidated by what others may think of me.

I read a blog post from a Christian lady a couple days ago that brought me under severe conviction about this very thing. She wrote about some amazing things that her little daughter has done through recent years in her childlike faith and her desire to introduce other people to Jesus. I was becoming ashamed of my own fear and inhibitions as I read about this but it intensified exponentially when she finished the post by sharing that in the last few months her daughter has quit doing those things because of the influence and example of her own parent's inhibitions. I highly recommend reading this story for yourselves to get the full impact of it.

I think this story is a classic example of the true kind of boldness that is needed by all true Christians who want to be real and live life in the way Jesus wants us to enjoy it. But this can only happen within a fully resting relationship with Jesus and a connection with His heart that requires the trusting spirit of a little child. Jesus stated this quite clearly Himself when He told His disciples that unless they became like little children they could not enter into the kingdom of heaven. (see Matt. 18:2)

I want Jesus to mature me into the kind of faith seen in this little girl's amazing example. I am ashamed of having so many fears and inhibitions that prohibit me from being kind or sharing sympathy with hurting people just because I am afraid of what other people might assume about me. I want to come to the place where the only thing important in my life is God's opinion about me and His value for me. I want to live with my reputation resting totally in His hands without trying to manage it myself. But I am not there yet. I even feel resistant to praying with others. God still has a great deal of work to do in my heart. But He is doing it and I choose to cooperate with His ministry to me. For as I receive His ministry to my own heart I will also learn how to more effectively minister to other people's hearts.

I want enjoy the freedom to boldly remind others of God's grace, His goodness, His passionate love for them and His unconditional forgiveness despite what religion has claimed. I want to do it with much more than just typed words on a screen – I want to have my whole being involved in this ministry. I want my facial expressions, my tone of voice, my body language and even my words to be reflective of the incredible grace that is the real qualification for any true minister of Christ Jesus. This is my prayer.

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Legitimate Boasting

Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God. For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me.... (Romans 15:17-18)

Trying to think about boasting is almost a difficult assignment the more I think about it. I suppose some might say that this is because I think I don't have this problem and then accuse me of being a hypocrite. I don't know if that is true or not. But since I have spent very little time in my whole life actually studying the subject of boasting, it is not yet something that is rich with meaning and insights for me.

But the more I look at these verses the more curious I am becoming about this strange creature called boasting. I would like to understand better what is going on in the mind that produces this activity and why people come to engage in it. What does it do for a person? What are the underlying reasons that would lead a person to boast?

Just like every other good thing or activity that God designed for us to enjoy and cause our heart to thrive, Satan always has a counterfeit that is very similar but deceptive in nature. That is just the way life is under the influence of sin in this world. But what comes as a surprise to me is that there is something in God's plan for me that has been counterfeited by Satan in the activity of boasting that we commonly find disgusting in others. Most people do not enjoy hearing someone else produce a litany of their personal accomplishments to promote themselves as better than those around them. But what is the genuine thing of which this is a counterfeit?

I'm not sure of the answers to all of this yet. But that is why I am starting to write about it for I often find that as I write and ponder and explore the various dimensions of an idea that more and more of it begins to become clear to me in the process. I ask the Holy Spirit to guide me in this process of exploration and trust Him to steer me in the right direction and to discover important truths that will be heart-changing and transformative for my own life.

Counterfeit boasting, the kind with which we are most familiar, seems to always be associated very closely with pride. I cannot think of a single instance where the two would not be found together. Pride itself is an extremely elusive and slippery thing that tends to infiltrate every part of our thinking. There are jokes going around that in fact actually contain serious truth, about people who are proud of their humility. This is funny because it is an oxymoron. But humility itself is something that is very little understood by most people and so it is no surprise that pride can affect so much of our thinking.

But since humility is such an extremely important character trait in the life of heaven, and humility is the opposite of pride in the heart, how does that affect this issue of boasting? Is there such a thing as boasting from a true position of humility? Or does that too feed into the humor of the “pride in humility” jokes? I don't think so, though that could possibly be easy to do. Somehow I believe that there really is a true and legitimate activity that is little understood that happens to have the same name as its counterfeit in this instance. That, of course, makes it even more difficult to discuss since there is so much false baggage associated with the word to start with.

But what I see in this verse gives me some very important clues about the nature and attitude from which true boasting can safely be exercised, maybe even encouraged. Paul says that the position from which he is boasting is in Christ Jesus. That alerts me to a number of other very important studies I have enjoyed about what it means to be in Christ which really goes to the core of what it means to be a genuine Christian. This too is a little understood concept so it is no wonder that legitimate boasting is likewise nearly obscure and is not talked about much among professed Christians. Because most boasting is along the line of the counterfeit version it becomes difficult to find examples to examine of the true kind of boasting of which Paul is speaking here.

As I listened to a sermon recently I heard another text from right here in Romans that talks about boasting.

But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the rich root of the olive tree, do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember that it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you. (Romans 11:17-18 NRSV)

When this verse says if you do boast, I am not sure that it is saying it in a negative way. Since Paul himself at times openly boasted, howbeit very carefully and always from his perspective of being in Christ, then it would only follow that he would not condemn others who might follow his example. But a couple verses later he gives a caveat that must be included.

That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand only through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe. (Romans 11:20 NRSV)

As I look at more of these verses in reference to boasting I am starting to see a pattern developing here. There are important clues that tell me what good boasting could look like. Let me pull some of them together that I have seen so far.

• Good boasting can happen when I am living in a proper relationship with Jesus, what the Bible calls in Him.

• Good boasting will be about things pertaining to God.

• Healthy boasting can be about what Christ has accomplished through me.

• Correct boasting will not be about me being better than others who are connected to Jesus.

• Healthy boasting will always have the understanding, will be rooted in the fact that Jesus is my sole source of everything good that I have to boast about.

• Good boasting will not lead me into pride.

• Godly boasting will include a sense of awe for God and His amazing ability to use me in His work to help and bless others.

These are all things taken just from the verses that I have looked at so far here. Now I am starting to think I want to take some time to explore other places that refer to boasting to see what else I might find. I suspect maybe God is trying to reveal something to me, something that may be more important than what I currently realize.

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The Boasting Priest

Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God. (Romans 15:17)

but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things," declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 9:24)

As I think back on the history of Paul in his earlier years among the proud Pharisees and priests, I find it interesting that he occasionally talks in his letters about this issue of boasting. But each time he does so it is always in reference to his relationship with Jesus. And usually the things he chooses to boast about are the exact opposite of what were likely the subjects of boasting before his conversion.

Paul came from a background of high educational achievements, great skill in persuasive abilities and second to none in his ability to maneuver himself around politically. He had all the inside connections to accomplish his goals and used them efficiently to exploit Christians who, in his eyes were the enemies of the nation. He was the champion of his people, fiercely loyal, patriotic and orthodox to the extreme when it came to religion. He was a man insisting on law and order and was more zealous than anyone else in employing every means possible to eliminate all who might pose a threat to the purity and high standards of the Jewish religion and nation.

He followed the path of duty and patriotism far beyond what other men had done who were compromised by corruption and greed. He was educated as a student of the best teachers of the time and took very seriously everything they taught him. He was a student that made his teachers proud and was conscientious in his pursuit of obedience to God. He was so careful to follow all the rules and teachings of the Jews based on the laws given to Moses by God that he felt very confident that he must be on God's side.

But what he overlooked and even repressed repeatedly was the inner voice of his heart that was sending quite different messages to his mind and conscience. Since these were in conflict with everything that he had been taught and firmly believed must be done in order to be saved, he continued to fight off that gentle voice of conviction that refused to leave him alone.

What particularly disturbed him deep inside was the unexpected expressions of peace and even joy on the faces of those that he used vicious force against in his attempts to bring them into conformity to the religion of their culture. They would even pray for him and treat him with politeness while he was arranging their demise. It seemed that no matter how much intimidation and fear he tried to induce in people's hearts by his threats and increasingly violent assaults on this growing band of dissenters and “agitators”, they only seemed to proliferate and spread in popularity. This was very baffling to him since it went contrary to everything he believed about how to bring about unity in the name of God.

The methods he used trying to enforce conformity to the traditions and customs of religion were well established from centuries of practice. Religion was considered by most to be the careful exercise of all the routines and external practices handed down from Moses and the elders throughout the history of their “church”. Everything that was taught was carefully screened through the system of leadership that governed their religion and the greatest goal of the leaders was to bring about unity through perfect obedience to all of God's requirements. What could possibly be wrong with such a noble desire?

Saul, which was his name before he became a Christian, was all too familiar with boasting. Even his name harked back to the very first king of Israel who also was from the tribe of Benjamin, just like he was. Saul was proud of his roots, proud of his tribe even though it was one of the smallest in Israel, and proud of his religious devotion to “the truth”. And he was not alone in his pride. In the halls of power and influence in which he circulated there was plenty of pride and boasting going on among the priests, the Pharisees, the Sadducees and scribes of the law.

Everyone believed that national pride was not only the right thing to have but was extremely important given the oppression and threats to their national identity. The Jews were suffering under the ruthless domination of the Romans, and now a new threat had emerged to undermine and weaken their pursuit of national unity and religious culture. A group of people from within his own countrymen were advocating opposite values than what was generally accepted and were drawing away the hearts and minds of thousands of Jews weakening the influence of the leaders in power and in their minds threatening the stability of Israel's very existence.

But after years of intense pursuit of patriotic fervor and protracted campaigns to achieve national unity through coercion, Paul was finally arrested himself by a confrontation with the real truth that had been keeping his inner heart in turmoil for much of his life. He had tried unsuccessfully to ignore this growing pain by increasing his religious fervor and keeping himself ever more busy in religious activities. But at the most unexpected times and places he would be repeatedly confronted with feelings and compelling concepts that contradicted what he had always insisted had to be the truth. He had tried to ignore these feelings as simply suggestions of the evil one, but finally he came face to face with the overwhelming power of gentleness and love that he could no longer hide from.

When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.' (Acts 26:14 NRSV)

Up to this point he had trusted in the power of pride and boasting to enhance his public image. It was the way of all the world and everything else was considered weakness and timidity. Meekness was scorned as weakness and humility was not even worth talking about. What they believed their nation needed was more boldness and assertiveness and even raw power to overcome their enemies and become the world's rulers as they believed their prophets had promised. They were desperate for God to finally appear in full force to help them conquer their enemies, publicly humiliating everyone who stood against their religion and forever establishing their teachings as the rule of law for all the world.

But after coming face to face with the radical nature of real heart religion through the presence of Jesus on the road to Damascus, Saul, now turned Paul, had to rethink everything he had ever been taught, everything he had ever read in the Scriptures and every assumption that he had cherished about reality. All of his world was now in question and everything he had always thought was of great importance now seemed to be turned on its head. In the face of this overwhelming reversal of what he perceived as reality he had to take significant time to be retooled in the school of Christ. So he spent three years in the desert alone with God to give his heart time to grow and mature and recover from all the years of abuse and suppression and unlearn many of the things he was taught during years of formal education.

The place this likely happened was actually the same place where Moses had spent significant time and where Elijah had gone to meet with God and get his head straightened out. It was in the desert of Saudi Arabia where Mount Sinai sits, where repeatedly God has met with humans to reveal the real truths about Himself. As Paul meditated on the completely new view of reality suddenly opened up to his mind through the eyes of his changed heart, he took on a new spirit, a new attitude, a whole new nature. He learned what it means to abide in Christ.

One of the things that Paul came to realize was his need to avoid at all costs his reliance on boasting to prop up his public image. He was now learning how to be real instead of managing a carefully manicured public facade and this was a whole new experience for him. Learning to live real and from the heart is a terrifying prospect for a person who has spent their whole life in image management. But it is a most important step to take if one wants to truly experience the daily presence of God in their lives. So Paul became very careful to leave off all of his old dependence on boasting and drawing attention to his personal achievements to enhance what people might think about him. What became important now was only what God thought about him and to fix his attention on the amazing realities of the almost unbelievable truths about God's goodness and grace and compassion.

As Paul's heart and mind became filled with awareness of the goodness of God, he also became filled with a completely new motivation that was even stronger than the nationalistic pride and religious fervor that had marked his previous years. He now began to feel the passion that burns in God's heart, a passion that causes a fire in the bones of those who draw close to Him, a desire to cooperate with God's passion to draw confused, deceived sinners back into a saving relationship with heaven. The more Paul's heart became reflective of heaven's spirit, the more he desired to share the real truth about God with everyone he met. And boasting had no place in this new life of passion for God.

But as seen in this passage from Jeremiah, God says that there is one place where true boasting is actually beneficial. And occasionally Paul indulged himself in this kind of boasting. For legitimate boasting involves sharing with others the amazing truths about God's goodness, His lovingkindness, His justice and His righteousness. True religion always points the hearts of people to the heart of the Father in who's image they have been created. And true boasting may at times be seen in one who is filled with devotion, sharing the real truth about God with a world that is swimming in lies about Him.

So even though Paul did not qualify as an earthly priest because he was not born a Levite, he found himself acting as a true priest in the family of Jesus sharing the true good news about God and interceding on God's behalf for the reconciliation of His children with the heart of the Father. This is the true work of a real priest, to bring together the heart of God with the hearts of His children. And this happens to also be the work of Elijah according to the prophecy in Malachi. This is what we will once again begin to see happen with power in these last days.

"Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. "He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse." (Malachi 4:5-6)

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Paul as Priest

...to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:16)

This is the beginning of a whole section here in Romans 15 where Paul relates some of his own reasons and background for the work he is doing. As I read this verse a few questions came to my mind.

What does it mean to minister as a priest?

What is involved in his offering of the Gentiles?

Why is it important that this offering become acceptable?

What is meant by this offering being sanctified?

I'm not sure I have enough knowledge or education to fully answer the first question. However, I once heard a definition of the work of a priest that left a deep impression on me that I believe may give some important insight.

A priest is a person who's assignment is to convey the truths of God to other people. In addition, it is also his responsibility to take upon himself the burdens, problems and sins of the people that he ministers to and bring them to God. In so doing he is both mediating as well as training the people by example how they are to become free from the destructive influences of the sins that enslave them. So in essence, a priest is a very close friend of God and is to also be a very close friend of the people – very much like a Friend of the Bridegroom. However, his first loyalty is always to his God.

When I went to look up some of these words in the original I noticed that in the KJV this reference to priest is completely missing. However, when I looked up the Greek word for ministering the idea of priest is very clearly a central part of the meaning of this word. But for whatever reason those translators for King James decided to leave out any reference to priests here. But I think it has significant bearing on what Paul is trying to get across.

In the many functions that God ordained for priests, there was a lot of offering going on. Most of the time we generally only think of the blood offerings where a priest was to take an animal sacrifice that a person brought to the sanctuary and offer it up to God on the altar after the sinner killed the animal. This was to make it clear in the mind of the sinner the terribly and deadly effects that sin always has on our lives and the need for their reconciliation and reconnection with their only Source of life. The role of the priest was to offer up this sacrifice to God as a symbol of the atoning sacrifice that would happen in the death of Jesus on the cross.

But the sacrifice mentioned in this verse is not that kind of offering. I noticed in the original language that this offering was specifically mentioned as a bloodless offering. That is different than the blood offerings for sin in the sanctuary services. This was more along the line of offerings of food, grain, oil, etc. There were specific instructions for each of these offerings and the symbolic significance for each one is not so clear in most of our minds as the blood offerings. But one thing is clear – every offering brought to God was to be sanctified or made holy in order to be acceptable in God's presence.

This is noted later in this verse where Paul mentions his desire for his offering of the Gentiles to be made acceptable by the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. In fact, the Greek word for Holy, as in Holy Spirit, is almost identical to the word for sanctified. So in reality, whatever it is that needs to happen to make an offering acceptable will align it with the characteristic that is the very identity of the Spirit of God. (For more on the real meaning of the word holy, see my home-grown dictionary page.)

So, given the context of the work of a priest, what is in Paul's thinking when he talks about offering Gentiles to God?

In the first part of this verse he makes it clear that he was a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. Just like a priest was to be a representative for God to the people, Paul felt strongly that God's purpose for his life was specifically to be God's representative to people outside the Jewish culture and religion who knew little to nothing about the true God of heaven. This he elaborates on further in this chapter. So part of Paul's passion for reaching out to people who knew almost nothing about God was to enlighten their hearts and minds about God and attract them to become part of a sanctified offering to God themselves. Paul was simply an agent for Jesus Christ, a channel through which Jesus could accomplish His desires to draw all people unto Himself. Paul's part in this activity was partly to help organize this offering for God, to introduce people to God's heart by revealing the love and passion that God has for them which is the essence of the gospel, the good news.

But why is it important that the offering of Gentiles be made acceptable to God? What does that say about God?

This is precisely where a person's inherent biases about God will most likely surface. The reasoning behind our assumptions about what it means to prepare to meet God reveals what we really think God is like, whether He is angry, indifferent, moody, fickle, looking for excuses to punish, or whether He is consistently loving, kind, patient, just, fair, good and full of joy and peace. Generally our concept of God is a strange mixture of these things, an amalgamation of sorts that is derived from our childhood, our religious prejudices and assumptions and our life experiences. But our present beliefs about God will strongly influence what we are willing to consider seriously when new information comes our way.

I am at a point in my life where my internal picture of God has gone through radical transition. But there are a number of new (to me) understandings that are becoming firmly rooted in my mind and heart about what God is really like. These new understandings about God are in sharp contrast with much of what I was taught and mentored growing up, but I find them much more consistent with what I read from the Bible and even what seems fair and right in my own heart. So the answer that I sense to this question is very different now than the answer I would have supposed a number of years ago.

In the Old Testament sanctuary services and instructions there was a lot of emphasis on things being done correctly and everything utilized in those services being sanctified for that use. At the initiation of the sanctuary in the wilderness, everything was sprinkled with blood to set it apart in everyone's minds from the other things of everyday life. It was set apart exclusively for service to God, which is what the word holy means. Likewise, the priest's were also set apart for God's service and as the service continued to operate for hundreds of years the offerings brought to the sanctuary were also sanctified or set apart before they could be properly offered up to God. If this was not done the consequences could be fatal which did happen at times. Think of the stories of Nadab and Abihu as well as Uzzah.

Many people would point to these stories as prime examples of the reality of an angry God who had no patience for people who made mistakes or worse yet who might be somewhat unpredictable or very demanding in His requirements. This causes many to believe that the God of the New Testament is very different than the God revealed in the Old. But contrary to these assumptions, I am now seeing much more clearly in these stories our need to understand properly the real danger of not becoming synchronized with the immense power of God's passion before coming close to His presence. God never changed. It is not a matter of anger or impatience on God's part but a matter of respecting the intense power inherent in His nature of passionate love and absolute purity.

We have little problem understanding our need to deeply respect the dangerous power of high-voltage lines that carry thousands of volts of electricity across our countrysides. We would consider it the height of stupidity for someone to think they could just touch these lines with impunity without regard for the laws of electricity. But when it comes to God's presence and the protocol that must be respected if we are to be united with the greatest Source of power in the whole universe, we seem to have an inherent reaction of rebellion and resistance to God's requirements. Of course, resistance is our greatest enemy when dealing with electricity and likewise I am learning that resistance is also our greatest danger when dealing with spiritual realities.

I believe that Paul had a much better grasp of all this than most people today, which is why he knew that his desire to bring Gentiles close to God would require that they be sanctified or made holy in order for his offering to be safe in God's presence. And the way to make something or someone safe to enter the presence of intense power, whether it be high-voltage electricity or the even higher voltage of God's presence is to align them properly, especially at the heart level, with the way God thinks and operates. For an offering to be safe in God's presence it most importantly must become disconnected from “ground”, from the world's way of thinking and reasoning and to become synchronized with heaven's way of thinking, the assumptions and attitudes that pervade the presence of the angels and all the unfallen beings throughout the entire universe.

What was startling to people in Paul's day was that he was so bold as to believe that Gentiles could participate in this presentment to God right alongside Jews, God's chosen people, who before this time were considered to be the only people “safe” enough to come into God's presence. God had chosen Paul as a special envoy to open up the narrow box that had so long restricted the thinking of religious people and show that anyone anywhere could be a part of God's true family if they were willing to become molded and re-formed in the image of God.

The distinction between Jew and Gentiles is almost a non-issue for most people today. But we have our own versions of prejudice in religion that is along the very same lines. The denomination we belong to or even the sub-group within that denomination can become a very important barrier in our thinking to the much grander plans of God for His children. Our nationalism can also be a means of prejudice in our hearts without our realizing it. It disturbs me many times when we ask for prayers for our troops but never even think of equally praying for our enemies troops with the very same fervor. But this betrays our failure to live in harmony with the teachings of Jesus that we claim to be following.

Lord, prepare me for encountering Your presence by cleansing me of all resistance to Your ways of thinking. Fill me with Your unconditional love and re-form my heart to be reflective of Your perfect ways. Write Your laws upon my heart and fill me with Your Spirit and Your perspective – for Your name's sake.

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