I was at a church service tonight. It was packed. Nary a seat to be found. In Seattle. On a cold rainy night. At 6:45 pm. What brings the crowd here, in this godlessly, post-modern city? Maybe the message. Maybe the pastor. Maybe the warm, candlelit ambiance and earthy worship songs. I don’t know. But I was here.

And I have struggled with spiritual disciplines. Not legalistic God-tasks. But the daily soul routines motivated by Grace, that keep me centered. And reading the Book written by the Author of my life is not exactly a habit of mine. I read four books at a time, usually. The Bible ain’t one of the consistent ones.

I guess it’s too routine. Maybe I fear legalism creeping into what should be a regular daily event for me. Everything else gets dog-eared. But my Bible? It gathers dust.

Tonight a metaphor was given a the community of faith I attended. The church nor the pastor are not important. But the message was profound.

You see, God’s intent is for us to be ambassadors of Shalom. Channels for it if you will. Once God’s Grace has redeemed us — transformed us — the profound motivation wells up in us to pass it on. And this not in the witnessing “share the Gospel” kind of sense. As I see it, the Shalom of Jesus is supposed to rub off on others, with intention. And what of Shalom?

“The Hebrew word shalom has a wider meaning than the English equivalent peace, for it signifies welfare of every kind: security, contentment, sound health, prosperity, friendship, peace of mind and heart, as opposed to the dissatisfaction and unrest caused by evil.” Or so says Birnbaum in his Encyclopedia of Jewish Concepts. That’s a pretty complete definition, I’d say. And so we are to live this Shalom in the world, substituting grace for condemnation, peace for conflict, love for hate, acceptance for exclusion, and full life for a life empty. But how???

Well, that’s where the Holy Word of God comes in. It’s not just a moral baseball bat. Nor is it a tool to justify undue power over others. And it definitely is not a book of secrets for the elite few. It is a tome of transformation for the world over — past, present and future. And it’s for everyone, regardless of how good or vile. It is mystical and has power, infused of God, to enable us to lavish a Great Gift upon mankind. Tapping into its great mysteries is paramount. I am barely scratching thre surface. Back to tonight’s church service…

Here is the crux of the message I heard: To make myself available to God and how He might use me on this earth for great good, I am to read His book, daily preferably. Not as a empty ritual, rife with fear from the repercussions of not spending time with it. But as the slow and intentional tending of my garden.

As a gardener plants seeds, waters, fertilizes and tends to his garden, so am I to read the Word of God. I can forget instant gratification. I may not see blessing from its reading. A glorious revelation may not sweep my soul to new heights. Its wisdom may elude me. I may read and not feel a damn thing from it (sorry, but that’s how it may feel). But God is in it.

The seeds of His Word plant themselves under the surface of our souls. And reading it, whether we feel we’ve gained from it or not at the time, provides the care and feeding of our souls until such time as new growth bursts forth in the form of God using us. When the time comes, He will use what we have inputted into our hearts for His Good on this earth. We make ourselves available to His truth, not necessarily knowing how it will come in handy in the future. But count on it, it will.

Notice, it’s not about theology, though understanding God’s redemptive message for our lives is crucial. And it’s not about knowledge, though knowing about the One we follow is key. Rather it is about our grace-motivated availability to God. When we delve into His heart through His Word, we make ourselves available to Him so we can do great things in His redemptive mission for others, all glory to Him.

So then, I am newly motivated to tend to my garden. I won’t expect blessing, wisdom, or breakthrough as I do. Rather, I’ll expect that my Father will infuse me with the deep things of God so that I can be on this adventure with Him, loving others that sorely need it, so they can get at least some taste of the wonderful Banquet of Grace He has to offer them.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 7th, 2008 at 5:19 pm and is filed under Bible, Challenge/Growth, Evangelism/Outreach, Living Like Jesus, Spiritual Formation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.