Carriers of The Presence

It is not the nature of what you are doing that determines its spirituality, but the origin of what you are doing.

Beloved, time for a gut-check. When people look at us, look at our lives, who do they see? Do they really see a sincere person that is honestly trying to be good and virtuous and caring? 

• Ambassador – one that speaks the words of a sovereign
• Vessel – a person holding or embodying particular qualities; also poured into and poured out from
• Fragrance – a pleasant, sweet smell that permeates an environment
• Instrument or Weapon – a tool to be wielded by another.

We are, quite simply, carriers of the very presence of G_d.  Blaise Pascal said it well.  “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator.”  We were designed to be indwelt by G_d. 

And, more importantly, we were designed to actually pour this Presence out on the world around us.  So, no we are not to try to be sincere, honest, virtuous, religious people.  We are to get out of the way and allow Christ to manifest Himself through us.  Yeah, like He actually controls what we do with our hands, what we say, what we think, and even what we dream.

Some read this and are skeptical.  OK.  But, let me ask one question:  Do we really even have anything in our own lives that comes come up to G_d’s standards, and can rightly be used to further His agenda?  No, the only one that can be like Christ, is Christ himself.  He wants to present Himself to those that are lost THROUGH those that have been found. 

So, the only real question is:  Will we let Him?

You mean G_d doesn’t want me to use my gifts for Him?  No, beloved, He does not.  Rather,  He wants us to follow the example, in Revelation 4, of some of the most powerful and important beings in the Universe:

• Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
         ” You are worthy, O Lord,
        To receive glory and honor and power;
           For You created all things,
        And by Your will they exist and were created.”

We are to take our talents, our position, our virtue, and our gifts and we are to cast them at Jesus’ feet.  We are to empty ourselves even of any notion that we are useful to G_d other that to be totally abandoned to His purposes.  And when we do all this, something very special happens.  We actually begin to look like Jesus to other people.  Yes, people actually see it, and they feel the very things we were trying (and failing) to do in the first place. 

They feel honored
   they feel loved
      they feel safe
         and they begin to feel hope

Can we imagine any greater honor?    How very cool is this?!?!   We get to be Jesus to hurting people.  We get to love them with a Perfect Love that casts out fear.   We get to be part of Eternity being made infinitely better.

Honor?  Yeah, i think so beloved.  In fact, it’s way more than that.