At the moment, my favorite book of the Bible is Genesis. From the very beginning, God sets a very active pattern. He sees something that is not as though it already is, and then speaks it into existence, creating a new reality in which that something then exists. This operation of faith is always applied to chaos and the result is a new order. Faith is not hard for God.
It may seem a bit odd to say that God has faith, but it is the essence of who He is and how He operates. Faith is being certain of what is unseen. He is equally sure of what is not yet in existence as He is of the current state of the chaos. For us then, faith is being able to look into that chaos and see something that is about to become our substance. One of God’s biggest challenges through the ages seems to be convincing His creation of their duty, and ability, to live out this kind of faith.
The World We Live In
We live amongst chaos, as my wife can confirm. But much to her appreciation, we walk out a Kingdom that can bring forth order out of that chaos. Her particular intolerance for disorder causes her to always look for ways to create this order everywhere we go. Once, she was asked by a friend to take on an office copy room. No sooner than she had stepped through the door, she rocketed into a cleaning fit.
Posters and postcards for events from years ago quickly piled into the trash. Boxes of three-quarter used pencils with flat erasers on top and dried up pens soon met the same fate, joined by crinkled Post-It notes, half-used spiral-bound notebooks, and remnants of staple strips that had long since been separated from their regiments. With all the rabble removed, she set about fashioning a system of organization for the useful items that remained. Ten minutes later this same room was transformed into the the cover feature of an office supply catalog.
Who We Are Called to Be
This a great picture of who we are called to be. We were created in the image of God – we are creators! We can peer into the patterns of the Kingdom, and then step into the bedlam to forge a new reality. Whether it be praying for the sick, establishing peace and order in my own home, or simply bringing some joy and life to a cashier at the grocery store, I’m on a mission to bring the order of the Kingdom of God everything around me. I can look at the chaos and see what it is about to become.
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