Greetings,
Today I am in Bulgaria after a week with RIM leaders in Spain and another weekend in Portugal in the Lisbon area. Had a great time in it all. God was with us at the RIM gathering and the prophetic presence of the Holy Spirit was powerful in Lisbon. I was blessed with a new connection in Portugal as well.
I have been writing about some complicated issues. There are certainly a lot of opinions on the complicated issues that people from the world bring into the church on their journey to faith. No one has to change for God to love them, but because they are loved God desires to change them by His power. God doesn’t just want us to be loved. He wants us to become like Him – to become givers of life even as He is a giver of life to all.
So, let’s say a couple comes into the church and they have been living together, but they are not married. I have some clear understanding of marriage and what covenant should be. Do I put this couple under the standards of my understanding of marriage in order for them to be a part of the community? As I have been presenting, the standard of life around them in an atmosphere of love will inspire them to desire to change, but law without life will surely kill them and drive them away. In an atmosphere of love and life, this couple that is living together, at some point will likely feel a conviction to make a higher level of commitment to one another. It may take a while to get there, but in the process of change God views them as His children and He loves them. If they were to die they may believe in Jesus to a degree that they will go to heaven, but they are not yet a perfect example of what a heavenly marriage on earth should look like. But after a process of time, they can come to faith and they will desire to go to another level of glory. I believe we always create environments that help people move forward. We don’t push them away. We don’t create an atmosphere that would reject them or condemn them. We create an environment that will help them, draw them to faith, and see them grow in their relationship with God and the character of His name. When it comes to helping them take a step into something that is death, we don’t condone or help that happen. If they had a relationship with someone out of marriage and it fell apart, they should not enter into another relationship in the same way. They should not just live with someone new. If I have a relationship with them, I have a responsibility to have a private conversation with them as individuals that I love so they don’t make the same mistake that they made before. I should desire to help them, so they don’t leave another life damaged or see their own life damaged further. Because of love, I should pursue a private conversation with them concerning what a marriage is and how important foundations are for the future. This is called discipleship. I may have a relationship with one and not the other and therefore my voice can only be heard by one of them. It is different for everyone. It is meant to reach individual in the place that they are in order to help them walk into the future. It is based upon a personal relationship with them and a measure of responsibility given to you for their sake in life. It is not a Bible class. It is not an implementation of law. It is a personal relationship with people that helps them grow in their relationship with God. They are not only going to heaven when they die, but they need to learn to bring heaven’s influence into their daily lives.
When helping people in their relationship with God, we know the word of God is true. We could say, the word or God is clear, it says this.The word of God is clear, but understanding it is not. We could go into any Christian community and find many different opinions or definitions for the same word. They would probably all base their convictions on some revelation from God at some point in their lives. Revelation is always in part and when we get a fuller understanding of who God is we receive a fuller revelation concerning what He says. I have changed my views on many things over the years. I used to use Scriptures against certain things that I found later were actually for what I was against. I know people who have used Scriptures to prove how the gifts of the Spirit are not for today. Then they had an experience of a submersion in God’s Spirit and began to exercise spiritual gifts. When they read their Bible again, they discovered that the verses they used against the relevance of the gifts of the Spirit proved to be the very verses that were for it. This kind of thing happens all the time. This has happened many times in my life. When we see something we suddenly see it everywhere. We only know in part, not in full. We could find a verse that says we cannot be Christ’s disciple unless we hate our father and mother. Does God want us to hate our fathers and mothers? In the entirety of God’s word, we see that the word and will of God is that we love them more than anyone. God is not telling us to hate our fathers and mothers, He is simply trying to explain how essential, how loving, and how awesome God is in our lives. God is talking to us about loving Him, not hating our parents. Loving God is more essential than loving our parents and we cannot truly honor our parents if we aren’t honoring God first.
So, when dealing with issues with people we have to remember we are dealing with people, not numbers. Each person has a name. Each person has a character. They are a one and only, thus they must be reached and helped in a significant and unique way. We don’t deal with two people exactly the same. There is no method for dealing with people. The principles, patterns, and values of God are true, but they must be applied in a way that each person can hear God’s voice in their own hearts and come to faith. Two people may come living together and God knows that it is just a matter of time for it to change. Something in each of these people is life-giving and not life-taking. There may be another situation where two people are together, but their relationship is not life-giving. One individual may have a character and action that is taking, taking, taking and God may want to intervene for the sake of life. So, it may be God’s will for what looks like a relationship to fail. Sometimes God might even use a leader of a person to say something or do something that might encourage the failure of what looks like a true relationship. But I don’t know what that is, God does. We need to hear God in our relationship with others and in our process of discipleship as the community of God.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
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