A useful time last night. We visited this guy I haven't seen for years, an African brother my friend had met and kept in touch with. He was very hospitable and we talked for a good while.
Normally I use Wednesday evenings to go to see my mates by myself, but I discovered that going out with another Christian friend is much, much better. Why? Because you take the Kingdom of Heaven with you. (Where two or three are gathered together in my name... Matthew 18:20)
When you're living in an intentional Christian community, living for a cause becomes inevitable. It's all about creating a slice of Heaven. And you'll either find a reason for continuing in that cause or you give up. You'll carry that sense of cause with you wherever you go. It lives within you and becomes your culture, your lifestyle, your focus; imperfect, but there all the same. By visiting someone who does not know that same "community experience" you can share a greater blessing. It is like the meeting of two worlds. You share something of your world with that person, and they share their life and their experience with you.
Coming home from that brother's house I felt truly refreshed. It had been good to share Heaven together as we approached it from our different angles. Not that we talked about spiritual things a great deal, but we prayed together at the end and touched hearts. A far better experience than just going round your mates to shut yourself off from the world around you. I felt refreshed by that brother, that was his blessing to me, we had engaed in love rather than fleeing from it.
No comments:
Post a Comment