Behind The Curtain

We do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:5–7

We want to follow Jesus. We want to hear his voice. We want to know his will for our lives. Yet most of us are never still enough to hear God when he speaks to us. Our lack of listening creates a silence, the ramifications of which permeate into all of the spaces in our lives.

At Creekside this fall, our focus has been on the INWARD journey. We are attempting to step into this dissonant reality. Our approach has been three-fold:

1. To help us as a community to see (without beating ourselves up) the reality of how unstill and unhearing we are;
2. To help us as a community to catch a glimpse of splendor and a desire for what life can be when lived in the simple rhythm of listening to God and moving in the direction he points; and,
3. To help us as a community to learn practical steps and methods that can lead us into the experience of the presence of God.

Last Sunday we looked into the reality of our emptiness, the reality of who we are – sinful, broken, incomplete; jars of clay. The freeing truth is that as we establish routines and disciplines of being in God’s presence we are then able to see our full brokenness in the greater fullness of how much we are completely known, and completely loved by God. We are set free to move as he calls us, realizing that it is God who does his work through us, not we who do God’s work with him. The INWARD journey is the path OUTWARD.

So, let’s get real, just between you and me, how’s it going?
What are you thinking about?
What are you learning about yourself? What are you learning about God? What questions has this brought to your mind?
What are you hearing from God?

Peace. Hope. Love

Doug