Signposts of Heaven – Sent
Been reading Rick McKinley’s book, This Beautiful Mess. I have just finished chapter 7 – “Signposts of Heaven.” [Rick isn’t a SBC guy, but he and his church are having an impact, perhaps a profound one, in a large city in the Northwest part of our country. Some of his practice probably differs from mine, but his Jesus is the same.] There are two things in this chapter that jumped out at me. The first one is the idea of being “sent.” The other one is “relevance” – but that is another blog. Perhaps tomorrow.
Signpost of Heaven – the title comes from the idea that every believer is to live his or her life to point others to the Kingdom of God and Heaven. Pastor Rick says, “Paradoxically, signposts of the kingdom radiate the most beauty when they’re planted in the middle of the most mess.”
Think this way. A light shows up the most when in the greatest darkness.
Hmmm. Think about that for a few moments before reading on.
I have to admit that I plan my life, well… try to plan my life so I avoid the mess and the people of the mess. Yet, every one of us has some mess in our background. You and I should be grateful that God has “redeemed my life from the pit,” as the Psalmist said. (Psalm 103, as an example).
Sent. Even the most nominal evangelical should be able to state Matthew 28:19-20. Jesus said “Go.” He said it to all of us. Every Christ follower is sent. McKinley notes, “In the Bible, the word sent is used more than 650 times, and in a majority of its uses, God is doing the sending.”
Later on in the chapter: “ ‘Going’ implies that we go somewhere new, to someone not like us,”
Most of us just assume he wants us to hang out with people that are pretty much like us. Go to any church. Most of the people there look pretty much like the rest, as far as culture and economic standing go. Jesus wants us to cross a border. It may not be a national or international one. It might be a cultural one. And it might be into a mess. But it can be beautiful.
Who (and whose mess) is He sending you to?
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