A Vision of Transformation
We are incomplete.
We feel it innately.
Sense it in our very core.
And we hunger,
ㅤwe thirst,
For wholeness.
Completeness.
For Shalom.
Into this longing steps Jesus.
For he has a vision.
A vision of a kingdom.
A kingdom where God’s will is done.
Done his way.
Producing his perfect outcomes.
His is a vision of restoration.
And he reaches out to us,
ㅤpresents his vision,
With stories.
Our stories.
As we listen,
ㅤwe hear,
ㅤwe begin to feel,
His story.
We recognize the contrast of our stories to his.
Of death vs. life.
Darkness vs. light.
Lies vs truth.
His story seizes our attention.
Provokes our imagination.
Captures our hearts,
ㅤour affections.
We recognize,
ㅤrealize,
That our experiences fit,
ㅤbelong,
Within the framework of his story.
His story reveals meaning,
ㅤshines meaning onto,
ㅤand into,
Our lives
It sweeps away the myths,
ㅤthe untruths,
ㅤof our society
Our culture.
It obliterates the lies in our lives,
ㅤalong with their emptiness,
Their lack of meaning.
Rather than seeing only the what,
ㅤwe begin to understand the what for,
ㅤand the what next,
Of our own stories.
His story invites us,
ㅤcompels us.
To trust…
To choose…
To step into…
His story.
His kingdom.
To move toward,
ㅤmove with,
Jesus.
For when Jesus is near,
ㅤthe kingdom of God is at hand.
And when we respond,
ㅤthe kingdom of God enters our lives.
Our response…
A response of repentance,
ㅤof faith,
Must be part of,
ㅤmust be visible in,
Our lifestyle.
Stepping into this story redirects our life.
We enter into the storied community he describes.
In joining it,
ㅤwe become part of something bigger than us.
We choose,
ㅤwe learn,
To give up our lives to that new story.
Through this choice,
ㅤour lives gain meaning.
The act of losing our lives saves them.
As we reorient our lives around him,
ㅤour hearts envision a different outcome.
We begin to see a more complete future.
We are encouraged,
ㅤsustained,
By the vision of the Kingdom.
As our trust in our Father grows,
ㅤwe look more and more to him…
For how to do things his way.
We deny ourselves,
ㅤstepping into the longing we have for him.
For his kingdom.
And we experience radical reversal.
We finally see,
ㅤexperience,
Our identity.
Our true identity in Christ.
We become more aware of,
ㅤwe truly encounter,
God.
And our transformed lives speak of,
ㅤpoint to,
His story.
His truth.
As we move into this new life,
ㅤour old life is put to death.
In our restored life,
ㅤwe live faithfully in love,
Enduring all in the hope of the resurrection.
inspired by a message delivered through Pastor Phil — 2/28/18: “Flourish”: Creating a Culture of Transformation A Vision of Transformation
