Designed to Connect.
“There is something about togetherness that affects the heart”i
Part II
It takes a lot of valour and strength to look beyond the apparent weaknesses in people's lives to identify with the strength and virtues that God has laid up in the life of every regenerated soul, but a lot of grace is needed to be able to effectively build up and release these God given strength where the weaknesses once prevailed.
To build up one in a fruitful life of maturity, much more is required than being able to identify weakness and administering the necessary counselling or disciplinary measures such as scolding and admonishing the erring one, rather building relationship by connecting provides a more potent tool for both the life of the counsellor and the counselee to flow into each other in such a way that the response is love motivated rather than by set rules or obligations. This is to say that a community that heals is one that is capable of letting people see through the eyes of love, their most deeply buried ailments, exposing them, and through collective encouragement are able to handle their struggles more appropriately and effectivelyii
Connecting: the centre of life
“Use your head!” is one phrase most often repeated, but at the centre of our Christian confession should be, “follow your heart!”
“There is obviously a place for advice, insight and friendly encouragement-but not at the centre. I suggest that the absolute centre of all powerful attempts to impact people for good is connecting.”iii
One of the operations of the Holy Spirit in the life of every Christian is to build a living and dynamic relationship that interconnects us with one another and then to God, by constantly revealing to us the character and the person of our Lord Jesus Christ and by showing us how we are reflected in the light of His countenance. He is also the chief instrument for our empowerment in the ministry of reconciliation with other men and with God-“He in essence is the driver of the whole connecting force!”
“To be alive in biblical terms is to be one with God or to be in the Lord just as to be dead means to be separated from Him.”iv It could therefore be said that if to be connected means to be at peace with God and others then to be disconnected would mean to be separated or isolated from bonding relationships with God and with others.
Those who find themselves in this state may actually experience a certain sense of satisfaction at not having to render account to anyone and at not being saddled with the responsibilities of others, in which case such individual may not realise the enormity of what he or she is lacking, and of the difference that it would have made to his or her quality of life and experience.
The most unfortunate part is that such a person does not realise the great potentials that God has bestowed on him to affect others and that in doing that he is enriched by him immeasurably. They may either be unnecessarily overwhelmed with a deep sense of inadequacy or otherwise inflated with an illusionary sense of power and confidence.
It is essential to say that each of us needs to come to the realization that beneath the garb of our presumed personality, what we are and what we have, lies a God given ability to touch hearts and lives, which has absolutely nothing to do with all those qualities that we arrogate to ourselves.
It could therefore, be very exciting to discover the biblical principle that we ought to live by but quite frustrating when we lack the power and motivation to abide by them.
In our Lords prayer, Jesus teaches us to ask God to forgive us our offences even as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us; this act represents one of the most vital tools in the concept of connection for it goes that for us to be connected with one another there must be a willingness as well as the readiness to forgive and to accept forgiveness, and on the other hand, for us to be connected to God, we must have asked and received His forgiveness and live daily with the assurance that we are accepted and welcome in Him.
The knowledge that we have been accepted just as we have accepted others, helps us build bridges of trust through which we can convey the rivers of living waters (Jn. 7:38) that flow out of our bellies to the parched and weary souls of those whom the Lord has brought our way, but we must be careful to ensure that the bridge is firmly built and solid enough before any attempt is made to put weight on it.v “we have all been created by an eternal community of three fully connected persons.”vi
Connection and vision:
Part of Gods original vision and plan for the human race was and still is that we may experience the kind of fellowship and love in communion that exists in the Godhead; and for that very reason, life in its true sense cannot be divorced from unity with God through Christ and death on the other hand would mean estrangement form God and such is the strength of that truth that on the day the first man sinned at Eden, he could not have been more dead, and when through the second Adam we are reconnected to God we could not experience life in its fullness in any better way.
For us to fully partake in this kind of intricate and eternal relationship we need to have the vision of what God is doing and what He can do in the lives of our brethren; we need to be able to reach out across the void and “make up for that which is lacking in the body of Christ.”
That is to say that it is expedient that we fill up each other and compliment as well as complement one another in our journey towards the full stature of Christ. The author wrote:
“When a vision of what another person is and could become because of Christ is the fundamental passion behind all the efforts to relate, powerful connecting occurs…powerful relating consists of grasping a vision of what God has in mind for someone and the faith to believe that the vision could become reality. A godly vision generates an excruciating sorrow when someone moves away from that vision, but that sorrow never eliminates hope or leads to disdain, and a godly vision releases giddy excitement when someone moves toward it, even just a little.”vii
“what every Christian can pour into another is the powerful passion of acceptance, a passion that flows out of the centre of the gospel, a passion that fill the heart of God”viii
Vision in the highest:
If we can "X-ray" Gods heart, we may see that at the very centre of His heartbeat is the deep rooted desire to have all of mankind flowing in the unity of spirit that exists between the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, this could be clearly seen in the Lords high priestly prayer (Jn.17: 11b) as Jesus prayed, “Holy father keep through thy own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are oneThe oneness of the blessed Trinity dates back to the dateless past when there existed nothing yet but the Great IAM, Eliel and His name was nothing more that Jehovah, the self existing one, the eternal one, before He became Jehoiakim, the creator of all things and the One who sets it all up, when there were no Cherubs and Seraphs bowing down before His mercy seat and countless number of angels in the celestial choir singing praises of His wonder and majesty (Heb 12:22) When His fellowship was just with the Son and the Holy Ghost, three distinct persons but eternally and inseparably one, in unity and love and wisdom rejoiced in His holy presence. (Pr. 8:22-31)ix
Out of the vast expanse of the macrocosm He chose us to demonstrate His eternal love and the unity in the Godhead, but when the first man failed woefully to be the bearer of this glorious attribute, It pleased Him to consummate His vision and plan in the person of His own son Jesus Christ, “for in Him dwells the fullness of the God head bodily” (Eph.3:10,17-19; Col.3:9-10) and He made no attempt at any pretentious acts of modesty when He repeatedly and proudly announced for all to hear that “this is my beloved Son, with whom I am exceedingly pleased” i.e. During His baptism,(Matt.3:13-17;Mk.1:9-13; His transfiguration.(Matt.17:1-13; Lk.9:28-36)and with some Greek enquirers.(Jhn.12.20-28).
“Something powerful has been placed within us that we are to release toward others in a way that promotes godly community”x.
What’s good about us?
There is no gain saying that man by nature has an innate inclination towards that which is evil and sinful; but for connection to take place, and for the power of God to be release to touch something good in another, we must be ready to accept and believe that there is a God given goodness deposited in others, and that by patiently trusting and rejoicing in them, their short comings not withstanding, we would be able to release God's power into their lives to reactivate that goodness which may then work effectively in them.
It is said that folks would rather buy an idea than have it sold to them. That is to say that if we approach people with an “ identify-the-problem and-fix-it” kind of attitude, there is every chance that we either run into a brick wall, in which case we are totally and completely rebuffed or we run into a glass wall, in which case we have the illusion of getting somewhere with them but actually ending up nowhere other that where we have always been.
On the other hand if people could feel your heart reaching out for them and sense its vulnerability as it ventures out in search for the hungry soul, they are most likely more prepared to naturally gravitate toward you in response to your tender heart, and would find immense delight when their thirst is thus quenched by the effectual working of the Spirit that is released through you.
Bridges are built to connect with those who are lost in the jungles of this life, where lonely souls wander in search of deliverance. To reach out to ailing and hungry hearts, and by so doing we ourselves are nourished by the abundance that God has promised all those who will venture out of their comfort zones to lunch out to the deep places of this life.
It could therefore be said that “ unreleased goodness is our biggest problem and released badness is the most serious hindrance to releasing our goodness”xi and that for us to be able to grow in the goodness in us, we must have to apply our hearts and lives to the process of “putting off” of the things of the flesh while we “put on” those things that glorify God and edify the spirit.(Eph.4:22-25).
It is centric to our Christian confession that we are under the pull of two opposing “passions” one luring us towards that which is bad and evil, while the other commends us to that which is good, pure and holy before God. It is also pertinent that the very heart of God is to help us with all His tender loving kindness and patient endurance, come to the realization that we are better off when we flee from the former and tilt toward the later.
Please share these thoughts with someone today, if it has been of help to you!
Notes.
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iv Pastor Tunde Bakare, The Latter Rain Assembly,(Lagos Nigeria)
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vii Crab52
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ix Crabb 57
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