INTENTION & ATTENTION

When I was orienting and training the counselors who would be working at camp, I gave them my vision of camp, goals to under gird the accomplishment and maintenance of that vision, and told them to look for the overall life lessons that could be learned in all of the activities they and the campers participated in throughout the day.  Of course, the life lesson in that was to be intentional in all they did and to pay attention to all that was around them.

Foe me personally these principles also work for me as I orient and train myself in my life and how I am to be n this world.  So many beautiful and meaningful things can pass me by if I am not living with intention and attention; I don’t want to miss any of it.

As I have been studying church history and watching what is unfolding now, that will someday become history, I have come to the conclusion that I miss a lot by getting hung up in the insignificant details and miss the vision and goals of God; the misinterpretations, the man made doctrines that divide, the quarreling, the swords being drawn and wielded; I don’t believe that these were the intentions of God nor the vision of Jesus of the kingdom of God that he gave to those who would follow in his footsteps.

On the night Jesus was arrested and headed to his death, Jesus prayed; he prayed for those who were in his immediate time, he prayed for those who would follow him in the time to come, which means he prayed for me.  His prayer was, “That they may all be one, just as you Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:20,21).

Jesus words are not complicated; he was a man of plain speech.  I am to be one in unity with those who follow God; not conformed to them, not conformed to the world; but transformed and conformed to Jesus and God in their Oneness.  It is that unity that makes me one with God, and makes others one with God, and therefore makes all who follow God one with one another.

That oneness is the vision Jesus has put forth from his birth, when he came, and God dwelt among us.  During His time with human beings here on earth He put forth the vision of the kingdom of God and the goals to achieve and maintain that vision of the kingdom of God; the Place where He came from, where He was returning, and where someday I am going to be with Him, where all who receive, believe, and follow Him will someday go and be with Him.  But until then I am to be a witness of that vision and teacher of those goals, along with all others who follow Him; not divided, but as one image of the One God all were created to manifest.

This means putting down my sword of self, not looking to human doctrines that divide, and fixing my intention and attention on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of my faith. Jesus fulfilled the law and the prophets.  Therefore, any law or prophetic voice that comes forth now has to be in the image and character of Jesus or it is not of God.  Swords are not to be used to defend Jesus.  Swords of self defense and swords of righting all wrongs are to be beaten into plowshares and used for planting seeds and producing crops of Peace.  It’s what Jesus prayed for as he was about to die.

It’s what Jesus prayed for; it’s what God desires; it will be fulfilled.