Tan: Encounter With God and connection to the Community

"AND the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory as of the only begotten Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" John 1:14

There are two realities in our spiritual journey which we need to see in its proper and godly basis. What standard do we use to make it fit the description of what is considered proper and what is godly? The credible barometer for this is Scriptures and the life of Christ as recorded in the gospels. Before it slips my mind, let us put on the spot the two realities.

First, we take a look at the group that insists on communion with God. Here, spiritual intimacy is first. Prayer, solitude, and contemplation are the known disciplines of this group. The other is its emphasis on service and community. These two actually are inseparable . . . let us see it from a proper and godly perspective.

With the help of modern gadgets and the powerful influence of social media, we see our amazing connectivity on the horizontal level. We compose and send messages in an instant. We have written lots of enormous volumes of books practically on any subject of faith; yet, we have missed our vertical connection with God. We end up drained from serving the community. We have covered a lot of details, refreshing others while we ourselves bleed in the dryness and demanding cadence of service!

Actually, communion with God projects itself as an outlet directly to the community ... the outflow of an authentic connection to the community via concrete and incarnational ministries or advocacies! Your authentic encounter of God affects your involvement with your community. Praise and Worship now translates into paying outstanding debts. Garages and spaces are now used as welfare and care-giving centers, attending to the spiritual and heart-felt needs of the community. People are spiritually enriched as they are sincerely respected and graciously released from obligations to perform and pay back.

Here is the model of making a spiritual impact on the community. When the Lord intentionally engaged with Zacchaeus, this man gave us the concrete and godly perspective for us to practice! What or who, makes a greedy man generous and fair? His intimacy with God equipped him to be honest to people! He now gave half of his wealth to the poor. Your intimacy with God will show an incarnational way to connect to a community hungry to experience and see concrete changes! The more people meet Christ, the more justice and fairness is dispensed! I prayerfully ask God that many who have found communion with Jesus will find their assigned connections to the community and likewise, those who have been drained due to intense involvement with the community will find grace and not guilty to slow down and rest, observing holy Sabbath of the soul. Rest is relinquishing addiction to always be in control of everything.

Again, thanks for reading and reflecting. I always write straight from my heart!

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