Recycled Revelations

“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 (KJV)

The recycling mania of civic activism hurtles forward at warp speed.  Single-use plastic bottles that fell into anathema years ago have now been joined by plastic straws, Styrofoam dinnerware, all things made of wood, metals, glass, paper or cardboard, along with a host of other condemned eco-damaging commodities.  In turn, factories miraculously convert these recycled materials into a wide range of consumer products like grocery bags, park benches, cooking utensils, clothing, stationery, building components, auto parts—the list goes on and on.  Environmental crusaders have achieved dizzying success.  Ignorant slugs who don’t recycle represent the dregs of twenty-first century society.  The deep dive point to be made, however, is that trash can be re-created into treasure.  Objects that served their initial purpose can enter into another life, often more valuable than their original use. 

But the spiritual aspect of recycling recently hit me like the proverbial ton of feathers.  Isaiah said God’s servants would renew their strength.  A little venture into the thought processes yields even richer and more expansive benefits redounding to a child of God.  Revelations once received can morph into an even more awesome enlightenment of spiritual truths.  Blessings can compound into greater blessings.  Experiences can be recycled into more profound experiences.  Relationships can enjoy a deeper, more meaningful status than they were in their beginning stages.  In fact, this is the divine purpose and pattern.  We do not serve a “one and done” God.  Our God sets a record one day and breaks it the next day.  God described Himself to Abraham as his “exceeding great reward.”  He is a God without walls, without ceilings or floors.  “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” Ephesians 3:20 (KJV). 

Expanding on this theme, consider three basic relationship fields regarding our walk with God that can be recycled and transformed into incredible spiritual landscapes.  I call these areas “Him, Us and Me.”  The “Him” refers to our intellectual knowledge of God; “Us” concerns our relationship with the church; “Me” comes down to a personal relationship with Jesus that reciprocates meaning to the “Him” and “Us.”  Those who settle for a superficial treatment of Christianity choke the possibilities of the born-again phenomena. They resemble single-use containers or packaging.  They possess an “so what?” or an “is that all there is?” ADHD attitude.  Scratching only the Gospel’s surface, they move on to some cheap bling that catches their eye.  But how can anyone get bored with infinity?  How can people be so crude as to yawn at omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence?  The God who spans the solar system and beyond deserves total investment into His essence.

The Him Level

Most educated people around the world possess a rudimentary knowledge of Jesus Christ, irrespective of their belief system.  Millions know the basics of the Gospel, the historical facts of Jesus, and the nuts and bolts of the Bible.  More than a few even boast of superior knowledge of these facts.  Admittedly, while knowing about Jesus does not automatically mean knowing Jesus, it remains true that a simple grasping of His story has inestimable value.  It is here that we begin to lay the foundation of the Gospel in our lives.  We need to know His origins, His birth, life, ministry, death, burial, resurrection and glorification.  We need to know His identity, His attributes and His character.  “Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy.” Micah 7:18 (NKJV).  This is the “Him” level.  Without this knowledge, we have no possibility of a relationship with Him on any level.

The Us Level

The next step is the “Us” level, or our relationship to the church.  The importance of this level cannot be overstated.  Here, we go beyond an intellectual understanding of religious facts and begin to integrate with followers and disciples of Christ in real time in the real world.  This is Christ’s ingenious concept of the ecclesia, or the church.  Evidently, He knew that we needed more than a mere individual, laissez-faire relationship with Him.  The human state demands interaction, comraderie, friendship, support, company and closeness with other humans.  The vertical relationship needs the horizontal relationship to maintain viability and endurance.  The church provides the context for believers to receive instruction, demonstrate submission, learn faithfulness and perform duty.  Through the church we love, forgive, grow and feel compassion for others.  Thus, Jesus declared, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18 (NKJV). Those who dismiss the church as an unnecessary appendage to spirituality, or even an impediment to truth live in stark contradiction to the plan of God.  Their very opposition to the church underscores their need for the church.

The Me Level

Last, the “Me” level involves our one-on-one relationship with Jesus Christ.  This stands out as one of the strangest ironies of life: one cannot enjoy a functional relationship with others without a clear awareness of one’s self.  Psychologists, for example, have found that most interpersonal problems grow out of a conflicted personality.   War within translates into war without.  Thus, each person must experience a deeply personal connection with God that can only be described as revolutionary.  “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” John 3:3 (NKJV).  The rationale behind the new birth experience is that every believer needs a radical realignment of his or her essential self in order to have an effectual relationship with God.  This nullifies any notion of inherited spirituality, Christianity-in-name-only, or riding into heaven on the long coattails of one’s parents. God does not operate in a third-party mode.  He wants a mano a mano association with each individual. 

Recycling the Experience

Setting the table for this theme sets us up to witness the breathtaking beauty of recycling or enhanced spiritual experience.  Whatever a believer has experienced in his or her initial encounter with God includes a previously unknown, baked-in capability.  It resembles the phenomena of enhanced photography in which a grainy picture can become crisper, sharper and more detailed than the original image.  It is like slow-motion videography that reveals subtle movements undetectable by normal eyesight.  It is a dazzling array of color bursting out of a bland, nondescript scene, or a stunning sound clip edited to bring out luxuriant hidden qualities of an audio tape.  WYSIWYG meets its match in God—you get much more than what you see! Again, Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10 (NKJV) The discerning disciple finds in God not a cul-de-sac, but a highway of holiness destined to take the believer to heaven.

Him Recycled

You think you already know everything you need to know about God?  Think again.  Your born-again experience will lead you to thrilling discoveries that your carnality obscured.  You will see truths in His Word that will amaze you.  The intricacies of His character, the wonder of His patience, the majesty of His presence and the unfathomable depths of His grace will become a daily epiphany for you.  You will marvel at fulfilled prophecies; you will be intrigued by His incarnation; you will exult in the never-ending outpouring of His love.  Go back to Bethlehem, go back to His ministry of miracles, go back to his Olivet discourse, go back to Gethsemane, go back to the cross, the empty tomb and Bethany of His ascension.  Every return trip will recycle into a blessing greater in scope than you ever imagined.  The grand Personage of the Bible won’t disappoint the most rigorous examination and He will satisfy the longing heart of every seeker. 

Us Recycled

Just when you think you’ve outgrown your need for the church; or when an unpleasant experience has left you disenchanted with the body of Christ; or when a surge of independent spirit overwhelms you, then it’s time to recycle.  A second look at the church will astound you.  The church that played the midwifery role to birth you is also there to sustain you and nudge you back to the proven pathway.  The God-called pastor speaks into your life with authority and wisdom.  Services you had come to consider routine become refreshing oases in the barren stretches of your journey; the annoying church crowd turns into a company of angels; the bothersome expectations and duties become sources of meaning and worth.  The church is much, much more than you thought it was.  It is a city set on a hill; a large tree in which the fowls of the air find lodging; an elegant mansion; a household of saints; the body of Christ.  The church fulfills every practical need for us as we live, work and grow as pilgrims in this sinful world.

Me Recycled

“A life unexamined is not worth living.” -Socrates. Years before the famed Greek philosopher taught this, the wise man Solomon said, “When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you; understanding will keep you.”  Proverbs 2:10-11 (NKJV).  In modern vernacular, quit the rat race; get out of the fast lane; be a warrior, not a worrier.  Tension, anxiety and paranoia quash any joy we may accrue.   We rush through our days, and often ruin one event or holiday by concocting plans for the next one.  Many of our meltdowns are self-inflicted.  You need a diversion, a derailment, a collision with reality. 

You know what happens when you shake up a can of soda just before you open it, but you may not know why.  In the manufacturing process, soda cans are infused with carbon dioxide.  At rest, the gas collects at the top of the can and makes a mild hissing sound when the can is opened.  If you shake the can just before you open it, however, the gas mixes in with the syrupy contents causing the liquid to spew everywhere when it is released.  The explosion doesn’t require new ingredients to be introduced; forces acting on the can from the outside will change the dynamics on the inside.  Think of yourself as a can of soda in need of a good shake-up!  New, different and even radical thoughts converging from the outside creates an explosive impact on you, shaking up the monotony and predictability that has benignly collected on the surface of your life.

Stop.  Take the bare bones of born-again experience and run them through the recycling process.  Your relationship with God is not even close to everything it can be.  As you immerse yourself in pensive prayer, in ruminating though the Word of God, in faith ventures, in exploring the outer edges of spirituality, you reignite your entire conscious (and sub-conscious) being. 

If you have ever stood at Ground Zero where terrorists brought down the once proud twin towers of the World Trade Center, you know what I mean.  “Rising from its square base, the redesigned Freedom Tower tapers into eight tall isosceles triangles, forming a perfect octagon at its center. From these, an illuminated spire containing a television antenna rises to a final height of 1,776 feet.” The Message:? Burn it down and we will rebuild it, bigger and better than ever. God sent that message to Satan millenniums ago. Tear it down and I will remake it…much more than it was in the first place.  Just take a prayer journey and let God show you his storehouses of grace. But the theology of much applies to areas beyond the grace of God.