SEASONS OF LIFE

There are seasons of ones life that many call life cycles. Times of childhood and youth, college and career, marriage and family, mid-life, senior life. Each of these have their challenges and unique responsibilities. I have clearly entered that last season. I find myself saying to the Lord, "Please help me to finish well." I have a good legacy on both sides of my family, but I think I am facing a few things our parents did not have to face.

I want to talk about one of those things. Just as there are seasons in the development of an individual, from birth to death, so it seems to be with the history of humanity as we relate to our Creator. For this picture we must paint with a wide brush. I feel that we have entered a new age of Church history. The things that held the religious community together in my childhood through the marraige and family season are no longer in place or relevant for mainstream America.

We could go in several directions at this point, but I want to follow the progressive revelation of God's redemptive plan through the ages. Zola Levit, a Jewish/Christian teacher, taught that the progressive development of Israel as a nation followed the same stages or seasons of the individual life of the Hebrew male. I have an idea that the spiritual pilgrimage of the people of God or the corporate Body of Christ has a similar parallel; with a broad brush stroke, of course. Let me try to explain what I am thinking and hopeflly explore the next season of the maturing of the Church or Bride of Christ.

After man disconnected from God and fell into disfunction, God came looking for His friends (His highest creation). His determination was not to punish or condemn, they had already done that to themselves. He came to remove their condemnation by bearing in Himself, to restore their original design and function, and re-connect them to Himself, heart to heart. We might assign "birth/infancy" to this beginning of man's history. God called Adam and Eve out of their hidding place, clothed them in animal skins and re-assigned them to their stewardship of the earth. They were to function by every word He Spoke to them in an ongoing friendship and dialogue. This is a VERY big missing piece for God's people through the ages, but JESUS DID IT. I have just given you a clue for where I am headed in all this: a fully matured Bride. . .followers who are doing the same works that Jesus demonstrated (and greater) John 14:12. .disciples who are fulfilling the prayer of Jesus in John 17 - that we be one with Him as He and the Father were one. Read the whole chapter.

We just may be the generation that sees the coming of the King. I am asking the Lord to prepare me for the next thing on His agenda. I don't want to get stuck in the past move of God. History won't last forever in it's current state. All creation is waiting for the sons of God to be revealed (Romans 8:19) and I don't think that the sons of God in the end times will be weak and shallow and coming up short when we face the final "Mount Carmel" demonstration of God's reality.

So, here is what I think I will do, my friends. This writing has given you the first season of God's progressive plan of redeeming history. I hope to move on to the second season in the next posting. See you then.