intensity

The glory of God gives life; those who see God receive life. For this reason God, who cannot be grasped, comprehended or seen, allows himself to be seen, comprehended and grasped by men, that he may give life to those who see and receive him. It is impossible to live without life, and the actualization of life comes from participation in God, while participation in God is to see God and enjoy his goodness.

-- St. Irenaeus

One adjective has been used to describe me most often. I would prefer "eccentric" -- it makes me sound mystical and original, but nobody has ever used this word to describe me. My peers shy away from "scary" or "overwhelming" because it's not proper American to hurt someone's feelings with the truth. Thus, we settle somewhere in the middle...

ANTHONY: I don't understand why he doesn't like me.

FRIEND: It's not that he doesn't like you. He's just...a little intimidated.

ANTHONY: I don't get it. It's not like I pretend to be perfect. I'm all about being up front with my struggles.

FRIEND: Yeah, but that's part of the issue. He's not used to people being comfortable sharing that stuff.

ANTHONY: Well it's not exactly comfortable for me. How am I to expect others to share if I bury everything inside?

FRIEND: I don't think you should bury everything. You could just relax a bit and be a little less...

ANTHONY: ...Intense?

FRIEND: Yeah, intense.

I promise folks, I've tried to tone it down. When I'm not doing so hot with God, my intensity is barely a simmer. But it's like His glory creates this surge: it makes me write twenty posts a week and speak like a fire hose.

Fire hoses are real good at getting things wet. If the Spirit of God prompts me to speak like a fire hose, I can only hope that someone is in good need of a flood, because everyone in their peripheral is catching it too. I have a couple friends that have said they wished I gave them time to digest -- that I spray too much at a time. How can I explain that this is me living?

Certainly, there is a time for digestion. I've revisited Ephesians 4:7-13 again. You should too :)

But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says:

"When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men."

(What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Observation #1: All of these gifts work together to prepare God's people for service.

Observation #2: We cannot expect to reach maturity without this preparation.

I don't necessarily care to make implications in scripture where they have not been overtly stated, but there seems to be some practical significance to the order in which Christ gave His gifts. We can all agree without a stretch of interpretation that ignoring any of these gifts would deter spiritual maturity in the body, right? Right. So where are the apostles and prophets in most American churches?

Since we can agree that scripture requires the full-function of these gifts to prepare the body for His service, let's break it down as if God finds these missing gifts to be good and useful (and I kind of think He does):

Apostle is the big picture guy: he sprays his fire hose and the people don't know precisely what hit them -- they only know that they're all wet. Prophet preaches a message of repentance and consecration, and asks the believers to seek holiness and set themselves apart from the world, because this best represents what God desires in the big picture. Once the believers are set apart, Evangelist calls the lost to Jesus, and has this wonderful consecrated body at his disposal to disciple the new believers. The Pastors and Teachers have been anxiously waiting for this moment, because now they can patiently filter the fire hose into small enough sips for the new believers to grow.

What's not to like about that?

My friend and brother Michael is a pastor to the nth degree. What happens if there is no fire hose to start the work? What ministry will he warrant without being set apart himself? Which new sheep will he shepherd without the evangelist?

When Michael is seeing, hearing, and comprehending the Almighty God, his pastoral instincts are in full throttle. When a believer is struggling and needs gentle encouragement and truth, he is all over it. When I am seeing, hearing, and comprehending God, my fire hose raises its intensity. Different gifts, different graces...both necessary to build the body to useful functionality and a spiritual maturity.

There's a time to digest and a time to gasp for breath. Strap on your wet suit: a flood's a comin'.