***I am posting next weeks blog early, because on Tuesday I will post a special entry in collaboration with 45 other bloggers.***
Recently while I was in Los Angeles, I was taken back as if seeing for the first time the amazing creativity every where my eyes glanced. I giggled at the riotous landscape covered with huge trumpeted flowers as if ready to burst into song. I smiled at the tree clusters with giant balls seated atop, all reminiscent of Dr. Seuss. The plethora of artistic expression flowed out of every corner, whether through actors, sidewalk artists, or nature itself.
As much as I was awestruck by the beauty, none of the things I witnessed were created by Dr. Seuss. There was a much greater childlike heart credited at the core of those masterpieces, God Himself! While I marveled at the outrageous creativity that is the hallmark of God, I also recognized that not everyone is open to God's creative methods. After all His creativity has not only involved releasing plagues in Egypt and parting seas, but also sending off the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute, all to illustrate Israel's unfaithfulness.
Then when Jesus came on the scene He modeled creativity through the vivid pictures in His parables that only a few could perceive. Only those with open hearts were able to grasp His imagery, while the self-righteous leaders of His day totally missed His kingdom demonstrations. Sadly, it’s the same stanch mindsets that threaten to stifle the creativity released in every move of God.
In Matthew 9:17 Jesus gave us an illustration of the kind of container that is able to hold the inspiration of the Spirit. He illustrated this by using wine skins as a picture of our hearts, conveying that new wine can’t be put in old cracked and hardened wine skins, because it will leak out and be lost.
Just as there were hardened wine skins in Jesus day, there are today as well. It is only when a heart is changed by the Spirit of God that it becomes soft, pliable, and able to perceive the kingdom of God. However, this regeneration is an on going process. Look at the learning curve the disciples experienced as they were trained in the creativity of kingdom reality.
Even when Jesus was dead and buried in the tomb, He continued to stun His disciples as the creative breath of life blew and brought Him forth in a new form. After His resurrection His good friend Mary Magdalene didn’t even recognize Him at the tomb, because He was in a different form.
Have you noticed that births come ushering in a new form amidst the old, often a form that can only be perceived through the heart of a new wine skin? The preparation for Christ’s ministry was introduced in such a way, through John the Baptist.
John was born into a family of priest, which meant following the order of the priesthood. Prior to John’s birth, his father Zacharias and mother Elizabeth had no children, because Elizabeth was aged and barren. God wanted to break with the old powerless order, and usher in a new and better way. In doing so he sent an angel to tell Zacharias that Elizabeth was expecting a child to be named John. However, the angel also told him that he would remain silenced unto the fulfillment of his son’s birth, because of his unbelief. God had to silence Zacharias to bypass the old way that was lifeless and barren, while initiating a new and better way.
The same was true of Jesus, the Son of God, born of a virgin, in a lowly stable. The birth of Jesus bypassed the expectations of how the religious perceived that the Messiah would come. And there is always the danger that we too can become the old order opposing what God wants to do, if we stay trapped in our comfortable form of religion, missing the new manner of expression God would release amongst us today. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth.
I don't want to be blinded, because of pride and miss what God is birthing today, do you? Let our prayer be, Lord, make my heart a soft pliable container for your Spirit. Open the eyes of my heart with understanding to see. No matter how old I get let me be a new wineskin with a childlike heart that hungers to see You released in new creative ways. Let me be counted as able to perceive the new things you are doing in the earth by Your Spirit, despite my former patterns, mindsets and those in opposition to you. Help me humble myself and turn from any religious arrogance that I tote. Help me to see!
