I found it interesting lately how in the midst of darkness God shines his light through people, sometimes ever so dimly, but it still with intensity. I know God is gonna do great things with this generation Soli Deo gloria!
It's crazy to see how many nods and signalling goes on in today's society, especially among the well known and highly influential. We have the masonic handshakes going around and the illuminati triangle. In the 70's it was the fist which represented black power, and years before that Churchill flipped the V at us (supposedly representing victory in the second world war, which later was adopted by anti-war campaigners as a sign of peace). For years people have seemed to send subliminal nods to the philosophies, organisations and spiritual entities they serve, while most people either scratch their heads, think it's cool so they join in, or simply bypass it through ignorance.
During Wimbledon last year, after each win we saw Andy Murray signal the sky. Some people speculated it points towards a personal faith or an event which marked his life when he was young but the real meaning behind the gesture has stayed secret, because he has kept it so. Some things are more obvious like athletes who wear the cross such as Alyson Felix, someone with no qualms in discussing who she attributes her success to. There was also that athlete who didn't shake Kate Middleton's hand which also strangely enough was an allusion to his own beliefs. Our signals often point to our ideologies and in other words lay down a foundation so that even if everyone else doesn't know, we make it clear to ourselves and our masters, who we serve and what we represent.
I say masters because everyone serves something, be it money and houses, a particular philosophy or God and his glory. This week I was listening to a very well known British singer and her songs cried out to me of something more. With an album dedicated to 'my river' she journeyed through songs of a contemplative mood while pointing to something or someone bigger than it all. When questioned about these allusions she affirmed she 'definitely believed in God and heaven' but in the song Next to me 'I wanted to speak of love and loyalty, and to celebrate good men. This is about God... or your man'. In other words, she was leaving the song open to interpretation.
Sometimes we're so eager to get everything out in one sentence for that 'on the spot conversion', we can miss what God is trying to do.
It isn't bad to preach the gospel in this way but sometimes God is seeking us to work another way. The truth is that the devil is a master of subtlety. He doesn't come up to you with a gun and say shoot yourself. He doesn't tell you that the thing he is leading you to will have detrimental effects on your whole being and for those around you. He tells you 'come have a taste' or 'it's not so bad and you will gain so much through it'. Be the reward a high, money, fame or acceptance, he seeks to draw you into it by hook or crook. Through propogating his worldviews very subtlely, people in the world after checking their natural desires and what they have to gain roll with them almost immediately, even though some need more persuading. Even many Christians who profess to have left the world behind, still carry his ideals in their dreams, their focuses, the things which drive them and what they live for.
The devil will not preach to you come to hell, but will take you there through a succession of planned and calculated steps. As Christians our goal is to lead people to Jesus because he is the only one who can give true life to a dying world. But this same Jesus is the one who said we have to be as wise as serpents, while harmless as doves. When first asked by his disciples about where he lived, he did not make it a full gospel conversation. He said 'come and see', taking them on a journey.
Fools rush in, and times we must be slower, planting what seems like the lesser seeds, and what seems to just be a part of the gospel. God can work on these seeds if we refuse to compromise, and move towards the goal of opening blind eyes and setting the captive free with the wisdom and subtlety of the Spirit. A wise farmer knows what to plant at what time for the ultimate harvest.
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