Galatians 4
Pr. Greg Finke heads a ministry called Dwelling 1:14 which
encourages and trains people to live missionally. He urges people to look for the Kingdom of
God at work in the world, and he says to look for where God is, “messin’ with
people” to find it.
I wasn’t comfortable with this language
when I first heard it. This idea of God,
“messin’” with us sounded a lot more like Law than Gospel to me. I am used to thinking of the Kingdom of God
as where God works his gracious will in people’s lives. The idea that God messes with His people to
provoke us, stir up our hearts, and draw us into mission fit well with my
understanding. It was when Finke urged
us to look for where God is messin’ with pre-Christians that I got
uncomfortable.
Missional living isn’t just a matter of looking
for who is curious about the Gospel, or who wants to know more about
Jesus. As I understood him, Finke urged
us to look for the pain in people’s lives, the brokenness, the sorrows that
they bear, and see those as God’s work to give opportunity for people to
experience God’s love through us.
Galatians
4:1-3 makes me think a little differently about idea of God messin’ with
people. Paul talks about a child being
the heir of everything but still being under guardians and managers. Those guardians and managers tell the child
what to do to guide them to the point when they can receive the good things the
father has in store.
In a similar way God uses His Law to
reveal our sin and sin’s wages (death, and the things leading up to death). He confronts our sin to guide us to the point
of giving up on our goodness and works and provides a time for the Gospel (that
great news that Jesus has overcome sin and its wages by the cross!) to be
heard; for faith and salvation come by hearing the Word of Christ and the Spirit
working in a person’s life.
Can we see the result of sin in the
world? Everywhere! Can those places of brokenness be places to
share the love of Jesus?
Absolutely! Jesus said it’s not
the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
Perhaps God is messin’ with someone in your life to help them know that
they need the Great Physician, Jesus, the crucified and risen one.
God, where are you messin’ with people? Can I be a messenger of the Good News of Your
love and forgiveness there? Amen.
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