Any
who are gifted always have the danger of becoming so strongly idealistic.
Everything around their life goes up for grabs and they ask questions of all.
Nothing remains sacred as this person pushes the boundaries in their life. The
area of the gift is the gateway to strong ideals of how things should be done
and it always borders on problems if not handled correctly.
Think
of the frustration when you are good at something, gifted beyond any of your
piers or those around you. You see things in a different light and easily can
be tipped into frustration of cynicism with the world around.
Questions
arise like, wondering why the world does not see it your way when you are only
trying to help it. A gifted person can see a whole picture that others just
cannot and in seeing the whole picture they many times try to change the world
around them to see accordingly.
We
have written about self righteousness and here again it resurfaces as a threat
to the gift. It is a threat in that is will distract from the fullness of the
revealing inside the gift.
What
often happens is the person gets sidetracked and pulled away from their gifted
area. Sure they are still very much part of the gift as it is part of them but
slowly creeps in a frustration or even anger at the world around them. Now the
manifestation of the gift is distorted and tries to fit into a place it has no
regard in being.
Maybe
we could say it this way, a gifted person once frustration sets in starts to
play God. The feeling of correctness is overwhelming and the actions to help
others while coming from a maybe genuine heart will always produce frustration
and anger as they are rejected. Yes some who are dazzled by the magnificence of
the gift are bewitched by the environment but outside that circle the world
rejects the change. This highlights the need for koinonia community again with
a gift. Stay inside your gift and allow others to come to that community who
are equally gifted in their areas of expertise. That can never happen when a
person righteously is trying to change the world.
We
could say that if I have anything to teach others then I am placing myself
above these people and in so doing will entertain self inflated and grandiose
ideals of self. Even when I can see a problem, as a gifted person who
understands spiritual koinonia all I can do is surrender my frustrations, fears
and such to koinonia. Now I don’t come with what many perceive as arrogance but
rather I come in love and appreciation of others and myself and God. Then in
this atmosphere of creation I create.
SPIRIT
scenery
In
a life of gifts things are seen another way and really in Gods world we
understand things have to happen differently to be life. In spirit life we see
a picture and live that picture that we see in the gift. As we rest in the
picture, intimacy with koinonia, God and man exists and things happen. It is
the intimacy of koinonia that produces the needed parts.
Man’s
way is to see a picture of what we want and to work on putting the pieces
together. The minute we are working to produce in this way our gifts have been
sidelined and we are now crossing to areas that are someone else’s gift. So for
example the bible gives us a good example. In Ezekiel 37 there is a prophet who
is standing in front of a valley of bones. God says to the prophet what do you
see and the prophet says I valley of bones, God says he sees a great army. I
see this story as a great example of spirit life as a gifted person. God looks
and sees a great army. Man looks and sees dead bones. Gifted people look and
see a great army in their gift but others just see fragments and bones. The
gifted see the bigger picture.
In
this story the bones come together and a great army stands before the prophet.
Now as ordinary people we are amazed when things come together to form an army.
But a gifted person can see the army before it ever exists. They did not build
the army it was already in existence and the bones coming together was a
natural spiritual event.
A
gift inside koinonia can see the future because inside a gift there is no time
anything is possible. That cannot be fathomed or understood by mans brain but
to the gifted they can see through spiritual eyes.
See
the picture and enter the landscape of it. It is then all things are possible
to them who believe as there will be an assurance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen. As we rest in heavenly places or in the landscape
of the spiritual gifted picture before us life beams out of the landscape and
changes the world around us. It creates and in creating others who can see
enter the landscape and together life is released life that will change the
world one breath at a time.
The
natural way we are all very familiar with is we work as orphan hearts to
achieve a picture we can see. Independently we can fall into the trap of
thinking we can achieve as we are better than others. After all we see things
others cannot see. It is in this dangerous slide of death to a gift many
frustrations will be encountered and the frustration will be internalized.
Trapped by despair we will offend the world around us and ultimately be in
danger of persecution and isolation. As what people do not understand they
either isolate from or persecute.
The
power is not in the picture the power lies in abiding. As we abide in spiritual
life brought to us via koinonia then creative power is released. The power is
in abiding not in acting. Looking from our carnal eyes we must abandon our
identity and take a spiritual identity that can only come from Christ himself.
Every religion with Christianity included is an attempt to fabricate this
symbiotic relationship. All religion is a failure to connect as it is never
about abiding it is about working to be something we are not. While religion
keeps us busy striving for a promised pot of gold we can never abide in a
spiritual landscape.
I
am thankful for the many years I worked inside religious systems. During those
years I travelled ministering in churches of tens, hundreds and even thousands.
In this a lot was discovered that now bring understanding in greater ways. So
some get upset with religion and claim to be away from it but they miss the
point the problem is not the name of the organization it is the heart of man.
Man’s heart constantly tries to take control. This type of man has an orphan
heart that demands respect and its way of doing life.
Take
for example a soccer club. I have been very involved with soccer having many
kids who play. At first I was astounded at the soccer club we were in. It is
totally religious; it ticks moves and acts exactly as a religious church. I
could go into all the actions but we all know the actions as we have all done
them. Ultimately it boils down to a man worshipping himself and expecting
others to follow. If I am the best at soccer coaching then others will
recognize that and do as I say to get better results. We now end up with a
church of “coach”. The followers do whatever he says and groan about it and
talk behind his back about how much of a burden the coach is. They tolerate it
as it is their church and after all they are using the coach as the coach is
using them. All seek self and cannot see this as the God of this world has
blinded their eyes.
If
a coach understood the spiritual statement that he who wants to be the greatest
among you must be the servant of all. If he had a glimpse of this then koinonia
could happen. Now the coach of leader cannot be a servant by choice and
actions, it is by a movement of the spirit brought about by a spiritual
connection via koinonia. You see in koinonia Christ and others release life to
my very being. As they are life together with me the spiritual landscape that
is painted is never ending.
Sp
to a soccer team a spiritually intelligent coach has realized he is naturally devoid
of understanding how to get players to the next level. Yes he can train them
and as one great coach said. “A hard working player will always play better
than a gifted player who is lazy”. There are many hard working coaches who have
no time to enter a spiritual landscape of koinonia. They are too busy working
to fabricate a picture but the trouble is they are working from the wrong end.
You
can’t see a picture and fabricate it. You can only see a picture and enter it
and abide. You can only abide when we understand he who wants to find his life
must lose his life. This is a hard statement to grasp and in reality it cannot
be grasped it must be entered. It can only be entered as we start to realize we
have played God in our own lives and are humbled enough; often by failure to
reach the end. Until we reach the end we cannot start. Our natural prowess has
to fail before we can lose our life to find spiritual life.
I
have talked to no end of people who see a glimpse of a spiritual landscape and
want to use it to bolster their position. So for example who would not want the
benefits of koinonia and they will use and rape koinonia as much as they can
for their own ends. As long as I can see self, as long as I think I can do
something to change the world I am useless and will probably ultimately fail.
Sure enough I can change the world but until I enter spiritual koinonia the
change will never reach the fullness of what it should have been.
So
the disease of the young is to see a picture in a gift but in seeing they think
they are the picture. They think they are the Lego toy set and in arrogant
orphan heart pride push away the spiritual release of life they need to enter a
spiritual landscape.
Remember
a child plays with Lego and enjoys what it builds but never thinks they are
Lego. I have never seen a child pretend to be Lego but they sure pretend to be
in the scenery it built. Even a child understands it is their father playing
with them that creates amazing Lego landscapes. The gift of Lego given by the
father is amazing but the fun begins when dad plays with the child and other
brothers and sisters come together and create a landscape of Lego like no
other. Now hours of endless fun are created as a community. Nobody thinks they
are the Lego, all the Lego is doing is bringing intimacy.
When
a coach understands they are not Lego. When they submit their need for identity
and validation then landscapes are built like this world has never seen.
So
just like you can’t choose your natural family you can’t choose your koinonia
family. You are born into it and until we embrace the family we will always act
as an orphan. Yes the orphan can build some Lego creations but nothing like
what the family can do while being together and making landscapes. Yes each
part being perfected by different eyes.
