Partake

Partake: To have part of the quality, nature, or character of something or To take or have a part or share; participate.

I met someone recently that reminded me of myself. A smaller me... A younger me. I watched her smile, watched her giggle, watched her become slightly sad or afraid. It is a slightly weird experience to actually meet someone, that I personally can admit, resembles me. Even though I have never met her, never spent time with her, never spoke a word to her, she resembled me in many ways.

I watched a piece of my nature... my character in someone else.

It's very difficult to share or participate in two things at once. I realized that more clearly as I watched a "mini-me" because I realized that as I looked at this little girl... she was loveable, interesting, kind. She may have things underneath that no one can see, but the NATURE, the CHARACTER of this little girl will always be with her as she grows up... She could try to bury it. She could try to overlook it, or she could accept it. But throughout the course of her life, she will have a nature, a character that she must accept, she must PARTAKE in.

We have this same journey of partaking - I can partake of a lot things today. I can partake in one of two natures - evil or Christ. Really if we place all the "things" we could partake in today, they would fall into these two categories. Now, I'm not talking about starting to religiously saying, "no", but I'm saying that we have a choice WHO we partake of and with while we live this ONE life that we have been given.

Another niece, Mercy Jade,was born this week, she carries the beauty of Christ upon her face. She carries the nature, the resemblance of Christ. I don't know what happens to all of us, but something does & we loose that resemblance. As soon as we leave our created place with Him, we enter a dark world and most of us don't choose to partake of the nature of Christ. We make decisions that alter our lives in drastic ways & then we wonder why our character, our nature is all screwed up.

I understand that we're all evil at the core, but it is my understanding now that IN CHRIST my nature, my character has been changed. I now refuse to accept the minimal Christianity that says, "Oh, well, we're all born with an evil, sinful nature. It's okay to still remain this way." I'm not talking about our sinful actions. I'm talking about our sinful character... the root of the sinful actions. Our Christianity does not rememble the Christianity I see in the bible... we are growing cold, waxing cold. Many of us are very luke warm because we are not partaking in the NATURE OF CHRIST. We really do not even resemble Him. I am challenged my friends. I am very challenged to partake in the nature of Jesus Christ regardless of the cost and regardless of days ahead. This is our preparation... we must partake in the Fire of Jesus Christ.

Pouring out...

I am constantly reminded of how things were in the garden… quiet, restful, free. There are moments on earth that I am captured by this, but it’s not consistent. I have been talking to God lately about earthly relationships and how they seem to interrupt my quietness, my restfulness, my freedom. The interruption is no one’s fault but my own as it is my thoughts that cause the interruption.

In the garden, there was ONE relationship and now we seem to juggle multiple relationships whether they be deep, meaningful relationships or shallow, short-lived ones. When Adam & Eve decided to eat of the tree, they hid... they didn't want relationships with God because they were ashamed of who they had become. They began to cover themselves up and they lost their vulnerability, their trust of the One who created them.

A friend of mine said last night that she doesn’t want to live on her on anymore because it is in relationships that she has found freedom, wholeness, and healing. From my experience, relationships are the exact opposite. They provide an avenue for bondage, brokenness, hurt. I wanted to just throw in the towel many times and decide that loving others deeply is simply too painful… too much work… too much, period. THEN, I realized, that the essence… the beautifulness of the Christ Life is that we are given a wonderful opportunity to see others and ourselves as we TRULY are – on the Throne in Christ (Eph. 1:20, Col. 3:1). Oddly enough, relationships provide us a connection with the spiritual. Why? As we look from the throne, which is where we are seated in the spirit, we cannot help but see the only spiritual persons that carry CHRIST within them. We connect with one another because of the Christ that is living within us. Many will say, “Oh I have friends… I have people that I love.”, but until you have entered into fellowship, communion, the Christ love with the people you are taking the journey with, you will never taste the beauty of shared lives.

It takes courage to enter into such relationships because then we can’t hide, we can’t disregard others and live the way we want to live. It’s scary to be vulnerable and be who I completely am with someone who has the potential to stab me in the back, but here lies the beauty of the Christ life. When we live with others in shared life, there is nothing that can come in between us. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ that is within us. The strange step we have to take is to believe that Christ is truly within us and begin transitioning from looking in the natural to gazing in the spirit.

Don’t hide. It’s time to begin pouring out… a river of life.