Seven Principles for a Flourishing Life - Gentle Strength

Nathan: 00:00

Welcome to the love shaped life podcast where we talk about our big dream, which is to see, experience and live in the wonder of God's radical love. I'm Nathan, and I'm here in the studio with my good friend Bob. We're in season five, episode three, and this season is entitled, seven principles for a flourishing life. Yeah,

Bob: 00:22

it's exciting. Nathan, this topic is really exciting too, because it's, it's really the principles of building the kingdom in you, how God wants to build the kingdom of heaven in you? Remember, there's that kingdom of grace. We could call it in us, the kingdom of God in us to to fit us for the larger kingdom, which is the physical kingdom. So what we're talking about now in this season is the process of God building that kingdom we talked about. Blessed are those that blessed are the blessed are the poor in spirit. So I'm trying to remember, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for there is the kingdom of heaven, right? Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Yes, so the poor in spirit, those who sense their need, blessed are those that mourn, they will be comforted.

Nathan: 01:13

You know, yes. And we talked about how the recovery program that's we hear about alcoholics, anonymous, Al, Anon, etc, even reflect some of these principles that Jesus taught in his sermon about admitting our helplessness, that experiencing the flourishing life that Jesus has in mind requires us coming clean. That's the kind of the foundation. But these are principles we've recognized are an ongoing part of kind of the rhythm of a flourishing life, where we continue to come to New realizations in the light of God's love of our own brokenness, and that part of our heart begins to come alive and open up to the transforming work of God's grace. So we never outgrow the kind of coming clean peace. As we lean into love, we see more of the areas our life needs to be reshaped by love. And so that process is an ongoing process. We don't live in sorrow or brokenness, but we do have moments where we confront that brokenness and the comfort that comes from a God who embraces us in our brokenness and works healing from our brokenness.

Bob: 02:38

Yeah, you had mentioned that you had a song that you wanted to, yes, not sing for us, but you know, not gonna sing it. I gotta sing it. Okay, so you're gonna read it.

Nathan: 02:46

Yeah, and it's this one. I run to the Father. I fall into grace. I'm done with the hiding. No reason to wait. My heart needs a surgeon. My soul needs a friend. So I'll run to the father again and again and again and again, beautiful.

Bob: 03:05

So my heart needs a surgeon, right? So God is ultimately that surgeon. Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who sense their need of God for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. We're turning towards God. Blessed are those that mourn. We talked about it in our last episode that you just mentioned it earlier, as the Holy Spirit's working in our heart. As we're seeing more of the beauty of God, there's this awareness. We're coming to our senses. We're perhaps seeing things that we've done wrong or where we've need healing in our life. And we're we're pressing in. We're not running away. We're pressing into God because he's, he's the the comforter, but he's also, he's the surgeon, right? So he's the heart surgeon that can actually give us a new heart. And that is the promise that is made possible through Christ. God has promised a new heart. I'll give you a new spirit. I'll put within you, I'll take the stony heart out of your flesh, and I'll give you a heart of flesh, right? So, so that's the the surgical part. It's a, it's a, it's, it's the power of God to do it, right? It's a supernatural work of actually changing the heart of man, and that new heart was made possible in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, Christ. So

Nathan: 04:22

what I need to be a truly beautiful person, to live a truly flourishing life, according to these seven principles, of Jesus, is not found inside of me. It's found in him, experienced inside of me, but only as I open my heart and allow myself to be broken open by this, these this, these steps of recognizing that I'm broken, of grieving that brokenness. This opens me up to truly living, which is kind of where we're at now with principle number three, which is, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. You

Bob: 05:14

know, so interesting again, this is the third principle that Jesus is sharing. So he first talks about, blessed are those who sense their need. Yes, right then. Blessed are those that mourn. There's an experience going inside our heart now he's shifting it to attributes that will be inside the very heart of the citizens of his kingdom.

Nathan: 05:37

Yes, absolutely. And I do want to mention this as you're listening to just it's been on my heart to speak this as we begin the episode. If you're a person coming to this podcast and you just you, you're really feeling down, you're feeling discouraged, you're feeling like you don't have what it takes. I just want to hold up the words of Jesus that we're looking at that affirm that you are in the perfect space. Your brokenness isn't something to run from. Just lean into God's radical love in the middle of it, you're actually in a beautiful space that's sometimes hard to acknowledge. Now we're talking not talking about clinical depression. We're not talking about not treating that, but we are talking about that place when we just feel like we can't make it. We've blown it too many times, and how sometimes we get stuck there because we see this neighbor here. We see this childhood friend, we see this person, and we think, man, they have it together, and I just can't get it together. Well, the truth of the matter is our realizing that we're stuck and broken is actually the most important place to be for being open to the flourishing life that God has in mind. For us, it's a required place to be to experience the flourishing. So don't run from it. Just lean into the radical love of God. For you, find comfort in that truth.

Bob: 07:19

So again, the next principle Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. What's meekness?

Nathan: 07:25

So meekness, as I've looked at it and thought about it, my favorite way to think about this idea of meekness is the ability to hold power gently. And meekness comes here, as I see it, because we've acknowledged as in AA, that first step in AA. Let me just pull it up. I'm stumbling bit because I want to read it. We admitted we were powerless. So the first step is this admission of powerlessness. The next one is grieving over the ways we've hurt others the ways we've been hurt. And what this does is it knocks out the feet from under our high horse. We, as human beings, tend to want to be in the place where we can thumb our noses at the people around us and think, Well, I have this part of my life better together. We like to practice cover up. We find ways to get around acknowledging the mistakes we've made by blaming somebody else for our failures or pretending like we didn't do it. And all this does is create dysfunction in our lives. Dysfunction in our relationships leads to broken marriages, broken organizations, broken religion. What Jesus presents is the anecdote, the short circuit for all of that brokenness, because we can come clean about it, and when we come clean, it brings us down to reality that I am a broken human being, radically, wildly loved by God, and I'm just like you, just like the person beside me, I failed, and I'm one more human being who has nothing To brag about, and it's out of that that's born this spirit of being on the same level, together with you. I'm not better than you, I'm not worse than you like I'm not going to beat myself into a hole below you. I'm just going to look at you eye to eye because I'm just another human being like you. I put my pants on the same way you do as it as it says. So this is this breaking of the human heart through the work of the Holy Spirit in the context of God's love, gets rid of all the garbage, or starts to unload the conceit and the ambition and the pride, and bring me to. Place where now I'm gentle. I see myself. I've been hurt, I've hurt, so now I treat you with gentleness, because I recognize you're broken too

Bob: 10:10

well again, if we're, if we are, if we acknowledge the fact that we have a need, right, right? So we're acknowledging the fact that we have a problem that we can solve, right? Self centered living cannot be changed by our greatest discipline, by changing our environment. It cannot. The only hope is a new life and a new heart that's given to us by God made possible through Christ. Right? So this is acknowledging our need. Is giving up our human pride.

Nathan: 10:46

Mm, hmm, right, being emptied as being empty one often and asking

Bob: 10:50

God to rescue us is a humbling spot to be. Yes. So meekness begins when we're when we're asking God for help. Meekness begins when we're realizing that we are need of this heart, that in this life that's being offered us through Christ, because there's nothing for us to boast about, right? I

Nathan: 11:13

got no more bragging room because I've now seen that I'm actually a broken human being too. There's

Bob: 11:19

nothing to brag about because you, there's there's nothing in you to change it. It has to come from outside of you, yes, and that comes from God and from God alone. Yes. So it's humbling, but being humbled is a good thing. It's

Nathan: 11:35

a very good thing. And something that comes to mind is just think of the power of this pause to think of the power of this in, let's say, a marriage relationship, even a relationship with a child, when one partner, or ideally both or all parties in a relationship step down from their high Horse. They confront how they fail and have failed, how they've wounded others, how they're not somebody special who's got it all together. They're broken. And the grace that that brings into this relationship, this is the power of gospel to begin healing. It pulls all this trash and these these broken attitudes we have about ourselves, it allows us to begin to become authentic humans again, who now become increasingly capable of engaging as a life givers in relationship, Not life takers,

Bob: 12:38

and looking at the situation of Jesus giving this speech or this sermon to these people that were expecting him to talk about an earthly kingdom, oh, man, and earthly kingdoms, we know, are built upon force, and there's a lot of pomp and stomp and a lot of pride and working the crowd, and Jesus is flipping it. It's like an upside down kingdom, right? Radical, instead of going up the ladder, we go down. Greatness is found in going down, just like Philippians talks tells us about the second chapter, about how Jesus left heaven and took upon himself the form of a servant, yes, to become like us, right? In order to redeem us. Yes, you happen to have that.

Nathan: 13:23

I do, and, man, my mind was just firing off as you mentioned that. So here is that passage, Philippians two. But I just

Bob: 13:31

want to say the whole concept was so radical to those people that were hearing and it's radical to us. It is radical because earthly kingdoms and the whole world focuses on you be a somebody, right? And make a name for yourself. And if you know, and Jesus is taking it to the opposite and saying, Be humble, Be a servant, right? And that's part of being part of my kingdom,

Nathan: 13:59

yes, yes. So here's these words that the writer here to this church in Philippi is Paul, and he's encouraging a community, a church community, a community among believers of grace toward each other. And so he gives some words of counsel, and then he points to the highest example, the best example of what he's teaching as revealed in the life of Jesus. And here's how he talks about Jesus. Instead, he Jesus gave up his divine privileges. That's the God privileges. He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God, and died a criminal's death on a cross.

Bob: 14:56

This is God. Yeah, he so Jesus went. From heaven, right? And he goes down, down, down, and he becomes a microscopic embryo inside the womb of Mary, a sinful human being. And

Nathan: 15:12

this is God. I mean, this is who God is. How he so

Bob: 15:17

he descended, right? And becomes one of us becomes a human being to overcome where we couldn't overcome, to live a life that we couldn't live, this unselfish other, centered life, conquering, self centered living that was created in the angel, the devil himself, right? The Lucifer who became the devil, right? So he conquers this that he just becomes emptied of himself. And so what Paul was saying there was, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ, Jesus, like Jesus, and I just want to encourage all of us, including those who are listening to this podcast, that any attribute that Jesus is talking about is what he's offering to put in us. Because I think I'm the opposite of humility, right? I mean, you know the sinful natures that we have, our only hope of having a humble spirit is by Christ being formed within, you know, I think of James and John, who were disciples of Jesus, who Jesus nicknamed Sons of Thunder because they were they had a bad tempers. They were willing to fight. They wanted to call fire down from heaven. Remember, to destroy these Samaritans just because they didn't allow Jesus to spend the night, right? So, so. But in the end, John wrote the most about love. He's the one who wrote, God is love. He got it. He got it, and he got the transformation, because he day by day he beheld, or he was seeing, true humility, true love, being carried out in the life of Christ. And he let go of himself, and he allowed Christ to change his heart. Is the same thing with us in this journey, as we behold the beauty of God, as we're seeing the beauty of God, then there's a transformation taking place in the heart to make us more and more like him, and one of the attributes of love is

Nathan: 17:26

meekness. That's right? So here's what

Bob: 17:29

I say that sorry. I say that to give us all hope. You know, don't think just because you've accepted Christ all of a sudden you're meek, right? It's the beginning of a journey Yes, yes, of of humbleness and meekness, right? But the transformation process, just like anything else in our life, grows and grows Yes. And

Nathan: 17:49

I think this is a great place to again emphasize that the the seven principles for a flourishing life are not stepping stones from one going on to the next. That's good. They do build. There is kind of a starting place, a starting point, but they're cumulative, that they all operate within us as followers of Jesus for our whole journey.

Bob: 18:18

That's beautiful. I'm gonna and to add to that, realizing that the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom that Jesus wants to form within us, that meekness is not weakness. Yes, meekness is strength. Hmm, right, see, so, so I still have to choose in my life that I want to follow God in the pathway of living a meek life or a humble life, that I'm willing to give up myself for the good of others, and then I born in little situations or big

Nathan: 18:54

Yes, and that's born and kept fresh as I'm allowing my heart to be opened by the Holy Spirit to my own brokenness as I'm at a deepening level grieving the ways I'm unlike God, that's kind of the precursor, the underpinning for meekness, because as I stay in touch with who I am and my need of grace, I am in a position to treat others with grace. It's when I start distancing myself from my own brokenness that I start getting on that high horse and lifting myself up above others and putting others down. That's why these principles remain active. There is a starting place, and yet that starting place is is always active for the flourishing to remain ongoing. I wanted to mention this piece in Philippians first nine. Nine. So we just read a few minutes ago that Jesus came down, down, down. And then verse nine says, Therefore, because Jesus came down, let go of everything, released himself, didn't stand and hold on to his privileges. He came down, sacrificed himself, became the lowest of the human family. Therefore scripture says God elevated him to the place of highest honor. It's interesting that this beatitude says blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth this we often think of the people who have the right to power as the people who have the highest capacity to exercise power, but in the upside down kingdom that Jesus has in mind, it's the People who are capable of holding power gently, because they've confronted their own humanity in the light of God's love. They're the only ones safe with the inheritance. Talking about Earth future, a resettled, reborn Planet Earth again, which is going to be the focus of an entire course in our library. But the people who resettle Planet Earth will be people who are stripped of self importance, who've left pride behind because they're the only people who can with a clear and gentle with a clear head and a gentle hand, hold that kind of power in a sustainable civilization,

Bob: 21:44

yeah, the future one,

Nathan: 21:45

right? You

Bob: 21:46

know, going back peddling. I

Nathan: 21:48

do want to go back because I think you're going to take us back to some stuff we've kind of jumped

Bob: 21:52

over. Well, not quite yet, but, and you were mentioning again about Philippians chapter two, and Jesus descending in Isaiah the 14th chapter, it talks about Lucifer and what he wanted to do. He wanted to ascend himself above the throne of God. It was I, I, I, if you read Isaiah chapter 14, and it was totally in contrast to Jesus, right? So lucifer's thing is about becoming superior, right, in order to rule and control, and Jesus is about becoming lower down the ladder in order to serve, to lift people up.

Nathan: 22:33

So what's fascinating to me about that is the contrast when power is held by people whose primary objective is self interest, that system necessarily self destructs when power is held by people whose objective is other centered, that system is those individuals can hold power sustainably. That's the kind so God's forming people who in their lives today, their workplace, their home, are holding their ability, their power, their agency as a human being with gentleness for the blessing and uplifting of the people around them. Those are the people that in the future, reborn planet Earth, can manage a sustainable civilization defined by the rhythms of God's love.

Bob: 23:35

You know, the disciples, at one point, were contending with each other as to who was going to sit next to Jesus, closest to Jesus, because they still had this picture that he was going to set up an earthly kingdom in their mind. It was even though Jesus was teaching them the opposite. It wasn't filtering down at this point. It later did so they were fussing with each other as the who was going to be the greatest, right, trying to climb the ladder, so to speak, and pushing the other one down. And Jesus comes to him in Matthew chapter 20, and he says, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. He's talking about the way earthly kingdoms, right operate, right? People have authority, and they lord it over them, meaning they're they're holding their their position with power, right? But he says, Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to be become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many, he said, Look, this the way the world operates, but my kingdom is not operating on the same principle. My kingdom is operating on humility, this meekness, this servanthood. You want to become great be. Become a servant. So in our in what Jesus was talking about here, the third one Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. That being part of God's Kingdom is living your life as a servant, meaning helping others, other centeredness, right? That doesn't mean I become, go, become a servant of somebody I'm talking about are the attitude by which we're living our life and the of a servant and humbleness and meekness,

Nathan: 25:29

voluntary servant, servant, right, right,

Bob: 25:33

not trying to be greater than somebody so you can have more power than them if you are in a higher position. Remember that you're in that position to benefit everybody underneath you, not to lord it over them,

Nathan: 25:47

right? And according to Jesus, the only people trustworthy with positions of legitimate power, of actual power, a position that is actually over someone else, are those who are servants at heart,

Bob: 26:04

servants at heart. And if you look at the heart of God, he's the greatest servant of all, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the sustainer of all life, lives to serve and to give to others. And Jesus is saying, Those who will be citizens of My Kingdom will have the same attitude and the same heart. So let it be so. Yes, let it be so. So you were talking about moving on to where we were, I believe was Matthew chapter 11, correct? Yes,

Nathan: 26:38

that's what I hope we come back to.

Bob: 26:39

Let's go back. Can you read that? So

Nathan: 26:41

this, and you just basically mentioned it, that God is a servant at heart, and Jesus makes that claim directly. Come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.

Bob: 27:11

Yeah, come unto me, right? Is the invitation of Jesus. He's inviting all of us to come unto him, all those who are weary and heavy laden life has a way of just making us weary, and it does. You know, traveling through life's journey, guilt, shame, the circumstances that we just passed through, they make us weary. And Jesus is inviting us to come to him, and he's meek and lowly at heart, and He promises us that we will find rest in him. So he's inviting us to come to Him and find that rest, and oftentimes that that weariness is result of misconceptions about God. It's the result of religion putting toxic religion, I want to call it putting unnecessary burdens on our shoulders, or perhaps not showing us the pathway to Christ to find relief from those burdens, to find the rest that he's offering us, that, as we talked about, you know, Blessed are the poor in spirit, right? Then there's the kingdom of God. Blessed are those who sense their need, right? Blessed are the mourn? Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted that that mourning, that experiencing sorrow for sin or sorrow for remorse, for the things that we've done and then finding comfort in God. Because God wants to wrap his arms around us. God wants to forgive us. God wants to heal us. We don't. He's not trying to condemn us. He's not pushing away. So we're finding rest in Him. This is the rest that Christ is coming not calling us to, not just a physical rest. He's talking about this spiritual rest that every human being needs. Yes, and that's where it's found. Is found in Christ, the Savior of the world.

Nathan: 29:03

You know, one of the things that comes to mind as we talk about the burden of life is the burden of maintaining a facade. In other words, the burden of keeping up a self image, the burden of being a social media influencer in our little circle, when I'm not talking about like a professional influencer, but we, we have a society that's obsessed with maintaining a certain curated public image, a reputation, a reputation, yes, and Part of that is the burden of trying to to, you know, maintain that, to manicure it to to, I'm thinking of of like a museum that you have. The museum has certain pieces on display in it. You got to keep them dusted and keep the lights up. And curate that curation is a burden. What happens if somebody opens the closet in the museum and sees the dead bodies, right? And we're worried about that, that what if this curated image, what if it cracks

Bob: 30:16

Well, again, society, the world we live in, focuses on the outside, right, on reputation on the outside, but God is interested on the inside. Yes, this is, this is the difference reputation versus character, right, right? So God is interested in in rebuilding who you are as an individual, your character. That's why this, these principles that we're talking about embracing, is, is the process to a flourishing life, because we can open up that door Yes, and we find a safe God yes, that that it's okay for him to see, because he's it's okay to be seen, and then he wants to heal, because only he again, can give us the heart transplant. Only he can give us this new life, right? This is what's being offered us again in Christ, a new life, a new beginning. The Bible says, If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Yes. So you want to be made new. You want the joy of being made new. Embrace the principles that Jesus is laying out here. Sense your need, turn to God. It's okay to mourn, because you can be comforted in His presence. And then he will impart meekness or humility, which is really a sign of strength in God's eyes, not a sign of weakness.

Nathan: 31:41

Yes. And this Jesus is outlining the pathway to be coming authentically beautiful people,

Bob: 31:48

amen. So we're the same way inside the house as you are outside the house, yes.

Nathan: 31:52

So no more maintaining the facade, no more curating what we look like. We don't have to worry about that anymore.

Bob: 32:00

Well, that's, that's a joy and peaceful thought in itself.

Nathan: 32:04

Yes, exactly. We can be at peace in the world, because nobody's going to open a door that we have to run away from. Nobody's going to, you know, the picture's not going to fall off the wall and they're going to see the plaster holes in the plaster behind it, the authenticity that God will birth in us of being a genuinely beautiful person. That's that's this kingdom thing taking place in the human heart.

Bob: 32:31

That's beautiful. You know, I think of in Jeremiah, when God told Jeremiah to go to the potter's house and go to the potter's house. And so he goes down there, and he's watching the potter make a clay vessel in the in the the vessel, you know, cracks or, you know, it's just not forming, right? So then he puts it back together, and, you know, the clay, and he moves it around. Then he redoes it. And turns out that it's a beautiful vessel. And he, and God, says, So are you in my hands? Right? He's the potter. We're the clay, so just allow him to remake you. Put yourself in his hands. It's a safe place to be

Nathan: 33:15

and going. We

Bob: 33:16

don't have the hands to remake ourselves. We don't. We can try. We put band aids here and band aids there. But God has the ability to make us whole and to make us new.

Nathan: 33:26

We can try, and we can make a big mess. Oh,

Bob: 33:30

come unto me, all you that labor are heavy laden, right? We're weary of trying.

Nathan: 33:35

Yes, you know, this brings up something that I learned in my, you know as a follower of Jesus, struggling, falling, failing so many times, especially in the context of a religion that basically I understood at that point to be fix yourself, religion,

Bob: 33:58

which most religions are built on right about all. If you really pull back the page and look underneath it, it's really mostly about a picture of a God that you have to fix yourself to come to God. Yes.

Nathan: 34:11

And here's the problem, and that's a lie. It's a lie. The other problem with that is that a fix it yourself religion, what I end up making is a mess,

Bob: 34:24

worse than what you started, worse than

Nathan: 34:26

what I started with. So if I try to be good, try to sort of pull the pieces together, because what I'm working with to make that happen is is flawed. The thing that I produce is even more messed

Bob: 34:40

up? Well, you you mentioned that you have some friends, and I do that. Say that they they are recovering from religion, right? And as you listen to them, you can't help but see the recovering from religion, from this process of trying to live up this. Something that they can't live up to. So really, you're never good enough, right? You're never good enough. So then the emphasis is, try harder, right? Just try harder. Work harder. But the harder you work, the more miserable you become, because you're you're laboring again. Come unto me, all you that labor are heavy laden. You're laboring in your own strength, right? And Jesus is inviting us to come to Him, because through Him, we find true rest. Through Him, we find peace with God, because he's our Savior, and he's the one and has the power to put us back together, right? And that's that's sorry, that's just joy in itself to think of that thought. It's not about you, right? It's about him. Yes, it's about what he's offering you, right? You're broken. He can put you together, right? Yes, you're full of guilt shame. He can remove it exactly, and replace it, right? Joy and peace, and

Nathan: 36:03

if the if I'm the one trying to shape myself into what I think God looks like, those are the those are the people we witness, or perhaps become ourselves, who have lots of religious talk, but are selfish, self centered, unkind, rude. That's what happens when we pursue some kind of religious goal and do the forming work ourselves. When we do the forming work ourselves, we become deformed and sometimes to an astonishing level. So the best way to make bad people is bad religion.

Bob: 36:51

I don't mean a laugh like that's a that's an interesting thought, that's a sad thought, right? Can you repeat that? For me, the

Nathan: 36:59

best way to make bad people is bad religion?

Bob: 37:03

Yeah, it's, you know, that little saying that religion is a good place to hide from God, you know? So we end up having all these coverings and so on and so forth. But the good news is that Jesus invites us to come to him, right, right, and that's important. We need to accept the offer, yes, and move in that direction, as we would say, lean in right. Lean into this love shaped life. Accept that offer. Don't hold back. Just accept the offer. And again, back to that statement by George Mueller. Don't allow the sense of your unworthiness to hinder you from experiencing the promises of God to you, right? So don't allow whatever might be hindering you from leaning in, whether it's a sense of your unworthiness, whether it's something else, don't allow that to hinder you from experiencing what God is offering you, and that is complete restoration, forgiveness, removal of your guilt and shame, a new heart to live a new life, living life in a flourishing way. Yeah,

Nathan: 38:10

that's good stuff. And in sort of that piece, in a little bit connected to what we were talking about just before, is acknowledging that sometimes the path to wholeness that God in fact not sometimes the path to wholeness that Jesus is holding out is slow work. Sometimes, as human beings ourselves or in religious circles, we have a hard time tolerating slow work, but slow deep work, along the principles of flourishing that Jesus lays out, is genuine work, so it may not produce the surface results that we may want the short timetable of surface turnaround, superficial turnaround, but in the long run, the product is genuine and beautiful and deep.

Bob: 39:09

Well, let's maybe we can define slow work and maybe fast work, yeah, fast work is if we're blessed are the poor in spirit. If we're sensing our need of God and turning to God, blessed are those that mourn for they should be comforted. If we're sensing our need of God, we're turning to God. God is embracing us, fast work, right? If we're acknowledging our sins before God, God is forgiving us, fast work, right? But the promise of restoration, right, is, is the work of a lifetime.

Nathan: 39:43

Yes, that's

Bob: 39:46

it's not as slow as we're seeing the Spirit of God work on our heart, our perceptions are changing. We're coming, coming more sensitive to what we would say right doing is things aligning with God's ways. Versus what we used to do right and be numb to perhaps right, doing right. So now God is restoring our senses. That's a process, it is and but it's a work of a lifetime, but it's still a process that we can sense and experience right, right? You know, when you get when you get a bad cut, you can watch pretty much the healing stages. It doesn't heal overnight, right? But there's that cut is also in watching the heal the stages, there's a positive to it, because you're realizing where it's come from, right, right? You had a wound and it hurt, and now it's, there's these healing stages. It's, not hurting as much. You're watching the skin be restored. So there's a blessing in seeing it's really a miracle in itself. So there's this blessing in being restored to God, because we're still remembering where we came from and how far God has brought us. Yes,

Nathan: 40:55

so, and that's a great example of the slow and fast that I'm talking about the fast piece. If we take that cut, let's say it's a it's a gash on our arm, and we sew it closed and put makeup over it, what can happen is under that makeup, the germs that never got removed from that wound, the cleaning that needed to take place doesn't take place because I didn't give it patience or take the steps. What happens is out of my sight, an infection begins to take place, and the wound expands, but I don't see it because I've got it stitched closed and covered over. That's the fast and sometimes in religious circles, and sometimes other circles, we do fast work, where we just cover over the surface. We pretend like we're not as broken as we really are. We try to pull it together religiously. We yell at the family on the way to to a religious service, and then we show up with smiles. That's fast work, fast and shallow, quick and dirty. We're not really the beautiful people we look like we are on Facebook or when we walk through the doors of the building for the service, because we've just bandaged it over, we're really festering and miserable at home, yelling at our kids and our spouse and falling apart at work. That's what I'm talking about, as fast work that's superficial kind of stitch it together for the people to see. So what we sometimes have a hard time holding up to is the slower work, the maybe things don't look fixed up as much as I'd like to as fast, but if I'm allowing the Spirit of God to do the fixing piece. The wound is healing from the inside out, the fighting will stop, the marriage will look good, etc, but maybe not initially as fast, because I'm focusing on the slow deep work instead of the fast fix up superficial work. That's the piece I'm talking about that sometimes we can be tempted to say, but I want this now, yeah, and we just need to stop, let go of the speed and lean into the process. Yeah,

Bob: 43:10

it's beautiful the process. I like that word because it's a process. It's a journey with God, and it's a process, process, the healing process to restoration, right? I think of that scripture verse that says, humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. Right? So we're talking about humility. We're talking about meekness that God wants to put in our hearts. So we're humbling ourselves and putting ourselves in the hand of a God who loves us and has promised to restore us completely, right? Yes, and enjoy the journey. I just want to encourage everyone who's listening to this podcast that wherever you are in this journey with God, to just embrace Him and allow Him to embrace you, and allow him to begin the process to heal you, or perhaps you're further along in the healing process, allow that journey to just keep going. It's it's a wonderful experience. This is the God. Religion is not just a bunch of creeds. It's an experience with the Creator Himself. Well, maybe

Nathan: 44:11

religion is but the way of Jesus is, thank

Bob: 44:13

you, so that's good. So it's this relationship with God, yes, that's what He's inviting us, into and embrace that relationship again, the people that were listening to Jesus on the side of the mountain were broken, bruised, oppressed people, all different types of people, and they were listening to him, and he was inviting all of them to come. So whoever you are, wherever you are, Jesus is inviting you to come to Him, accept that invitation and allow him to give you what he's offering you. And

Nathan: 44:48

that's the experience piece. Because at the end, I think we just need to wrap up this episode. At the end, we talk about see experience live. And I think that's the experience piece that we respond that invitation. I think the C piece is again that we see the beautiful God who embraces us where we're at the God as the lines from that song I read at the beginning run to the father again and again. Just keep running. Keep leaning in. That's the C piece, just to see that that's who God is. The experience piece, respond that invitation and live. What would you say live is,

Bob: 45:26

well, I want to back up to my cease piece, yes, see, yeah, right. And that is that what I see is the most powerful being in all the universe is the most humble, meek being in all the universe. Oh, that's beautiful. There's power and meekness, like you said, combined in God, yes, right? So he has this power. But what's coming out of him? That the power that's sustaining the world is coming out in this humble meekness, Meek character, right? And this is what he's offering us in this restoration process, yes, to heal us from our pride, to heal us from, you know, our arrogant spirit to give us a heart of meekness and humility. That's what I see. I guess that's part of living. I guess that you can include that living, right, yeah, things are experiencing and living, yes, living by allowing God to give me a humble heart,

Nathan: 46:16

right, letting the forming work of God make me a gentle person

Bob: 46:25

and choose to live a life of servanthood, right,

Nathan: 46:29

which, again, is born as we see, as we experience the process Jesus holds out to us that becomes just The next natural unfolding step in the flourishing life, beautiful so in the next until next time, lean in to the love shaped life.