STRATEGIC DISRUPTION

STRATEGIC DISRUPTION is my thought of the day as I contemplate the need for change in our society, churches, homes and government.

Have you ever felt so vexed in your spirit by something that you know is wrong and yet there seems to be nothing you can do about it?  Perhaps its a wrong you feel in government, politics, your work space, your parents or even the injustices of discrimination around you.

You know things are ‘off”, not quite right, out of sorts or even completely missing the mark.  You want to “fix” them but how can you when you are just one person in a sea of billions?

Your desire for transformation in the world around you begins to grow like a hunger inside you.  Despite the insatiable desire for change, you know that timing is essential to the birth of a revolution or strategic disruption.  If you speak up too soon and the leaders around you are not ready for change, you may find yourself being persecuted or judged for having an insubordinate, disruptive, dissonant or even divisive spirit.

Your intent is good, but your timing is off. 

If you do nothing, you fear impending catastrophe or further hypocrisy that may lead to greater harm.  If you do something out of sequence, you know it will harm YOU instead of fixing THEM OR IT.

We see this especially in politics.  Clearly, things need to change.  We want change.  We can all see the little foxes spoiling the vine and the crows robbing the seeds of harvest planted by our forefathers.  But what do we do about it?  What does scripture teach us?

When people without righteous cause feel hurt, misguided or manipulated, they fight.  The problem is that most individuals fight in the flesh and use weapons that create emotional fractures. 

And the weapons that create the most harm are not always are weapons of gunpowder or blade, but instead they are words that cut to the marrow and leave a devastating sea of carnage. 

Today’s “fighter” seems to start with a rant on Facebook or Twitter rallying forces or spirits that scripture would describe as familiar.  Once a following is started, the rant becomes a chant where their followers learn to mimic their words, reflect their selfish ambition and resonate their greed for power.  When the chant becomes a stand, lines are drawn and sides are divided.  When the stand becomes a plan, war is waged and fools rally.

The fool thinks it wise to cast their pearls of wisdom to other fools online who resonate their ideologies or viewpoints.  Many a fool has amassed millions of followers to their truth on social media gathering waves and waves of foolish subscribers to support their beliefs or ideologies.  They think their viewpoints are ground in wisdom simply due to sheer influence of numbers they have amassed. What does this yield?  Fools entertaining fools.  The world becomes their oyster and Facebook becomes their platform of choice blinding them to the truth that they can not see.  FOOLish alignment with kindred spirits of foolish imaginations will only beget more fools.

These types of  “Facebook vigilantes” think they are creating a revolution with their numbers, but in truth, they are creating a platform of division and their currency is selfish ambition.  And yet, the hunger for more invades our soul like rush hour traffic on a downtown highway.  The more fools are “heard” or “liked” the more they feel validated and so they become louder, braver and more convinced that “likes” is proof that their philosophies are best.

And in us all, we fall prey to the noise of the fool, spending our precious time reading their prose, engaging in their traffic and allowing ourselves to become jaded by their currency.

So what did Jesus do when the traffic became destructive to the greater things of God?  What did he do when the “popular thing” or the most “liked” motives were that of profit over worship.  What did he do when the busyness OUTSIDE of the temple distracted followers from the true worth of the message within the temple?  When external transactions or conversations became more valuable than the internal transformations of the temple, Jesus became a time-bomb of truth that exploded on the scene.

He was ONE, but he was mighty.   Scriptures tell us in John 2:15 that Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables.

External transaction VS. Internal Transformation

In Jesus’ days, the temple was a place for the Gentiles to grow, mature, and worship God in a most Holy way.  Unfortunately, the greed of businessmen saw opportunity in monetizing the temple and choosing to create a mall of transactions on the outside of the temple of transformation.  The mall became so profitable and crowded by the “traffic” of visitors that the internal place of worship, the Holy of Holies, was suddenly unreachable by the people who needed it most.  Those who were hurting, those who traveled through years of pain and heartache, those who were weary and broken, couldn’t get into the Holy of Holies due to the mall of transactions that took precedence.

To unclog the traffic and create passageway into the temple, Jesus, ONE man, became a SUPERman of power, disruption, strength and courage as he turned over the tables and created enough commotion that a pathway to the inner court could be accessed.  He didn’t target specific people in his frustration, instead, he targeted the intent of the transactions they were having.  His explosion on the scene was not to hurt but to heal the original intent of the temple where transformation was to take supremacy.

Today, we are all clogged and outnumbered by distractions and noise that keep us from entering into the Holy of Holies or that place of purest worship where the presence of God is able to transform us from the inside out.  God is trying to draw us INto His courts but we are, too often, distracted by the transactions or traffic outside our temple.

1 Corinthians 3:16 says, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?”

If Jesus was so passionate about clearing a path to the temple of His day, do you not believe that He is equally passionate about clearing a way to your heart so that others can gain access to the truth that YOUR LIFE will bring them.

You may be frustrated by the world around you, but don’t forsake the transformation that God is wanting to make within you.  You can’t change THEM, but you can change YOU.

What “transactions” are you allowing to take place around you that are preventing the transformation that needs to be had within you?

The enemy of your soul wants to corrupt your temple with busyness and distractions of greed, power and selfish motives.  He wants you to grow more and more hungry for profits over peace and seeks to create a crowded barrier of entry that blocks your purest worship and your potential for transformation.   He wants your time focussed on searching for success so that you forget about the significance of worship and the intimacy that is found only in HIM.  The hunger and validation you seek from your peers whether online or in daily activities could be taking up precious time that could be spent in His presence, hearing His voice, and getting His wisdom.

Don’t be confused by “likes” or “followers” or “traffic”.  The analytics of modern marketing are NOT the analytics of spiritual mastery.  Just because THEY “like” it, it doesn’t mean it is good.  However, if HE declared it, IT IS GOOD.

Jesus saw this same battle in his day where people were distracted by external success and he eventually exploded on the scene to point the way to internal significance.  He disrupted the “normal” that had become acceptable around him.

Was Jesus dissonant in leadership as he waged spiritual war against the darkness of man’s mortality and sin that day?  YES.  But in his dissonance to the world, he was RESONATING TRUTH of the Father and reflecting the inner courts of peace found only in a temple filled with the presence of God.

As I meditate today, I am reminded of Jesus’ radical effort to correct the errors of the temple.  He seemed to be a such a disrupter in the courts, but was actually a path-maker to the presence of God, where His Glory could be manifest and poured out upon the people.

YOU are the temple of God.  What are you surrounded by today that is impeding the flow of His Spirit?  What is taking up space in your courtyard that needs to be removed so that others can be touched by His spirit through you?  Are you reachable or is there a wall of traffic or busyness that separates you from the masses? Are you too distracted by transactions that you are limited in transformation?  If Jesus came to the outer court of your life, what would he say is limiting your focus, corrupting your purity or distracting you from receiving the FULLNESS OF HIS GLORY?

Let this word be a disruption to your status quo, turn over the tables of your heart and prepare you to be a more purified, accessible and transformational temple of the Holy Spirit today.

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