Journal Rev 1 (all references are from the ESV; changes in punctuation are mine)
Scripture: “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom—priests to his God and Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. AMEN.” Rev 1:5b-6
Observation: What was I redeemed for? Why reconciliation? What purposes do I have? Why do I need to think about this?
Analysis: Line by line; precept by precept; foundations stones and building blocks—I have been thinking hard about these things lately, trying to employ the idea of how I learned stuff as a child to my growth in being a disciple.
In doing this, thinking begets organizing my thoughts; writing stuff down (like I am doing in this Journal) and taking a step by step approach to what I have learned in the Bible. Lastly, because if I can’t talk about it, it is kind of useless, I practice on a few folks and especially my number one disciple, my wife. If I can’t make sense to her, it is unlikely I can make sense to anyone.
Take the above scripture as an example: Using John’s statement, it would seem that I have a primary purpose being a redeemed guy—a Priest to God the Father.
Taking it down to the nitty gritty, what do priests do? Stripping away all the rigamarole, all the hoity toity descriptions of stuff that are mere details, priests pay attention to God—specific and individual attention to God in a priestly like manner.
Even John’s partner in crime, Peter, picked up on this: “…you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, …” (1 Pet 2:5)
Do I pay lip service to this aspect of my Christianity? Is it too difficult to imagine what this means? Is it easier to define my discipleship in terms of works/tasks like: Study, Prayer, Good Works, Giving, Fellowship/Community, etc. because these are readily defined things to do?
I think about descriptions: Be a good soldier for Christ; be a good worker for Christ; be a good evangelist for Christ; be a good servant for Christ are just a few. Where do I hear: Be a good priest for Christ?
Prayer: Father, how do I be a priest to You? The other stuff is hard—and I sort of know what those things are about.
Non Oh, well: more to discover. Open my eyes, O Lord. I want to see you.
Bring revival, AMEN.