We live in a rational, intellectual culture that doesn’t acknowledge the role of hearts in making decisions. People do change, yet facts don’t change them. Our beliefs and actions are filtered through our compromise and captivity… that’s why Jesus set the captives free before they could follow him.
Our identity, beliefs, and actions flow from our hearts. What we can “know” is limited by the experience of our hearts. That historic baggage is the lens through which we view the world. Jesus distilled it down most succinctly when talking to the people most deaf to his Kingdom Message:
John 8:43-44 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires.
Jesus attributed their hardness of heart to the father they belonged to. The easiest way to awaken isn’t changing your facts, beliefs or behavior, it’s changing the father you belong to. The haunt of the spiritual sleepiness is the pillow of religion, self-righteousness, and dead works. The root cause of the deaf-and-blind-to-truth phenomenon is the allegiance of our hearts, not a lack of information.
1Cor 6:19-20 – You are not your own; you were bought at a price.
Once we have the right Father, there is an assist in grace to change everything else. We would like to think that’s an instantaneous process, but it’s not. Becoming a disciple who follows Jesus includes deaths and resurrections, fiery trials, and a lifetime of choices and change. The “will of God” is dynamic, it flows from a steady stream of conversations and changing circumstances. Father’s mercy and manna are new every morning.
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Eat this bread (Your Purpose), drink this cup (Your Cross) 1 Cor 11:26
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Laying down your life Mt 16:24-25
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If indeed we share in his sufferings 1Pet 4:12-13
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In order that we may also share in his glory. Rom 8:17
Choosing the Cross
Why would anyone choose this bumpy diet of change and trials? Very simple, we endure the cross for the joy set before us. The price of this nomadic lifestyle of growth and change is motivated by the life, the living words, the authentic purpose, and the fruit that remains.
The alternative of choosing my own ways or my old father is death, emotionally and literally. People in business get the life ground out of them by the boring routine, the setbacks, and the never-ending business processes that are missing Kingdom purpose. It’s a dry and thirsty land, it’s the letter of the law that kills. It’s the hamster wheel of busyness, performance, self-effort, and introversion that turns into inoperable cancers.
Choosing Life
Our tradition is that once saved, we’re done with decisions. But the kingdom reality is that we choose conversations, mid-course corrections, living words, and the life of Jesus every day. It’s called sonship. More than a one-shot identity, it’s a lifestyle, a realization that once you have it all figured out – you don’t.
Your safe space isn’t your theology, business plan, process, bank account, resume, or routine. It’s connection, it’s Father’s Council, it’s the flow of living words and living water. It’s the experience of co-laboring with Father.
Our “plan” is doing what Father is doing. It’s anything but static. Best of all, it’s fun; an adventure that thrills our hearts and connects us with who we really are. Sonship is all about the experience of hearing Father say, “Well done!” in this life! Sonship is about the satisfaction of finishing His Work and being spiritually fed while doing it, Jn 4:34.
The Invitation to Sonship:
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What if your business was an integral part of Father’s strategy?
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What if you embraced intentional Reformation of People, businesses, Cities, and Nations.
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What if you volunteered to do what Father is doing?
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…to have clarity in your unique role in His specific purpose.
We help businesspeople find purpose, but it doesn’t primarily come through coaching. The place to find purpose, strategy, and tactics is conversations with Father in the Council. The “win” we celebrate is when you hear Father’s voice for yourself.
John Garfield
