Im not big into pets. Since being bitten by a poodle, thieved by pigeons (I’ve lost many hours of sleep and several tasty sandwiches to these pests), used as toilet-paper by several dismissive felines and abused by animals generally, there is no love lost between me and “pets”. I mean, I love animals as much as the next person but I could never eat a whole one! I will admit, however, that over the years I have been partial to a few pet theologies.
In my younger years it was all the rage to speak about the “restoration of the Apostolic”. Dudley Daniels and co reminded us all that getting outside perspective from apostlic teams makes for healthy churches. I loved the visiting speakers, the “Bloem” conferences and the stories that we heard from all over the world.
At about the same time we had the “Toronto
Being a part of the Josh Gen family has bred me to love community. Jesus and his body are inseparable, to love God is to love his people. If God’s kingdom is my call then his church is the vehicle I should be driving in. I have been loved and forever shaped by the family I am in and their company has been my sanity.
Along my way I have rubbed shoulders with those who will not settle for ordinary. The persistently discontented contenders for the supernatural power of God. They have rubbed off on me and I have in turn rubbed off on others. We are those who will not settle for less than the “greater works” which Jesus promised. I have loved the excitement and adventure of participating with God to perform supernatural feats.
Still further along I was undone when I learned that it was possible for God to say “I don’t know you” at the end of a long journey marked by supernatural exploits if my motivation were not love. That a life of adventure would just be a jangling, raucous noise if my actions were not compelled by love. And so I loved the poor and the broken, the walks along dusty, dirty streets and I cared for the fatherless and motherless children.
And where have all these journeys lead me to? Right here, to this realisation. The word of God is like a healthy meal. All the food groups are there: the proteins, the carbohydrates, the veggies, all of them. We can’t pick and choose the bits which we prefer and toss the rest to someone else to eat. The gospel message and the kingdom lifestyle is a beautiful whole. One small part of it is true only when it finds its place in the whole meal. It doesn’t matter what I may feel a specific “calling” to, whether it be to a ministry of mercy or to a life of supernatural miracles, the whole gospel is still true for me and I would do well to mind every part of it. The gospel has no dispensable extras. All the messages spoken by Jesus compliment each other, they do not exclude one another and so leave me to sit in judgement about which ones are true.
It is not only those pesky poodles that I am wary of now. I have had more than one pet theology bite me in the bum since then. So if its all the same to you, I’ll stick to following my Master and loving the people that I’m with and leave the pets (of every variety) to fend for themselves J
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