I'm a Junkie

I confess. I am a podcast junkie. I listen to at least 15 podcast episodes every week. (Anyone else on "Team 1.5 speed"?)

And the input I get from pastors, business leaders, authors, etc. is shaping me. I know it to be true. The stuff going into me is shaping the stuff coming out of me.

So I try to have a really healthy brain-diet.

And every once in a while, something I hear is like a glorious attack on my mind.

Today was one of those days.

I was listening to Carey Nieuwhof interview Glenn Packiam. Somehow--even thought we're not in an election cycle--the concept of nationalism came up. I gripped the steering wheel a bit tighter as I braced myself for what would come next.

And then I heard Packiam articulate something I've always believed but never been able to make clear:

"It is a lesser gospel to believe that the machinery of the state can accomplish the mission of God."

Now, I don't (and I don't believe Glenn did either) mean that "the state" is unimportant, that we shouldn't engage in the political process, or that government is bad. He didn't say any of those things. What he did clarify is that the missio Dei(the mission of God) is a bigger, grander, and higher calling than the government--any government--can fulfill. I wanted to stand up and cheer! But I was driving, so I just marked the time in the podcast episode so I could come and tell you about it.

Glenn went on: "The true gospel is that the feeble, earthen vessel of the church is meant to be the vehicle of the kingdom arriving on earth as it is in heaven."

And I wanted to shout AMEN!

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to have a favorite line in the Lord's Prayer, but if I am... this is it: "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Oh, how I long for that to be true, whether for a moment or a family or a church or a city, I want the effective reign of God's will (cf Dallas Willard) to be the reality in which we live!

Worship can shape your faith community and mine to be part of the fulfillment of that prayer. We can be the answer to the words prayed by our Savior.

Wow.

Not the state.

Not the person next door.

Not that giant church down the road.

Me.

You.

Your church.

My church.

So now I want to listen more and more so that God can trigger in me a deeper passion to bring His Kingdom on earth.

Guess I'm destined to stay a podcast junkie.