This really has a lot to do with a series of posts I did a couple weeks ago called, “It’s All in the Genes.” Go back about ten posts and you’ll find the four part series. Or click the previous link to be taken directly there. But, this newest series takes it a bit further by talking about what it is that actually instills values and vision into the body of believers at a given church. And there’s no debating it, it’s—
HEAT!
I’m not talking about how serious people get in the summer verses the winter, or how things happen when the mercury goes above 100 degrees, I’m talking about the heat we all feel when pressures and trials and hurts come our way. Those things will usually make us either better or bitter. And it really shouldn’t be a mystery to anyone who has lived more than a few years on this planet.
But it is.
A mystery.
I can think of a whole lot of leaders in churches and businesses or even social groups who indicate a longing to have the values and teamwork and unity that they see in another organization. They’d gladly pay money to bring someone in who could teach a magic seminar but it just doesn’t work that way. Truth is, anytime you see values truly being lived out in an organization and vision becoming a reality you can bet the leader identified those values and then lit a fire underneath people in order to get the desired reaction.
Just like chemistry class.
Isn’t that what God does with us?