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Tim’s Proverbs

Protected: Cancelled… Offense… The Abused… Forgiveness… Faithfulness…

April 18, 2023UncategorizedKubacki’s I Angola

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Proverbs

The bible speaks of the self-focused, never-satisfied, five-senses “flesh” (the physical body) and how it has the ability to destroy the real, inner person, which is “housed” in the body. The emphasis in much of the church today on the appearance and health of our body and on what we experience with our senses (the flesh), is a concerning emphasis indeed, and evidence of our embrace of the superficial…

Rural Angola is a world of margin. There is never hurry or “too much to do and too little time”. There is always time for a conversation or interruption. Everyone gets plenty of sleep, as they follow the design of the day, typically resting or sleeping for 11-12hr/day. Again, our attractive technology and “progress” has promised leisure, margin and happiness and has caused over-commitment to the irrelevant, resulting in stress unknown in rural Angola. Productivity in the west has yielded an ever-hungry covetousness that no previous culture has known. I marvel (from Africa) that some of the candidates in this year’s presidential election in the US (2016) are appealing to the voters by communicating that the US economy needs improved. The richest country/population in history…

I’ve come to realize that with virtually every purchase we make (or consider), we add superficial distraction to our lives (“worried and bothered by so many things”), which moves us further away from our Father’s unseen Kingdom and the conscious appreciation of His presence. I’ve heard so many American Jesus-lovers (including me) over the years wonder why they don’t know “peace that passes understanding”, and I believe the answer lies in the overwhelming distraction that inevitably accompanies prosperity. This rural Angolan culture knows little of distraction, as the people here make almost no purchases at all (our village has no store) and peace is more prevalent here than in the US, even in the midst of great need and suffering.

I’ve lived among people experiencing profound tragedy, significant loss (including death of a loved one), severe acute and chronic pain, and none of these pushes us away from our Father and the life for which we were created more strongly than does material prosperity.

When the “seen” becomes our passion, we have turned our back on our Father’s Kingdom (can’t serve two masters), who has designed this life like a parable, where only those hungry for Him will seek out and find Him (to seek one thing requires the neglect/abandonment of other pursuits). The riches of this life are unseen (God himself and His fruit – Gal 5.22-23) and when we focus on the seen, we are distracted from the unseen. To “walk in the Spirit” is to follow an unseen God, to listen to a “still, small voice”, and to emphasize the unseen priorities of His kingdom. Would our priorities, our passions, our purchases, etc change at all if God’s Spirit left us? It was for our benefit that Jesus said that one cannot serve God and money…

Humility is such a necessary component of a Jesus ministry. We are not called to have all the answers, to fix all the problems, to lead crusades, or to have it all together, but rather we are called to be witnesses of the impact of encountering the risen Jesus and living in His presence. I must remember that, in the eternal scheme of things, I am quite insignificant (many people in Angola haven’t even heard of the United States, let alone me). It’s taken me more than a few years to realize and embrace this insignificance, and to see that we are called to have a small impact on a few insignificant others, all of whom are cherished by our Father. Little opportunities to make a small impact on a few are always before us…

We will encounter on our journey a few who are hungry for Jesus, and it is to these few that we must devote ourselves. Jesus prioritized Peter, John and James and we, also, are called to deeply impact a few… Let’s keep our eyes open today for the one or two… the one or two that we can befriend, who will receive from us, and who we would die for.

When we are serving Jesus well, we won’t know how we are making an impact, as we won’t be interested in counting our fruit (numbers), but we will be consumed with the others’ benefit and our Father’s pleasure. Humility isn’t interested in personal success or ambitious goals because its focus is “other” (it won’t even remember what it did yesterday because there are many to serve and encourage today).

An outward, today focus is the key to kingdom life! This focus is not the key to happiness, as it quite costly, but it is in this focus that we find our Father’s pleasure (quite different from personal happiness). Many of the early disciples suffered miserably and lost their lives while in their Father’s pleasure…

So much in this world aims to steal our passion for Jesus and we need help to maintain “our first love”. We aren’t necessarily empowered by Sunday speeches, rituals or programs, but from sober connection with like-minded Jesus-lovers we will always find encouragement. This encouragement from kindred spirits pushes us… to further abandonment from the superficial pursuit of self-fulfillment, and will empower us to continue to follow hard after Jesus, no matter the cost/hardship/pain. Who can you join with today to encourage, helping each other to give your lives away for the sake of another?

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