We Need To Stop Using The 1940 Playbook

This morning I was listening to two of my children having a discussion concerning saddles in Minecraft. My 7 year old daughter was explaining to my six year old son that you cannot craft a saddle but instead you have to find it in a storage trunk or by fishing. My son was insistent that this saddle could be grafted with the right ingredients. Suddenly my daughter turned to me:

"Daddy, can you craft a saddle?"

I will admit that I "play" Minecraft with my children as a way of "bonding" with them in what interests them. But my knowledge of the game is restricted to mining, defending myself against bad creatures and planting crops. I like mining. So I had no idea about saddles and told my daughter as much. She quickly turned from me and spoke into the air:

"Hey Google, is it possible to craft a saddle in Minecraft?"

And Google gave a lengthy response of why it is not possible to craft a saddle and what a person can do to obtain one. 

Now, if you don't have a clue what I am talking about you are proving the point of this post. Things in this world are in constant motion, in society, in technology and in how people do things like relationship. Trying to stop these changes is as useful as trying to stop a speeding Mack truck by stepping in front of it. We need to suck it up and try to keep up. However, there is one thing that doesn't change.

Our Father never changes and the purposes of what he has created never change. For example, we were created to need people. Isolating ourselves will cause us mental distress. If we don't ever want to be with people it is a sign that there is already a brokenness in our function. I am not referring to a desire for alone time. I need alone time. Most of us do. But we are also designed to need people.

The principles of the Kingdom never change but methodology does. Looking at the example of my children, there is a new way to acquire knowledge. No longer are dad and mom the only source of knowledge. No longer do children need to hear the answer for "Why is the sky blue?", "because God made it that way". That may be the underlying reason but if a seven year old daughter asks that question to Google she will receive a length and complete answer from science. So, parents need to shift from being the source of knowledge to teaching children how to discover trustworthy sources of knowledge.

Kingdom people need to make this shift as well. The principles remain the same because they have been established by the unchanging King. But we cannot continue to operate from the 1940 play book. Methodology changes. Could this be why Jesus never healed two people the same way? Could it be that our Father wants us to use the imagination he gave us to see all possibilities in presenting his love to the nations?

There are certain methods used in the past, such as fear and manipulation, that should never have been used. We are dealing with the consequences of these past methods in the closed doors of today. The way people communicate is different today. The way people live out relationships is different. The need for relationship is still real but how we do it can be different.

There was a time that the Church cared for "the least of these" by building hospitals, orphanages and retirement homes, but the government has taken over most of these. But government is not good at relationship and we are. James says it is our purpose to "love and value our neighbour as we love and value ourselves". The question is, what does that look like today?

Preaching on the street corner has been changed up to preaching on social media. Gathering for worship has been shifting from a physical gathering to a digital gathering. Not all these changes are the most positive so it is up to us to lean into Father and his wisdom to find the best method today. The same is true for relationship.

I will be honest, I use many methods in building relationships but the most effective is still the face to face. There is something encouraging and pleasurable in the embrace of someone you love. There is something wonderful in seeing the twinkle in their eye. But the best method does not mean the only method because the best is not always available. There is great value in the encouragement of a video call, of the old method of a phone call, in the newer method of a text message. But it goes beyond just these kind of relationships.

I don't agree with it but there was a time when the methodology of communicating to the world their need for Jesus was to condemn them for their rebellion. We were mean and hateful, most of the time. We feared their sin and that fear provoked an unholy reaction. We need to seek Father for his wisdom for loving people who are unable to see in an ever darkening world. How do we give them Jesus' invitation in a way that they know it is sincere, better than what they have and what they desperately need and want? The old playbook does not work in a world that is bent on doing what it wants to do. 

For sure we need revival. But it's not what most of us think of as revival. We need to be revived to hearing Father's voice, to relying on him instead of our own understanding, to desiring his heart above everything else. We need to be revived to this dependent relationship and then from it's overflow the world will see the love of Father and will hear and be attracted to this invitation to drink from the Living Water. Methodology may change but the needs remain the same.