I have partaken in ongoing personal and social observations over the past decade. These observations have been based upon the things that have happened when my presence (or person) has been removed from different meetings, places, and people groups (whether through circumstance or by choice).
In those meetings, places, and people groups, I had a role, a title, or a frame of thought—a certain perspective, a particular belief, or a personal voice. But when I left those meetings, places, and people groups, my lack of presence there created a vacuum of sorts, and the ‘space’ I had once occupied was very quickly filled by another person or other people. Think of a hole in the sand at the beach. It only takes a few washings-over of waves for the hole to be completely filled with sand again.
The people who replaced me at the meetings, places, and people groups, began to speak their own perspectives, their own beliefs and their own voices into the spaces that were once mine. And that is how it should have been. That is what happens in life: Our absence creates a void and that void must be filled.
In society at large today, some of the lovers of Jesus have removed themselves from particular meetings, places, and people groups, due to circumstance or personal choice, and that’s ok. But some have removed themselves out of fear of rejection, fear of judgment, fear of persecution—just fear in many forms—and this is actually not ok (I know this is a harsh thing to say, but it’s truth). The problem with living in fear is that fear is not found in love because perfect love casts out ALL fear (1 John 4:18).
To every lover of God: Are you in fear right now, or are you letting Him love you? Are you partaking in the division and anger of this age, or are you partaking in love Himself? Where are you positioned spiritually? Are you in Jesus? If you are in Jesus, there is no fear in Him. He says, “My dear, dear, child, do not fear for I AM WITH YOU.” He says, “Fear not little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom” (Luke 12:32).
We can, in effect, remove ourselves because we don’t understand Who it is that we carry. And the sad part about this is that (again) when we remove ourselves, we create a vacuum around the space we initially occupied and then something or someone else has license to fill it.
Creation is groaning as it waits for the sons of God to be revealed. It is not waiting for the sons of God to abdicate, hide, or apologise for their own existence, or cower in a corner afraid that their very presence might offend someone. If this is you, please stop apologising for yourself. This is not the time nor the hour to do so.
You are His child and you carry the same Spirit inside you that raised Jesus Christ from the dead (Romans 8:10-11). Think on that for a minute! You carry the same Spirit Who hovered over the waters at the beginning of time, and Who brought the cosmos into being through the Word of God. You are the light of the world. You are a city on a hill.
Know who you are and Whose you are and occupy the spaces, places, and circumstances you have been designed to occupy, and watch the world change around you.
Because Souls Are Like Gardens 