Jefferson Bethke

Time continues to fly by here at Link Year. Just a few short weeks until Thanksgiving. Then Christmas follows only 3 weeks after that and my year is half over. Really makes me want to use my time well because Link Year will be over before I know it.
This week we have had the incredible opportunity to listen to Jefferson Bethke speak to us. This is the first speaker who is here a full week, which is neat because he can really go deep into certain topics. Jeff is amazing at communicating and keeps his audience drawn in. Our 45 minute sessions felt like they were only 10 minutes. One of the topics he spoke on was how the Bible should be seen as a story or narrative. If we look at it as a narrative, when we read certain parts we have to see how they fit into the whole story. We can't just take what we want. When reading a story, you don't start in the middle. You start in the beginning. When we read little bits all over and choose what we take from the Bible it becomes like a math book in that we can create formulas to say whatever we want. We need to read it in the scope of the whole story. I have never put much thought into this before. I often have seen the Bible as a bunch of little separate stories. However, now when I read from the Bible I will constantly be thinking of how it all fits into the scope of God's whole story.
Another topic that Jeff talked about was temple. In the beginning heaven and earth were created to be together. They were to be one in the same. However, at the fall of man, they ripped apart, but not completely. They are still together wherever there is a temple. The temple is where heaven and earth meet. In the Old Testament, the temple was a building. However, in the New Testament Jesus became where heaven and earth meet - the temple. That is why the Pharisees questioned his authority so much. He claimed to be able to do what only the temple could do, such as forgiveness of sins and debt collection. The temple was now in flesh and could go out to the world and further the area where heaven and earth meet. After Jesus leaves earth, guess who becomes the temple. Christians do.  We as believers are now where heaven and earth meet and have the job of increasing this area. God's goal is not us eventually going up to heaven. His goal is to fully restore earth to what it was. The fact that we as believers have Jesus living inside of us and we are were heaven and earth meet should drastically change how we live. How different should we be than the rest of the world? I was pretty convicted on that point this week. If I am God's temple - literally where heaven and earth meet - then I want to honor and glorify him in any way possible. It really puts my life goals and want I want to accomplish into perspective. They are pretty small in comparison to God's plan.
I wish I could share all that Jefferson spoke on but unfortunately that would take hours. So I will leave you with that.

Thanks for reading!