17 Rivers, Roots, and Radiance

Jesus used one of the most stunning metaphors in Scripture to describe the Ecosystem:

“Rivers of living water will gush from your inner being.”

– John 7:38

Not “drops.”

Not “memories.”

Not “devotions.”

Not “quiet times.”

Not “church attendance.”

Not “weekly uplift.”

Rivers

A river changes everything it touches. Rivers power cities.

Rivers move rock and soil and even villages if you don’t respect them. Rivers feed, reshape, give life, and carve new landscapes.

Christianity was never meant to be a shallow depression of stagnant sludge, a pond running on a pump to recycle the water, held in by ritual walls.

It was meant to be a river network—a watershed—flowing daily real-time from Christ.

By the way, Christ is NOT Jesus’ last name. It means appropriately “the Anointing,” through and to His people into every corner of human existence.

Roots

There is a recent book by a similar name to Roots that tries to use Ecosystem truth, but cage it within a System. The undeniable Truths of Acts 2:36-47, within programs and attendance, is still the system. In the end it can bear no resemblance to the power and life and love of an Ecosystem. The better understanding of Jesus and His Ecosystem in Psalm 1 describes the Zoe-person as:

Roots grow daily, not weekly.

Roots grow in storms, not under stage lights.

Roots are relational:

Ritual cannot grow roots. It is plastic, like a binky or a toddler toy. It doesn’t grow.

Only DAILY together-life can grow. 1900 years of human attempts to copy and paste “components” of the Ecosystem into their another-world-religion System based on Jesus… has more than proven “it doesn’t work.” It has ended up looking absolutely nothing like Him or what He brought to earth from Heaven. Not to the outside observer. Maybe only from the perspective of the stage, when the lights are in their faces.

Radiance

Moses glowed, even without stage lights, because he was exposed to God’s presence and presents.

The early church glowed because they were exposed to God in each other.

The Ecosystem creates radiance through:

When people live like this, they shine.

Not metaphorically.

Physically.

Socially.

Visibly.

Spiritually.

People notice.

Even snowplow drivers notice and want to move their family to a neighborhood where a bunch of Life happens daily. They even notice from the perch of a snowplow! “This is HOW all men will know you are MY disciples, by the love they see that you have for one another just by watching.”

The Ecosystem is designed to produce radiant humans. It’s hard work, but WORTH IT.

The System is designed to produce well-behaved attendees. At least for 90 minutes before they retreat into their secret home lives, secret work lives, and secret buddy crews.

One changes neighborhoods.

The other changes nothing. It’s worse than that. It hypnotizes us into passivity and dumbs many down. It tricks us into believing that “talking or singing about something” or “hearing about something” has much of anything to do with BEING what and who Father has enabled us to Be. Abba sent His Logos, His Living Word, to Planet Mud to show us Z-Axis Heaven Life, and then give us the Equipment and Instruction Manual to FLY.

Without the Keepers of the System even realizing it, the System actually damages and diminishes what souls are already Saved in their Sunday group. They could have, along with their families and friends, become Whole and Amazing and Gifted. Instead, they know a lot of stuff after many years, of course, if they are paying attention and care. Many do. But they still can’t control their mouths or emotions or habits or time, because the System relegated Jesus to 2 hours, 1.19% of the week. What?! If John or Mary or Bartholomew showed up for interaction with Jesus 1.19% of the time, what would have become of them?

At the same time, the System of Clergy and titles and Sunday attendance meetings in a holy building also provides a camo hiding place for the unconverted who will be surprised when they discover it on their last day. They wouldn’t even know until that last day that attendance, tithing, scripture memory, singing, and mental assent to religious historical well-known truths is NOTHING like dying to self-life and the world for Jesus. And there is no other Biblical definition of saving Faith. Oops. Ouch.

“Perfection” isn’t the topic. That ain’t happening (1John 1).

Sold out and no takebacks or excuses, and if we discover something new to obey, we do. If we botch it up, we “call it what God calls it” (“confess”) without excuse or comparison (1John 3).

And “as we behold Him, we are transfigured into His image, from one degree of glory to another, by the Lord, who is the Spirit.” Help each other watch Jesus!