When the cat is away the mice come out to play...

In Philippians 2:12 Paul encourages the church to obey whether he is present or absent. And we spent a good chunk of time on Sunday night considering the ramifications of presence. The perception of absence has typically lead to the devolution of man's integrity. But in truth, God is now present in our lives and we are called to live according to that reality.

Also, we are called to be imitators of God who go into the world with his presence. Jesus is our example of being incarnate... becoming present in other's world.

I've been reading a book by Michael Frost called Incarnate. He starts his book by saying:

"The core idea of the Christian faith is the incarnation: God took on flesh and dwelled among us. To other religions such and idea is considered odd or, worse, inconceivable or, even worse, blasphemous. And yet as centrally as we hold the idea of the incarnation, there is a grave danger that we are leaving the implications of the great idea behind us. Whereas Jesus Christ was God incarnate and his church was called to an incarnation lifestyle, today we find ourselves drifting towards excitation--the defleshing of our faith. We have been moving through a disembodying process that has left us feeling rootless and disengaged, connected to our world more and more through screens rather then face to face."

So consider this... Are you living with an awareness of God's presence and are you in turn being his presence in the lives of the people around you?

I'm praying that you and and I can answer "yes" to both of those questions.