Just got done with two and a half days at the “Stirred” conference here in Gainesville. Wow. Seth Barnes opened up the conference Thursday night talking about the differences in our lives from being spiritually stagnant, stirred, shaken to our core, and consumed. Seth was talking about how spiritually hungry we are for more and more of Jesus in our lives.
Here’s how he laid it out:
Stagnant The default level where most of us trend toward. We set the agenda. We’re on autopilot.
Stirred We feel him moving in our lives. We feel his touch. He meets our hunger.
Shaken God turns us upside down. He messes with the order in our lives, moving furniture around.
Consumed God visits us, pays us a call. We make an exchange – my reality for his.
It made me think of something Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” John 12:24 He was telling the disciples that He would die so that others could live.
I’m getting a chance to be around a lot of missionaries, people who are allowing their lives to be consumed so that others lives can be affected. It’s a powerful thing. In fact, I’m allowing my life to be shaken and consumed. I’ve never felt so alive and so filled with purpose.
This world has so many hurting and broken people in need of Jesus. And I’m beginning to realize as my very foundations are being rattled – that Jesus wears clothes and looks a lot like me. Yes, I am carrying Jesus to everyone I meet and I couldn’t think of life any other way.
How about you? Do you want to be stirred, shaken, or consumed?
