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Atmosphere of Life
Brian Mashburn
September 9, 2007
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Atmosphere of Life
It was a strange question. A group of us were in Florida on a mission trip, taking a morning off out on the beach, when a teenager starting feeling drowsy, headed for the water to cool off, he passed out before getting there with a case of heat exhaustion. The Lifeguard truck was there in no time and revived him by putting a mask connected to an oxygen tank on his face.
The Guard seemed dissatisfied with the level of consciousness, or "awakeness" if you will, and after looking at the tank's gauges yelled to another Guard, "Is there some better oxygen?"
He reassured me that this oxygen would suffice until the ambulance arrived to keep him breathing, but that if he could acquire a tank with a less compromised, purer concentration of the life-giving oxygen, that "he would be way more awake than this...and a lot better off for the long haul."
If Christ were to look at the metaphorical "oxygen" that you put up to your face, and check the gauge for the purity of it, might he lovingly say the same thing? Something like, "you know, this atmosphere will suffice until Heaven comes...but if you would accept a purer concentration of the life-giving atmosphere you're taking in, you would be way more awake than this...and lot better off for the long haul."
There is a whole world of people out there church, who need to be exposed to a "purer, less compromised atmosphere" than the one the world provides them with. Who doesn't need an atmosphere of love to breath in? Who doesn't need an atmosphere of transformation within which to consider, learn about, receive, and become more like Christ? Which of them doesn't need the same "atmosphere of life" that the first disciples of Christ had from Jesus himself?
Over the next few months, we are going to look at what the "Atmosphere of Life" that Jesus created for people looks like. Why? Because it's time for each of us in the Southwest church to offer this same atmosphere to the world...through every relationship. To seek and the save the lost. To give life to the full. To be like Christ. So open your gospels and go to Christ and ask him... "What is the atmosphere that He provided the first disciples?"