Meditations from Zion

Everyone has a sphere of influence. This is taught in leadership workshops, assumed in management sessions, and encouraged in networking seminars. It is no different for the sphere of faith. I have one too. But do I relate to those who populate my sphere honestly?

II Cor 10:13
We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us—a sphere which especially includes you.

Who is in my sphere of faith? Anyone and everyone within my ken. It can be a fleeting walk-through or a long relationship. Everyone has similar inner circles of family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors. But in today’s world, the spheres are much bigger and wider; the circles more broadly concentric than they were in the time of Christ. Some of our circular province coils beyond our physical perception and even into the virtual realm. The limits of our spheres cannot be so easily drawn. It can be a little daunting.

For this reason, I know I must be strong in my understanding of self. I must stand with all that is Christ in the center of my sphere, in the center of the many spokes that fan out from my middle, the center of my storm.

When I venture outside of this center without an anchor, I am whipped around in someone else’s vortex. I lose who I am.

I confess, sometimes I close my eyes when things are moving around me too fast. It’s not the answer. I can’t shrink inside, to nurture the inner core only, to be a recluse. I am to engage with the world’s orbits. I am to touch, see, sense, hear and embrace. As long as my core is solid and my roots established, I should be able to stretch pretty far.

It’s still too much about theory and not enough about practice. Thanks be to God that the Christ Spirit can draw me back when I become overly confident and founder around in another sphere with only the flimsiest of tethers.

It’s still about authenticity and transparency. It’s about revealing my dependence on Christ. But it’s also about impacting the whole with my “mustard seed” of faith. This is how mountains move–when spheres move from an authentic center.