Tommy Tenney: Chasing God Serving Man

No Room

The enemy has made us so accustomed to surviving on an earthly prosperity but a beggar's subsistence in the spirit realm, that just a crumb of God's presence will satisfy. There are those who are not content with crumbs anymore. The Lord's first encounter as a human on earth began with a "No Vacancy" sign in Bethlehem, marking the beginning of His frustrating search for a welcome mat on earth. There are still "No Vacancy signs over many churches today.

"They may be full of man but they are empty of God," Tommy says, filled with religious procedures and agendas. Sadly when someone shows up pregnant with the spirit, they refuse to move man and make room for God. Mankind's mistake in failing to host the infancy of Jesus reappears as a reluctance to show hospitality for the maturity of the Messiah. Once Jesus left the home of His parents and began His ministry of maturity, it became harder to find a place of comfort as He ministered.

JThrough His Son God destroyed the wall that separated Him from man. Throughout history God has intervened to bring correction to the Church by tearing down our self-constructed walls and restoring the things we lost through apathy and apostasy. He brought reformation through Martin Luther and other great reformers; ignited prayer through the Moravians, and revival through the Wesleys.

Through it all, God confronted our tendency to drift away from passion for His presence towards the relative ease of the lukewarm "religious" life. "The Lord has a difficult time "fitting" into the lukewarm churches that have become so common to our generation. Where is the Church that has learned how to make things comfortable for God?

Because of His unique nature being divine and human, Jesus has a hard time finding a place where He fits and is comfortable. One place He felt comfortable was at Mary and Martha's house, and sought it out when He travels along that way. "I believe Jesus was comfortable at Mary and Martha's house because both His humanity and His divinity were cared for," Tommy says. "I think that house became a home to Jesus because Mary entertained His divinity and Martha hosted His humanity."

There was something about the environment at Mary and Martha's house that made Jesus feel especially comfortable there. Tommy's believes the secret to His comfort begins with His dual nature - He was all God, and He was all man. That means He needed to receive hospitality in two realms. We need to be like Jesus in this aspect of our lives.