Friday, January 30, 2009
reflecting on Augustine
I realized that I was far away from you. I was in the land where all is different from You, and I heard Your voice calling: 'I am the Food of full-grown men. Grow and you shall feed on me. But you shall not change me into yourself. ... Instead, you shall be changed into me.' Augustine, Confessions VII, x, 16. Is this not such a sign that we are on the way or at least traveling in the direction of spiritual maturity - when we stop trying to change God into us - defining Him as we define ourselves - seeing Him as we see ourselves - pretending that He thinks like we think - trying to mold Him into our image - and instead take note that He stands ready to mold us ever more into His image (as was our intended design) - to make us look more like Him? And is this not one of the most key mile-markers along the Way - and not only so - but also one of the most liberating? Or if not liberating - for maybe this comes a bit farther down the Road - at least enlightening?
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Gearing up for Sunday's Battle with the Demons
He taught them as one having authority...just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit... Jesus said, "Be silent, and come out of him!" Thinking about Sunday's sermon, very easily could talk about the "authority" of Jesus - the voice which in the beginning made all things still has authority over all things... But what about the fact that Jesus wasn't turned off by this demon-possessed man - that in fact he in a way refused to even acknowledge the demon, because he was so focused on the man? Be silent he says - as if to say don't bother me, don't waste my time, don't distract me from the one - the person - the bearer of my image - in whom you have taken up residence. Just shut up and get out! That this one - my one - might be made whole again. Question: what does Jesus notice when he looks at us? Our demons? (Many of which we see when we look at ourselves.) Or is his plan to cast these out and away because what he sees is us - as we truly are - as we were designed to be?
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
e-devo: People
If you have enough time, read Luke 10:25-37.
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Luke 10:29
How simple life would be if living out our faith only included our relationship with the “guy upstairs” and nothing else (and especially if that relationship could be shallow and mainly one-sided, with Him catering to most of my wishes and desires).
Shallow and one-side or deep and genuine – it still seems that for many of us our faith is easier lived out between us and God without including everyone else.
Don’t get me wrong, I still want other people around (or at least some of them) and I want relationships with them – but just don’t ask me to live out my faith in these relationships, and especially in the relationships (or non-relationships) I have with people I don’t like or people who don’t like me.
And yet Jesus of course tells us that the two greatest commandments are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind and to love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:37-39
The first of these might be the most important but the second follows right out of the first and cannot be separated from it.
The apostle John even puts it this way: For anyone who does not love his brother or sister, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 1 John 4:20
Whether we like it or not the truth of the matter is this: what would be the point of our faith if it didn’t have anything to do with the people around us?
We are presently living in a world where we see people, we talk to people, we spend time with people, we listen to people, we are confronted with people well beyond what we can physically recognize doing all of these things with God. Certainly God is here, present in every moment of our lives, but He has opened our eyes, indeed all of our senses, to notice, in a concrete way, in a constant way, in a daily, hourly, probably almost every minute way - people.
Call them the good, the bad, and the ugly if you want, but there is no avoiding the truth that our lives are consumed with people.
And so – to try to keep our faith as something primarily lived out between God and me is to keep our faith from the bulk of what God has made my life at present about.
What would be the point of denying myself, taking my cross, and following Jesus if it is not for the same reason that He denied Himself and took up His cross – that is – for people?
Which people, you ask? Does it include him/her? Well – it wouldn’t be living out your faith if it didn’t, would it?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you did what you did and you do what you do for people – for all people – your enemies and your friends and me. What are we people that you care so much for us? What are we people that you even notice us? And yet you have made us the apple of your eye and the focus of your salvation. Give me this same attitude, O Lord, as I strive to live out my faith in you. In your name, Jesus. Amen.
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Luke 10:29
How simple life would be if living out our faith only included our relationship with the “guy upstairs” and nothing else (and especially if that relationship could be shallow and mainly one-sided, with Him catering to most of my wishes and desires).
Shallow and one-side or deep and genuine – it still seems that for many of us our faith is easier lived out between us and God without including everyone else.
Don’t get me wrong, I still want other people around (or at least some of them) and I want relationships with them – but just don’t ask me to live out my faith in these relationships, and especially in the relationships (or non-relationships) I have with people I don’t like or people who don’t like me.
And yet Jesus of course tells us that the two greatest commandments are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind and to love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:37-39
The first of these might be the most important but the second follows right out of the first and cannot be separated from it.
The apostle John even puts it this way: For anyone who does not love his brother or sister, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 1 John 4:20
Whether we like it or not the truth of the matter is this: what would be the point of our faith if it didn’t have anything to do with the people around us?
We are presently living in a world where we see people, we talk to people, we spend time with people, we listen to people, we are confronted with people well beyond what we can physically recognize doing all of these things with God. Certainly God is here, present in every moment of our lives, but He has opened our eyes, indeed all of our senses, to notice, in a concrete way, in a constant way, in a daily, hourly, probably almost every minute way - people.
Call them the good, the bad, and the ugly if you want, but there is no avoiding the truth that our lives are consumed with people.
And so – to try to keep our faith as something primarily lived out between God and me is to keep our faith from the bulk of what God has made my life at present about.
What would be the point of denying myself, taking my cross, and following Jesus if it is not for the same reason that He denied Himself and took up His cross – that is – for people?
Which people, you ask? Does it include him/her? Well – it wouldn’t be living out your faith if it didn’t, would it?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you did what you did and you do what you do for people – for all people – your enemies and your friends and me. What are we people that you care so much for us? What are we people that you even notice us? And yet you have made us the apple of your eye and the focus of your salvation. Give me this same attitude, O Lord, as I strive to live out my faith in you. In your name, Jesus. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
