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Posts Tagged ‘way of Jesus’

I Believe–I Write

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 24, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I know I can be a bull in a china shop with my voice. Sometimes I don’t think things through before I say them. In fact, I’m known for speaking just to hear what I’m thinking! It’s not always well-formed. It’s one of the reasons I blog. . .

II Corinthians 4:13
Yet we have the same spirit of faith as he had who wrote, I have believed, and therefore have I spoken [Psalm 116:10]. We too believe, and therefore we speak, . . . [Amplified]

Writing slows me down (a little) and it gives me a chance to contemplate more thoroughly the verses for the day. It gives me a chance to look for truths in the Word for me. Writing helps me articulate my faith more clearly and ask deeper questions of myself and others.

My faith has grown in many directions, not just wider and longer but deeper. And with that growth has come challenges and changes.

I find myself embracing the simplicity of the message: Love God, Love others. There is much more wiggle room than there used to be. There are gray areas after all. There is acceptance of the mystery and the paradox. There is a willingness to say, “I don’t know.” There is more tolerance for other lifestyles and mistakes. There is greater hope in the ultimate power of God.

Our world is very complex. It’s not the same world of the disciples. It’s much more expansive. We are aware of the tiniest changes across continents and space. We can know and communicate with thousands and millions of people in an instant. We hear of good and evil proliferating around the earth and beyond. Sin and disease abound. Fear builds exponentially. Death is proud.

And yet, it’s still the same message that will stand the test of time: Love God, Love others.

This is what I believe. This is what I am doing here.

My writing comes out of my faith. God is sovereign. Christ is real. And what I am living and learning along the way may help someone else discover the kingdom within.

After all these years, my personal mission still resonates for me: To inspire meaningful change, to build faith in God and to connect people with resources that make a difference in their lives.

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Jar of Clay

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , on July 23, 2010| 2 Comments »

The jar of clay is everything 3-dimensional about me. It’s the human side of me, the “will,” the “Eve” part. It’s the me who gets sucked right into that tantalizing taste of the “complete works of good and evil” written in the fruit of the tree of knowledge.

II Corinthians 4:7
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

The jar of clay is fashioned by the Creator, but until it is filled, it is merely an ornament. It is the ingredients that determine the ultimate value of the jar.

I think of the wedding scene at Cana where Jesus turned huge jugs of water into wine. Only Christ can miraculously change base ingredients to fruitfulness.

Our jars are mere skeletons of who we are meant to be. The outlines. The sketches.

Not until the jars are fired are they ready for use.

Here is the real paradox of the jar of clay: we are filled with all that is good from God and then we are encouraged to pour it out again. From our perspective, it appears the jar will empty, but God continues to fill it. In fact, the stuff gets better with each filling.

Pour Christ in and pass the jug.

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Face the Face

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 22, 2010| Leave a Comment »

If I arrange a meet up with a previously unfamiliar person in a public place, we exchange identifiers: I’ll be wearing a red scarf or the other person will wear a straw hat. We do this to recognize one another. In the case of Christ, light recognizes Light. How will I know Jesus? “You’ll know,” God says, “you’ll know.”

II Corinthians 4:6
For God . . . made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

This is of great comfort to me. We live in a world of charlatans and an array of “Elmer Gantrys,” who work hard to deceive the people around them. I have feared being deceived. But here, God promises the illumination of knowledge in my soul will guide me to recognize the true face of Jesus, the glory of God.

“When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever he entered the LORD’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that his face was radiant.” [Exodus 34:33b-35a]

The face of Jesus is luminous because of God’s glory within, not just reflected, like Moses. An object is either luminous (generates its own light) or illuminated (reflects light).

When a person’s face is relaxed and open, that face radiates and reflects warmth. Some examples that come to my mind are mothers with their newborn children, children in sleep, brides in love; we have all seen it at one time or another. When Jesus walked among the people, He had that look, that Light, all the time. It was catching. Jesus’s face reflected in the faces of the people.

“As light was the beginning of the first creation; so, in the new creation, the light of the Spirit is his first work upon the soul.” [Matthew Henry commentary]

I cannot stand face to face with the physical Jesus today. This illumination is now within. This Light is in the worship, in prayer, in contemplation.

My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
Your face, LORD, I will seek. [Psalm 27:8]

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Blinded by the god of this age

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Who is the god of “this” age. Paul referenced the power of the god of his age who blinded the mind and heart, is it the same god? Is this that scrappy scapegoat “the devil,” or is it we ourselves? Aren’t we mini-gods, manipulating the world around us with our knowledge and discovery?

II Corinthians 4:4
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

In an age where logic and science rule, evidence and observation reign, is there room for faith in paradox and the miraculous?

How do we believe in mountains can be moved by “faith as big as a mustard seed?” How do we believe that the Lazarus’s of this age, can rise from the dead by command. How do we embrace the peculiarities of Christianity where the meek inherit the earth, turn the other cheek, die to live, give to receive, and so forth.

In Mark 10:50-52, Jesus asked the blind man what he wanted. It was up to the blind man to actually ask to see.

Lord, where I am blind, allow me to see.

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Transformation

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 20, 2010| Leave a Comment »

With each day that the veil of my heart is down, the more accessible and available I am for transformation and change. Isn’t that why I keep pulling the veil back up? Transformation is not easy. Old things must pass away and the new is unpredictable.

II Corinthians 3:18
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

I have always considered myself as some kind of agent for change. It’s even part of my personal mission statement, “to inspire meaningful change . . . ” But when it’s my own change, my own transformation, I am a little more reluctant. Oh, I can change my hair, my weight, my clothes, and all the other external trappings. I can change my job and change my tasks. I can change the way I work. But in all of those things, I am in charge. I control the change.

The next step in my Journey requires a submission to the work of Holy Spirit. It’s moving into something more unfamiliar. It’s giving permission to the relationship I have with God to manifest differently.

What does it really mean to be a believer, to love God with my whole heart, soul and mind? What does it really mean to love others, to love my neighbor as myself, to love unconditionally, to the love the unlovely (an not just on a mission trip, but every day).

My theme song for many years has been, “Refiner’s Fire.” But the dross is so familiar, so comfortable, and yet so meaningless in the bigger picture.

I’m still afraid.

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Lifting the Veil

Posted in Lent, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on July 19, 2010| Leave a Comment »

A veil can work two ways. It can protect what is within from outside eyes, but it can also hinder seeing clearly. Which veil do I still wear?

II Corinthians 3:15-16
Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

I can attest that I experienced a literal dropping of a mental veil when I read the New Testament through for the first time back in 1979 and as a result, acknowledged that Christ was real and had accomplished that mysterious feat of covering my sins with His blood sacrifice and reestablishing a way between me and God. One day the whole thing was gobbledy-gook and the next day, I saw truth in the words. The dropping of that veil was an enlightenment.

But I wonder now, if I haven’t raised a different kind of veil. Much like the Middle Eastern hijab or burqah, am I still hiding behind a veil of the heart? Am I concealing myself from people around me? When I consider the glory within and how I have shuttered it, isn’t that just another description of the veil?

For glory to pass through, the veil must be down. For love to pass back and forth, the veil must be down. This is about transparency and authenticity. This is about trust.

Over the years, I have struggled again and again with disappointment. It’s been a powerful clip-on for the veils in my life. To keep out disappointment, I push away dreams and hopes. To keep out fallible people, I raise standards. To shield myself from the judgment of others, I send out my own arrows of judgment (the best defense being a strong offense).

It is not the way.

Give me courage this day to drop the veil and to reveal myself and with me, the glory that is Christ Jesus. I believe Jesus was comfortable in every setting and with every kind of person because he was open, he was veil-less, he was accessible.

This is my passion for today.

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Glory of the New Covenant

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 18, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Where is this glory of the New Covenant? Some would say it is totally manifested in the Christ through the Holy Spirit. That’s fine to say, but where is it today? I have heard others say, the glory is the character of Christ. Is that all there is to it? Really? Just a concept?

II Corinthians 3:7-8
Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?

This scripture references the specific glory that was reflected in the face of Moses as a result of his time with God and the creation of the ten commandments. It wasn’t just his demeanor and it wasn’t the Holy Spirit shining out from within. But it was Light and it was Power and it was evident. And according to Paul, the glory of the New Covenant, the power and light of the law of Spirit written on the hearts of believers, that message is brighter and stronger.

I think the Light has been shuttered by unbelief.

There’s so much talk about “scriptura sola” (by scripture alone) and the inerrant Word of God and yet, some of the most potent statements are tamed: “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” [John 14″12] or “. . . I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” [Matthew 17:20b]

Until we are operating in these arenas, we have not experienced the fullness of the New Covenant.

Until we are loving God and loving others fully, we are not functioning according to the truth of Christ.

The ministry of the Holy Spirit is Light and power and strength. But the Holy Spirit will not do battle with us either. We must work together.

I’m still going “my own way.” I confess. I make a plan and constantly ask God to bless it (or fix it when things go badly). And, in His grace and patience, God waits for me to get it, to really let go.

Dying to self [John 12:23-25] is not be just some nice poetry. It is the true “way” to the out-flowing of power, the unshuttered Light, the glory.

But to die to myself is change like no other change I have ever known or seen. It’s a total unknown. What does that dying look like? What does that feel like? What do I say or do? Or not do or say?

Some people have sought out this place of Spirit flow . . . they’ve laughed themselves silly, they’ve twitched, they’ve dropped gold dust from their fingertips, and they’ve spoken in tongues for hours and hours. But until the Glory manifests through the presence and release of the Holy Spirit, these are interpretive manifestations.

I don’t have any answers at all, but I do sense a missing piece.

Like the Kingdom that is within so is the Glory. It’s there. It’s here. Holy, holy, holy.

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