If you want to read it, click here.
That got me to thinking about one of my pet peeves about just about every sermon I have ever heard. It's all about what we SHOULD be doing, never about how to get there. The final result - that of reacting in love and forgiveness when atrocities happen - is not a product of what WE are doing or what we should be doing. It is a result of God's passionate love for us. When we start to understand just how deep, how wide, how high His love is for us, we start to live in gratitude for that, to want to spend time with Him. The more time we spend with Him the more we will value those things which He embodies - truth, mercy, love, integrity.
For a Christian who is tired of playing church, experiencing God is primary to everything else - not just facts about God (and especially not facts about Him so that we can club people over the head who don't believe the same facts we do).
Being aware of His presence, soaking and joying in it, is transformational, the source of all kinds of behaviors of which we are incapable on our own. The sense of His presence, the belief that He loves us, ... that alone provides the strength to accomplish all those altruistic actions we read about - people forgiving those who have committed atrocities against them.
Such actions are not the goal. They are the outflow. Such a life (lived, as I've mentioned before, from the inside out) is dangerous to just about everyone I've ever met who was all about following the rules to earn some sort of eternal reward.
A life lived totally from the experience of God's presence has no need for rules because it flows directly from His character. Life lived on that kind of an edge cannot be described by anyone as religious (a.k.a dead). It's the kind of abundant life that Jesus led - radically relational.
It's also the only life I've found that has any joy in it.
Very well said Judy. THIS is what it means to follow Jesus. I think the rest (theological and practical stuff) is important but doesn't supercede the internal transformation.
ReplyDeleteOh, and this is a verse that comes to mind when I read your post: Isaiah 29:13 - “The Lord says: These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.”
ReplyDeleteI suppose I have my new friend Michelle to thank for referring you to my post. :-)
ReplyDeleteI love this post. It captures for me the way I am learning to live out my faith. Looking at your "I believe" page shows that your and my theologies, on paper, have few commonalities: I have become rather "liberal" in my understanding of the Bible (or so I'm told!), while you retain a lot of the more common evangelical distinctives. But as this post shows, our faith is not built on what we believe about this or that doctrine, but on the character of God as we understand Him, and though it's sometimes hard to say exactly how, most Christians today from Bible-thumping Fundamentalist to Bishop Spong understand God's character as one of love, compassion, and self-sacrifice. Whether we live in it or not...that depends on how much we soak ourselves in communion with Him.
This is what you're emphasizing here, and it's something I have held on to that keeps my faith strong despite the blows it has received through critical inquiry. I admit that a lot of what I've been holding on to is historical; my experience as a child and as a young man are palpable memories that have navigated me through pretty turbulent waters. Only recently have I begun to remember the importance of experiencing Him and being aware of His presence, and your post is yet another encouragement. Thank you!
Wow. I appreciate your comments, both of you!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks!