Something to Think About and Discuss...

In his book, "Christ, the Sum of all Spiritual Things", Watchman Nee says something wonderful about what God has given us in Christ Jesus. I'll quote from him and then suggest a question for discussion with others. Nee says the following:

"There is nothing more important than to know the Lord...Knowing Him requires a spiritual seeing ...everything depends upon Christ, and not upon us...When we first became a Christian, we were inclined to do everything ourselves, fearing lest nothing would ever be done or matters would fall to pieces if we did not do them...Later in having seen the Lord to be our life, we know that all is of Christ and not of us. Consequently, we learn to rest and to look to Him...

"What we need to comprehend before God is that in our experience...(it is) not that He gives us light, but that He is our light; not that He leads the way, but He is the way; not that He gives us a life, but He is our life; not that He teaches a truth, but He is the truth. What Christ gives is His very own self...

"Christ does not come to sanctify us, He comes to be Himself our sanctification. Our sanctification is not a thing, an action, or a behavior. Our sanctification is a person, even Christ...

"Thank God, Christ is our redemption as well as our redeemer. He is our sanctification as well as our sanctifier. He is our righteousness as well as our justifier. He is our wisdom as well as the One who makes us wise. Christianity is none other than Christ Himself."

The question that I suggest worth taking time to ponder and to discuss with someone else is this: if we truly believe that Christianity is more about getting to know and trust a Person than about adhering to particular doctrines/beliefs, how might this change the way we live and how we relate to others? I believe that if the implications of this are carefully and prayerfully thought out and talked out with others, we could be surprised at how it might shape and reshape our mindsets about what it means to be followers of Jesus (both individually and collectively).

God's Road Signs and His Favorite Speed

Now that I'm in my third year of recovery from injuries to my right leg, I think I'm beginning to understand a little bit about God's favorite speed: apart from a miracle, He seems to like SLOW, really slow! Dr. Curt Thompson, a psychiatrist who studies the brain and applies that to our walk with God, wrote along these lines in his blog post One Millimeter per Month from which the following is a quote:

"When I was in medical school, we learned that if a nerve is severed, it can begin to regenerate, but only at the rate of about 1 millimeter per month, depending on how serious and extensive the injury is. Some injuries can repair more quickly, up to 1 millimeter per day...Imagine how long it will take for a damaged nerve in a hand to return to health... Even more complicated, what about the neurological implications of relationships that have been traumatized in innumerable ways that seem beyond repair? What has any of this to do with God’s pace?

"What the story of the brain and nervous system seems to reveal is that God is very serious about the change he is bringing about in this world. And his seriousness translates not only into large, sweeping sea changes (think, the work of William Wilberforce or Martin Luther King, Jr.), but perhaps more often in the most microscopic, detailed spaces such as a single moment of restraint when disciplining a child; confessing a wrong done rather than sweeping it underthe rug; or beginning a practice of regular, rhythmic fasting, solitude, or journaling in order to open up channels for God’s spirit to have access to you. None of these latter things listed would seem in and of themselves to change the world. No journalist will cover these events for the Washington Post. But if neurons only grow at the pace mentioned above, it will take lots of practice, and lots of time to coax them to create new networks. If God has made me with neurons, then I can’t change any faster than they can...

"Now, if I begin to pay attention to this reality, this awareness of God’s comfort with his own pace, perhaps I need not worry so much that I’m not changing quickly enough—more importantly, that others are not changing quickly enough either. And the odd thing is, when I am less worried, I am more likely to be open to the changes I so long for in the first place, especially if I am closely connected with others whose pilgrimages are moving in the same direction."

Now that I'm beginning to see a bit of daylight in my recovery, I'm not only more aware of what seems to be God's preferred speed of working but am also beginning to appreciate the wisdom that I see in the slower pace and the detours and roadblocks that come along the way to make the already unbearably slow 15-miles-per-hour speed come to a full STOP from time to time.

As Dr. Thompson says, if God is comfortable with this pace, then perhaps we can find peace in the slowness of His working and reap the fruit of patient daily perseverance.

Spiritual Disciplines: Sailing or Rowing?

Some years ago, the Lord quickened Galatians 3:1-3 to me as a watchword and loving warning when I was helping to begin a prayer ministry.

The Holy Spirit's faithful reminder to me of this word through the following years in this particular ministry served us well. In fact, it was a large part of what gave us alertness to continually change the way we did things and gave me direction when the day came that I sensed I was to step away entirely from it.

The Message expresses this portion of Galatians 3 as follows:
"Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God's message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren't smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it? Did you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing?"

I was blessed by a blog post that applies this idea to the spiritual disciplines; the following is a quote from it: 
"One of the things that I’m discovering about spiritual disciplines is that I often take that which is relational in its very nature and turn it into something mechanical. Sometimes I find myself thinking: If I carve out time to engage in lectio divina, then God will reveal Christ to me in a way that almost feels tangible. The problem with this approach is it assumes an A + B = C sort of spirituality. If I read the Bible and pray, the formula will yield intimacy with the Spirit of Christ. So, all week long as I fail to create space for my personal holiness mechanism, I begin to use words that contaminate any spiritual vocabulary. The words – fail, success, must, accomplish, achieve, or should – usually demonstrate that one’s faith journey has moved from relational to mechanical approaches to God. When we get to this point we’re basically taking a 'should' on our lives as kingdom people."  (Kurt Willems)


Further down in his short post Kurt recommends that we see our walk with God more like being in a sailboat, discerning and catching the ever-changing direction of God's wind and going with Him, rather than as a rowboat in which we are trying to get somewhere or make something happen through hard effort. I agree. In our fallenness, we humans are strongly bent towards mechanizing that which begins organically, and I'm convinced that only the power of the resurrected life of Jesus can enable us to continue in the same spirit as we began (be that in our personal journey with God or in our collective walk and ministry).

It's a great little article that I recommend if this topic is pertinent to you now: Taking a 'Should' on our Spiritual Lives.

The Hound of Heaven

In the recent post, A Much Safer Subject, I quoted C.S. Lewis who said that the love of God for us is a much safer subject to meditate on than our love for God. This is because our love for Him flounders and is weak, but His love for us is strong and unrelenting and unending.

The Scriptures are full of different ways of encouraging God's people to depend and trust in His unfailing love for us. Ultimately this is the only place of peace and rest for the human soul. When all looks hopeless and impossible in the natural, we find rest in knowing that God is love and that He will not relent nor quit in His pursuit of us and in His pursuit of all humans.

He is an all-consuming Fire of desire for weak humans, and He is filled with divine energy to tirelessly seek and chase us down! In this desire of God is where I find my confidence in prayer for myself and for others - not in my zeal nor my intercession nor my efforts nor my love, but in His unrelenting zeal, His unceasing intercession, His divinely initiated works, and His selfless love.

The cross of Jesus is the highest expression of this reality in God, and this is the solid ground on which I plant my feet when my zeal falters and I'm surrounded with impossible situations. If my focus and trust is in the strength of my love for God, I will be discouraged; if I meditate and trust in the strength and endurance of His love for me and for those I pray for, my heart will be strengthened to believe and to remain steady even while trembling.