Another voice from our past

A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert—himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt—the Divine Reason.
G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 1908

Do we trust ourselves above "Divine Reason". Long ago Pilate asked the question, "What is truth?" (John 18:38). Pilate asked a good question and he asked the right person. But, good questions fall short if we fail to listen for the answer. It turns out the answer led to the question. Apparently, Jesus' words provoked the question. Jesus said, "Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice". Today, it seems that we are too quick to listen to our own voices and ignore the truth of God, what Chesterton called "Divine Reason".

What do you really want in life?

"If you look into your own heart in utter honesty, you must admit that there is one and only one reason why you are not even now a (fully devoted follower of Christ): You do not wholly want to be."
William Law
A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (1728)

I received a recent electronic magazine from one of my professors. His ezine is Christianity 9 to 5. In this most recent issue he provided some lessons from writers such as William Law. I can't exactly say that I enjoyed reading William Law when I was doing research on character development. But, I did appreciate his raw and straightforward honesty. In an age when excuses abound, we have become so adept at shucking responsibility that a little slap in the face from William Law is in order every now and then. So go ahead and ask the question, "Why am I not a passionate follower of Jesus?" Law has a great answer: because I don't want to be.

To read more go to
http://www.epiphanyresources.com/9to5/index.htm

Holiness

I was reading in Exodus this morning. The word "holy" was mentioned several times. To me, "Holy" is an intimidating word. When I think of it I usually have an image of God on a throne and members of creation declaring His holiness. I think about the repetition of "Holy, Holy, Holy" in worship and adoration to God. What I don't normally think of - is me. That changed a little this morning. As I was reading about the God's instructions about sacrifices, the altar and incense. I noticed how "atonement" was made in order to help things that weren't holy become holy. It was a great reminder of how the atonement of Jesus, His willing suffering and sacrifice, transforms me into something holy for God.

Increasing or Decreasing Love

I included a quote from Bill Hybels in my message on Sunday; "The longer you walk with God the more open your arms become". What is Hybels trying to say? The more we walk with God the more God's love affects our capacity to love. I believe it. But, I haven't always experienced it myself. I haven't always observed it in others. There have been times in my life that I have chosen to cross my arms. What about you? Why? Does that mean that I ceased to walk with God? A couple of things come to mind. First, we have to allow the love of God to heal us. If we fail to open our arms to others, it may be because we fear vulnerability. There may be lingering hurts and disappointments that we haven't released to God. Openness is closely related to vulnerability. Increased vulnerability can and should increase as we walk with a God who knows everything about us and loves us anyway. But, we have to trust God to heal us. In addition to our fear of vulnerability, we may be hesitant to open our arms because our walk with God has become distorted. Selfishness creates a myopic view of our world and our God. We limit the scope of our relationship with God when it becomes a selfish relationship. God does not belong to us - we belong to Him.

God's grace

I have often said that greatest development in my life has been my understanding and experience with God's grace. This week serves to confirm that. On Sunday, Nick was diagnosed with diabetes. It's a diagnosis that I understand very well from my own journey. Throughout the past few days God's grace has sustained us. Nick is doing extremely well with learning the a new routine. He returned to school today. God has encouraged us with His presence and through His word. One verse in particular stands out to me: God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. Each of those gifts from God has helped us. Each of those gifts helps us to make good choices in our thoughts and actions. It's easy to fear. But, God's grace has been chasing our fears away and I'm thankful that His supply is more than enough.

Prayer

Most people say that they pray. I have studied the results of many surveys and they reveal that most people say they pray. Assuming the results of such surveys are accurate, have you ever wondered what people pray? What if a summary sheet of our daily prayers printed at the end of the day. Wouldn't it be fun to review the transcripts of our daily prayers. Judging from the sidelines of the Super Bowl last week, the transcripts of both teams would be long....let him trip, let him catch it, let him drop it, let him miss, hurry clock, slow down clock, help the official to open his eyes, help the official to look the other way. When people answer surveys about the practice of prayer I suspect that they are referring to a lot of prayers that exist at the "thought" level and not necessarily the "spoken" level. That raises a question for me. Do we realize the connection between our practice of prayer and the focus of our thoughts? If we seldom pray for the things that God cares most deeply about does that mean most of our thoughts are selfish? That's something to think about.

I saw Jesus at a Super Bowl Party

Great match-up between the Steelers and the Cardinals. The expected winner won. The expected loser put up a great fight. It was a battle. I enjoyed watching the game. But, it was a different experience for me. A group of our men went to the Knoxville Area Rescue Mission and watched the game with some of Knoxville’s homeless who are staying at the shelter. The party provided a perfect opportunity to get to know the men at the shelter. We swapped cheers and jeers about the game. But, we also talked about life. I learned about kids and grandkids and difficult life situations. And I learned about battles bigger than that of the super bowl. Battles for sobriety. Battles for recovery. Battles for peace of mind. Battles for forgiveness. Battles for Hope and Self-Esteem. One advantage for the Super Bowl is that there is a decisive winner after sixty minutes of play. The battles of life are a much greater test of endurance. Last night we offered a brief encouragement to dozens of men that battles are not won alone. The perfect ingredients for encouragement were mixed: Good Food, Honest Conversation, Time Together, Prayer and the Love of God. It was an opportunity to learn from the Master and follow His lead. When we reach out to others we put flesh on the Gospel.