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A Great Explanation of What Faith in God Really is
Devotional Thought of the Day
4 But even though we were dead in our sins God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, gave us life together with Christ – it is, remember, by grace and not by achievement that you are saved – and has lifted us right out of the old life to take our place with him in Christ in the Heavens. Thus he shows for all time the tremendous generosity of the grace and kindness he has expressed towards us in Christ Jesus. It was nothing you could or did achieve – it was God’s gift to you. No one can pride himself upon earning the love of God. The fact is that what we are we owe to the hand of God upon us. We are born afresh in Christ, and born to do those good deeds which God planned for us to do. Ephesians 2:4 (Phillips NT)
“What is faith? Well, it is an act that penetrates to the very heart of a person, an act comparable to the definitive Yes of a great love. That is why faith not only can, but must, also be called grace, for like love, it is ultimately a gift, a recurring grace. We do not simply choose grace for ourselves, for grace is by nature an answer and is therefore attributable in the first place to what comes to me from another person, penetrates deeply into me, and makes me open to say thou and so to become truly I. It is, in truth, a gift given me by another person, and yet I am more deeply and more completely involved in it than in any work I might have chosen for myself. Faith is likewise a Yes to God in Jesus Christ, who looks upon me, makes me open, and enables me ultimately to entrust myself to him. Faith penetrates to what is most personal and most interior in me and, in doing so, responds to the Person of Jesus Christ, who calls me by name. But just because it is so entirely personal, faith has nothing narrow or exclusive about it; rather, it leads me into the community.” (1)
14 We lay hold of him when our heart embraces him and clings to him.
15 To cling to him with all our heart is nothing else than to entrust ourselves to him completely. He wishes to turn us away from everything else, and draw us to himself, because he is the one eternal good. It is as if he said: “What you formerly sought from the saints, or what you hoped to receive from mammon or anything else, turn to me for all this; look upon me as the one who wishes to help you and to lavish all good upon you richly.”
16 Behold, here you have the true honor and the true worship which please God and which he commands under penalty of eternal wrath, namely, that the heart should know no other consolation or confidence than that in him, nor let itself be torn from him, but for him should risk and disregard everything else on earth.
If you didn’t know from whom the above quotes in blue and green came from (the citations are below0, you would hold them to be in agreement. They are both consistent with the top quote from scripture, which describes God’s work in His people.
That faith comes from, is born from knowing that God loves you (yes, you the reader) and that love is revealed in Christ Jesus.
Both Cardinal Ratzinger’s (later Pope Benedict XVI) and Martin Luther agree on this, the intimate relationship that God calls us to, as He unites us to Christ
When I came across Cardinal Ratzinger’s words in my devotions this morning, I was amazed at this picture he draws, of God’s love penetrating deeply within us. That love gives us the ability to respond to God, to return His love as we recognize His presence. And in coming to know His is with us, we find out who we really are. Everything else is laid aside, except for the relationship God has called us to. A relationship where we can trust God completely, with everything we are, even the darkest, most troubled parts of our souls.
I find these words so… powerful, so resonant with the truth we know, yet struggle to believe. That God cares for us, and would free and with great love cleanse us from all that causes the guilt and shame. Even the stuff we don’t want to admit.
As we entrust ourselves to Him, as we put our faith in Him, we achieve something the world cannot. We understand that when life is fully about God, it is fully about us. For in our dance with God, nothing can separate us from Him, nothing can tear us away from that moment and the realization that Christ is with us.
Cardinal Ratzinger makes the link, in this devotion to baptism. I also see the link to the communion of the saints, that moment when God has called us all together, made us one. God’s work, he says, is so personal that it cannot be exclusive, that is why we rejoice that we are tasked with reconciling every person to God. That is why we want to reveal this treasure, this hope to everyone.
We gather to worship to celebrate this very thing, and it is that which unites us, this presence of Christ. It is why I would rather pray for the church’s unity, rather than celebrate any division in the church. That we would recognize that which Paul says,
2 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. 3 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. 4 For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all. Ephesians 4:2-6 (NLT)
One God and Father, who is over all, and in all and living though all,….
May we grow in such faith, as Christ is revealed, bringing us to faith, to entrusting ourselves to Him.
AMEN!
(1) Ratzinger, J. (1992). Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. (M. F. McCarthy & L. Krauth, Trans., I. Grassl, Ed.) (p. 214). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
(2) Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 366). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
Has the Church Forgotten the only Fact it needs to focus on?
devotional thought fo the day
“And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age” Matthew 28:20b (NLT)
“Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” Mt 1:23
“For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.” Mt 18:20
“Answer: A god is that to which we look for all good and in which we find refuge in every time of need. To have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe him with our whole heart. As I have often said, the trust and faith of the heart alone make both God and an idol.
If your faith and trust are right, then your God is the true God. On the other hand, if your trust is false and wrong, then you have not the true God. For these two belong together, faith and God. That to which your heart clings and entrusts itself is, I say, really your God.” (1)
2. In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will (see Eph. 1:9) by which through Christ, the Word made flesh, man might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature (see Eph. 2:18; 2 Peter 1:4). Through this revelation, therefore, the invisible God (see Col. 1:15, 1 Tim. 1:17) out of the abundance of His love speaks to men as friends (see Ex. 33:11; John 15:14–15) and lives among them , so that He may invite and take them into fellowship with Himself. (2)
584 Stir up the fire of your faith! Christ is not a figure of the past. He is not a memory lost in history. He lives! Iesus Christus heri et hodie: ipse et in saecula! As Saint Paul says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today—yes, and forever!” (3)
We cannot probe more deeply into the roots of the world in order to change it than by resting on the Heart of God, thus making it possible to call upon the living Ground and Power that supports everything and is alone capable of restoring all things (4)
When something keeps showing up in my morning devotions, I figure it must be something I need to share with those who read my blog. Actually, I don’t want to admit the real reason, and writing the blog helps me, because I write what I need to hear/read. It is God’s way of seeing if there is anything functioning in my brain, trying to get me to understand the most critical fact the church needs to remember. The critical fact I need to remember.
To know that not only God is, not only does He love us, but that He is with us. He has designed us to live with Him, describing us as being in Christ, abiding in Christ, the Holy Spirit residing with us. Over and over and over. That is why we can trust in Him because He is present because we have a relationship with Him, a relationship more intimate, more complete than any other relationship we have.
It all begins and ends with that relationship.
Every doctrine focuses on it, from Justification that makes it possible. Sanctification, the doctrine of being set apart, to that relationship. The sacraments, by which the reality of the relationship is communicated. Scripture, the record of the promises God makes to us, and a record of how He faithfully keeps those promises. Faith, the trust that becomes the natural expression of the relationship.
This is where we need to focus; it is this fact that is the reason for evangelism. It isn’t about transforming behavior (though that may happen), it isn’t worry about whether the world reflects what God teaches us is good and holy behavior. (We struggle with it, why do we expect them not to?)
This is what our religion is all about, walking with God. Everything else in Christianity, in our religion brings us to know this.
It is what matters in the end, and it is what gets us through this day.
I need to be reminded of this daily, so I expect that you will hear of it often.
The Lord is with you!
1. Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 365). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
2. Catholic Church. (2011). Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation: Dei Verbum. In Vatican II Documents. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana
3. Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 1395-1397). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
4. Ratzinger, J. (1992). Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. (M. F. McCarthy & L. Krauth, Trans., I. Grassl, Ed.) (p. 211). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
The Image of God and His People You Will Never Forget (though you might want to!)
Devotional Thought of the Day:
1 This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it on, but do not wash it.” 2 So I bought the loincloth as the LORD directed me, and I put it on. 3 Then the LORD gave me another message: 4 “Take the linen loincloth you are wearing, and go to the Euphrates River. Hide it there in a hole in the rocks.” 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates as the LORD had instructed me. 6 A long time afterward the LORD said to me, “Go back to the Euphrates and get the loincloth I told you to hide there.” 7 So I went to the Euphrates and dug it out of the hole where I had hidden it. But now it was rotting and falling apart. The loincloth was good for nothing. 8 Then I received this message from the LORD: 9 “This is what the LORD says: This shows how I will rot away the pride of Judah and Jerusalem. 10 These wicked people refuse to listen to me. They stubbornly follow their own desires and worship other gods. Therefore, they will become like this loincloth—good for nothing! 11 As a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I created Judah and Israel to cling to me, says the LORD. They were to be my people, my pride, my glory—an honor to my name. But they would not listen to me. Jeremiah 13:1-11 (NLT)
538 There he is: King of Kings and Lord of Lords, hidden in the bread. To this extreme has he humbled himself for love of you. (1)
There are many images in scripture used to describe the close, intimate relationship between God and His people. He is the Good Shepherd who carries his lost sheep home, the Father who runs to meet His prodigal son, The Bridegroom awaiting His perfect spotless Bride. We are His temple, His dwelling place, His home…
And then there is this one
God and His people, who are pictured as… His underwear? (that’s what a loincloth is…)
I mean, that is how close God wants His people to be to Him? Not only that, He wants us to be like clingy underwear?
TMI!!!
(which could stand for too much information or too much intimacy!)
It is an odd picture to be sure, this picture that the prophet Jeremiah puts on paper, inspired by the Holy Spirit. But it drives the point home in a way we cannot deny.
God wants His people close to Him, Closer than anything else.
Yet too often, we don’t want to be that close to Him, we don’t even want to be in his bureau. We want to keep God at just the proper distance. Close enough to rescue us when we sin, but not so close that His presence causes us to move with Him, We want to have our sins forgiven, but not have to spend time clinging to Him, having our lives wrapped around His life, going where He wants to go.
He wants us that close. He wants to be that involved in our lives, and we to be that involved in His. For even as the prophet Jeremiah pictures us as God’s clothes, Paul will picture God wrapping Himself around us
26 It is through faith that all of you are God’s children in union with Christ Jesus. 27 You were baptized into union with Christ, and now you are clothed, so to speak, with the life of Christ himself. Galatians 3:26-27 (TEV)
This intimacy is not just pictured, but occurs at a deeper level, as we take Christ’s Body and Blood into us, in the Lord’s Supper, where Christ hides Himself, as St. Josemaria tells us, that we can know His love.
This intimate relationship is why the Father sent Jesus to live among us, to die for us, to restore us to the very ideal that God created us to be…. HIs people, His pride, His glory, and that we can bring Honor to His name.
Remember, the Lord is with you!
And if you need help remember how close… remember this picture from Jeremiah!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 1299-1301). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Pentecost: Divine Resuscitation
Divine Resuscitation
Ezekiel 37:1-12
† IHS †
May the Holy Spirit’s Work in Your Life Make You Even More Aware of the Grace of God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ!
The Missing Piece
So today, children of the Father, we have a small pop quiz. It might be tricky, and anyone who fails may be subject to going through confirmation again.
I want you to think of the creed that you just confessed, before singing “my redeemer lives”. Without reciting it in your mind, or looking it up, here is your one question quiz.
Who is described as “the Lord” in the creed? ( pause for answers)
Specifically, who is described as “the Lord and giver of Life.”
We may talk of believing in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, but even the Creed talk more of the effect of the Holy Spirit than of the Holy Spirit himself. We talk of the communion of saints, knowing our sins are forgiven, the resurrection of the Body and life, the life given us by the Spirit, everlasting.
But we often so overlook the role of the Holy Spirit, who has given us life.
So curious how many people need to have a refresher in what they learned in confirmation?
In today’s Old Testament passage, we see a great picture of the work of the Holy Spirit, who is not just the giver of life, but the Lord of Life. Yeah, the Lord of Life.
We need to understand this, not just as a matter of semantics, but to understand the work that God does in us, to us…. And through us.
The Damage of Sin
If we are to understand this, we need to see the reason that the bones were there in the valley. The clearest explanation is given by the people who struggled with God,
“They are saying, We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone. Our nation is finished. ”
By finished, Ezekiel is making the comment that they are cut off from God. Using the Mosaic Law, they are exiled from the people of God. They are acknowledging that they all deserve the treatment that blasphemy earns described well in
13 Then the LORD said to Moses, 14 “Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and tell all those who heard the curse to lay their hands on his head. Then let the entire community stone him to death. 15 Say to the people of Israel: Those who curse their God will be punished for their sin. 16 Anyone who blasphemes the Name of the LORD must be stoned to death by the whole community of Israel. Any native-born Israelite or foreigner among you who blasphemes the Name of the LORD must be put to death. Leviticus 24:13-16 (NLT)
That is what they mean by their nation, their people, being finished.
That is why there is nothing left in the valley, but the dried, withered bones. We aren’t talking about bones like this… but ones so dried out, that they are brittle. There is nothing left, no marrow, no DNA, nothing…
That is what sin does to us, it hollows us, makes us empty, completely eradicates all trace of life, even from our perspective, any trace of God’s presence.
But that is why this son of Man was asked, “can these bones become living people again?” It is why Jesus came and wandered among those dead in sin, and why His cross and resurrection is that which puts back all that sin destroyed.
it is amazing to contemplate the bones coming back together, the cartilage and muscles crawling back over the skeletons, the flesh being restored.
Even then, forgiven, put back together, made whole, the army of bodies needs something to transform them from death to life. To use the word found in the creeds – to be made quick, to be brought alive.
They need to be resuscitated.
The Divine Resuscitation
We needed to be resuscitated, to be made to inhale the breath of life, the Holy Spirit. Even as God breathed into Adam, even as Jesus breathed on the Apostles and said, “receive the Holy Spirit,” We needed to have happened to us what happened on Pentecost. Hear Ezekiel’s words again… and know this is your promise:
9 Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again
The Spirit to be breathed into us, to bring us back to life, to be the Lord of life and the giver of our life. It is the Holy Spirit that transforms us, that kindles faith and a repentant and transformed life. It is the Holy Spirit that brings us to proclaim Christ Jesus as our hope, reminding us of all He teaches us. That brings us together, as a unified body of Christ.
That makes us one, holy, united church that is sent in the world to transform others, even as we have been transformed as the Holy Spirit focuses our lives, our minds, our hearts on Jesus.
Doing this while as invisible, but as tangible and real, as a refreshing breeze that washes over us and gives us life on a day when we are parched and tired, and our faith may be dry.
The Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, the Spirit who discerns who has which talents, which gifts, and forms the church, ensuring it has what it needs, to depend on Jesus, to minister to each other, to minister from Cerritos to Georgia to the Sudan and Papua New Guinea. To reach out to expectant moms in Africa and the people of Bellflower.
The Spirit, who would blow through your life, removing that which isn’t like Jesus, who would see the glory of God, reflect through us, bringing hope to the people around us.
Remember – this is the day when a church of 120 grew into a church of 3000!
May the Spirit so enkindle our hearts, so breathe life into us, that the same thing would happen again!
Didn’t He Already Do That?
You might ask what I mean by the Holy Spirit breathe life into us again. No, I don’t mean that we are spiritually dead like in the valley of dried bones. But there are times where we feel like it, where we wonder if our bones if the church (and I don’t mean just Concordia) can be brought back to life in this country.
If you look at the statistics, or just tour empty churches on Sunday morning, you would wonder if the church couldn’t say these same things. Areas where 50-70 percent of people were once in church on Sunday morning are now where the number is one-tenth the amount.
The church isn’t dead, it cannot be, we haven’t left God’s presence, the work of Christ isn’t in vain. For the Holy Spirit isn’t just the giver of our life, but the Lord of it. Paul describes the Holy Spirit’s ongoing work, this way,
17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (NLT)
And that is a promise to us, in this day, as solid as the promise to bring us to life in Christ…for that is what the Lord of Life does… He makes more and more like Jesus… as we are changed into His image… as we see His glory. AMEN? Then realize this, the Lord of Life is with You! AMEN!
A Way to Deal with Spiritual Insomnia…
Devotional Thought of the Day:
6 I long for the Lord more than sentries long for the dawn, yes, more than sentries long for the dawn.
27 Anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Master irreverently is like part of the crowd that jeered and spit on him at his death. Is that the kind of “remembrance” you want to be part of? 28 Examine your motives, test your heart, come to this meal in holy awe. 29 If you give no thought (or worse, don’t care) about the broken body of the Master when you eat and drink, you’re running the risk of serious consequences. 30 That’s why so many of you even now are listless and sick, and others have gone to an early grave. 1 Corinthians 11:27-30 (MSG)
1 It is taught among us that the sacraments were instituted not only to be signs by which people might be identified outwardly as Christians, but that they are signs and testimonies of God’s will toward us for the purpose of awakening and strengthening our faith.[2]
They should, therefore, constantly exert themselves to have the faithful know and live the paschal mystery more deeply through the Eucharist and thus become a firmly-knit body in the unity of the charity of Christ.9 “Intent upon prayer and the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4), they should devote their labor to this end that all those committed to their care may be of one mind in prayer10 and through the reception of the sacraments may grow in grace and be faithful witnesses to the Lord.[3]
316 You tell me: “Yes, I want to!” Good. But do you “want to” as a miser wants his gold, as a mother wants her child, as a worldling wants honors, or as a poor sensualist wants his pleasure? No? Then you don’t “want to”!
It was a long time ago, thirty-five years ago when the nights seemed so long. I was young, working as a dishwasher at a Denny’s back in New Hamshire. I worked the graveyard shift, the eleven to seven am a shift. I would go from there off to high school. There was a point on those nights, I can never forget.
When you work those shifts, or if you are just having a tough time sleeping, there is a time where the darkness begins to crush you. It is about two hours before the sunrise, until the moment the hint of dawn starts to lighten the sky. I would run up the ladder, get out on the roof, and watch the miracle of a sunrise.
But oh, the pressure of night in the two hours of the night! It causes a sense almost like claustrophobia, as you wonder whether the night will ever end.
As I read the first quote above, the psalmist is comparing his hunger for God’s presence to the night guard waiting for dawn, those feelings resonated within me. And It resonated so much, that the blog came about.
I think there are times we get spiritual insomnia. We forget God is here, and we get overwhelmed by the darkness that is in life. The evil that casts it dark shadow over us, that would oppress us with that same feeling that occurs in the hours before dawn. The more the darkness crushes us, the harder it is to remember that dawn is coming, the harder it is to remember His light has shown in our lives… and still does.
No wonder Paul will talk of those who have fallen asleep and even died because they didn’t recognize the Body and Blood of Christ!
I put two quotes, after the scripture quotes, one from the Lutheran Book of Concord, one from the Roman Catholic documents. Both talk of the strength found in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist The strengthening of faith, the communion that grows strong among the people of God. It is something we agree on, this recognition of God’s presence, and His work in our lives. His supernatural work seen as the Holy Spirit, strengthens, cleanses, heals, comforts and makes new.
The God we encounter as we are fed His Body and His Blood.
As His light again is brought into our lives.
As it shatters that darkness that we feel crushing us. I’ve been in those darks nights, I’ve felt the pressures, the anxieties, both from physical darkness and spiritual darkness. Perhaps that is why I so desire and love to share in Communion, why I appreciate it so much. It is more refreshing than even the dawn.
So run to the altar, desire God’s presence as St Josemaria challenges us to desire it. Even as that desire grows, know how He comes to you, through His Word, through His sacraments,
And find the rest those who work at night find, as their day ends with the dawn.
[1] Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 35). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
9 Pius XII’s encyclical letter, Mediator Dei, Nov. 20, 1947: A.A.S. 39 (1947) p. 97 ff.; Paul VI’s encyclical letter, Mysterium Fidei, Sept. 3, 1965.
10 cf. Acts 1:14 and 2:46.
[2] Catholic Church. (2011). Decree concerning the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church: Christus Dominus. In Vatican II Documents. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
May These Words Burn into You Mind, with more intensity than “It’s A Small World” or “Let it Go”
Devotional Thought of the Day:
1 Thank GOD because he’s good, because his love never quits. 2 Tell the world, Israel, “His love never quits.” 3 And you, clan of Aaron, tell the world, “His love never quits.” 4 And you who fear GOD, join in, “His love never quits.“ 5 Pushed to the wall, I called to GOD; from the wide open spaces, he answered. 6 GOD’s now at my side and I’m not afraid; who would dare lay a hand on me? Psalm 118:1-6 (MSG)
286 There is nothing better in the world than to be in the grace of God. (1)
If you’ve ever been to Disneyland, there is an experience that burns into your mind as you go on what seems to be a simple, sweet ride. Just reading the title will bring back the melody that for the first 30 seconds seems nice, but after the three days inside the ride, you will never again be the same. (Okay – Google said it is only a 12 minutes ride – but it does seem longer than that, like the length of Gilligan’s 3-hour tour!)
The same intense pain may have echoed through your mind, if you took your 2-10 year old child to see the movie “Frozen”, and proceeded to have every day for the next few years haunted by shrill remembrances of “Let it Go, Let it Go!
I sometimes wonder if the music teams will be tasked for providing the music in Hades
Now that I’ve traumatized you ( we call that preaching the law in all of it strength!) it is time for another message to burn into your minds. The message that the Psalmist repeats so often in scripture,
His love never quits
The Psalms have us repeat the message over and over, His love never quits! (Some translations prefer to translate it “His mercy endures forever!”
I prefer the “His love never quits” but also recognize that we have to understand the definition of love, in this case, the word “cHesed” in Hebrew. It is more than just an infatuation, or a desire to be physically intimate with someone. Matter of fact, it is much more intimate than can be seen just in physical actions. It is a communion of souls, a dance of lives so intertwined that we cannot distinguish who is who anymore, for those who love each other not only fit that well together, they move that well together.
They are melded into each other’s life so completely that it is deeper than “it’s a small world” or “let it go” can burn into our minds.
It’s to receive God’s grace, the gift of His love and mercy, which we find our hearts and souls healed. That we find ourselves so caught up in His presence that we sing His praises even without consciously thinking to sing. To know His mercy and love so well that His love and mercy exudes (I can’t think of a simpler way – except for sweat – and that doesn’t sound right)
Try whistling it’s a small world near someone over the age of 30… they will continue where you left off (warning – they will be upset at you) Or sneak up behind a family at Targe or Walmart and sign softly, “Let it go…”. The impact of those songs will resonate with them, and though they hate it, it will dominate their mind for a while.
The same idea, without the hatred, is true of the gospel! It is true of this statement, “His Loves never quits” You can use “His mercy endures forever” if you want. The more we recognize this truth, the more it burns into our hearts and souls, the more it will affect our lives, our thoughts, our very being. The more comfortable we will be, living in the presence of God, knowing our body is the temple, the place set apart for His body to dwell.
The more we will realize a level of joy and peace… that truly helps us to desire to dwell in His Kingdom.
That’s why we repeat these phrases, over and over, and over.
God’s love NEVER quits….
Lord have mercy upon us, and refine us in the fire of Your love that never quits!
AMEN!
Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Location 755). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
What Would Socrates Think of Our Facebook Profiles?
Devotional/Discussion Thought of the Day:
15 You haven’t received the spirit of slaves that leads you into fear again. Instead, you have received the spirit of God’s adopted children by which we call out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 If we are his children, we are also God’s heirs. If we share in Christ’s suffering in order to share his glory, we are heirs together with him. Romans 8:15-17 (GW)
Do not forget: anyone who does not realize that he is a child of God is unaware of the deepest truth about himself. When he acts, he lacks the dominion and self-mastery we find in those who love our Lord above all else. (1)
“The unexamined life is not worth living” (attributed to Socrates)
One of my favorite authors back in my collegiate days was Peter Kreeft. He had a couple of books that portrayed the average college student, questing after the best things in life. Socrates would show up on campus, and through some strategically asked questions, the person would find their quest changing, and what they would see is that they needed God.
They needed to see reality from His perspective. By asking themselves the questions that Socrates put forth, they realized how twisted life becomes, and how what we desire, isn’t what we desire.
The questions weren’t easy to face; The same questions we need to face, the questions that aren’t easy, either.
Will we face them? Especially as we put our views out on FB as if we were had the knowledge of Einstein, or the Wisdom of Pope Francis, or the power of a president or a king? FB is the place that empowers us to put whatever we want out for the world to read. We might even think that it happens without consequence. We will use the power of FB and Twitter to announce that we are gods? That we have the authority to determine what is right, no matter what God says. That we have the authority to condemn those who are evil, not according to scripture, but because we think they are. We may be the conservative calling those who sin differently to repentance, we might be the liberal condemning those who don’t see things our way, and throwing away our religion. Will we continue to defend our divinity, and deny it to those unlike us?
Or will we, in humble awe, with incredible adoration, realize that God has desired, made possible, and re-created us to be the children of God?
Examining our life, asking the questions that Socrates would ask, guiding us into what is real, what is important, brings us to a shocking reality.
That we aren’t gods, but that we desperately need a God, who cares, who loves, who heals, who guides and empowers us. A God who instructs us how to love, not just by laying down the guidelines, but is the example of that perfect life.
The deepest truth? Yeah – we were sinners, we still struggle incredibly with sin. If we say, we don’t, we lie, and accuse God of being a liar. But the deepest truth is that He will make sinners saints, and is doing so now.
We have to realize that God neither approves of our sin. That like the women caught in adultery, His words are, “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.” Rather Jesus gives us repentance as He reconciles us to Him, helping us to endure, and healing us of the sin’s damage, and restoring us to life.
That is who we are, the children of God, the friends of Christ.
to base our lives on any other identity, is to fail to examine our life, and is to live life as a lie.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). Friends of God (Kindle Locations 619-621). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Given for YOU (plural!)
Devotional/Discussion Thought of the Day:
2 How I want to be there! I long to be in the LORD’S Temple. With my whole being I sing for joy to the living God. 3 Even the sparrows have built a nest, and the swallows have their own home; they keep their young near your altars, LORD Almighty, my King and my God. 4 How happy are those who live in your Temple, always singing praise to you. Psalm 84:2-4 (TEV)
22. Whenever the Sacrament of Baptism is duly administered as Our Lord instituted it, and is received with the right dispositions, a person is truly incorporated into the crucified and glorified Christ, and reborn to a sharing of the divine life, as the Apostle says: “You were buried together with Him in Baptism, and in Him also rose again-through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead”.40
Baptism therefore establishes a sacramental bond of unity which links all who have been reborn by it. But of itself Baptism is only a beginning, an inauguration wholly directed toward the fullness of life in Christ. Baptism, therefore, envisages a complete profession of faith, complete incorporation in the system of salvation such as Christ willed it to be, and finally complete ingrafting in eucharistic communion. (1)
“…for, thank God, a seven-year-old child knows what the church is, namely, holy believers and sheep who hear the voice of their Shepherd,” etc.”
I am sitting in my office, the first day “back” from a short vacation with my mother.
I am filled with anticipation for tomorrow, even as I thumb through my mail and lose some of that joy. For some would try and use their “authority” to convince me what i know about my congregation isn’t true with the church at large. That somehow there is a “us and them” in the Church.
You see, there is something special, something sacred, as the people of God are gathered to the altar, and as baptized believers, share in the body and blood of Christ. As I communed at another congregation on the other side of the United States last week, my heart looked forward to being “home”.
That is how I look at the divisions that exist in the Church. There are some that won’t be healed until we are all home, before the Father. He will settle the squabbles that exist between various siblings in the church. But being “home” means celebrating the feast with all who are believe and are baptised. For from God’s perspective, we cannot deny our brothers and our sisters, united in Christ at baptism, are indeed brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.
Some discuss this in arrogance and pride, rather than sorrow and regret They put in roadblocks to the unity that is the Church in Christ by focusing ont he division, not the hope. They weep, not over the brokenness of the church, but over those who would look to that brokenness being healed in Christ. ( By the way, I am not talking of just one incident, or from just my own denomination)
I love the way Vatican II puts it in the quote above – we are linked together, all who are reborn in Christ. It’s a beginning, a start to seeing us all linked at the altar, the foretaste of the feast to come. Our baptism gives the vision of what should be, what will be in Heaven, and yes, something that should be worked towards here. Not dismissed with a – well that is them, and this is us mentality.
I also love the way the Lutheran confessions, in a section that deals with those (the Roman Catholic hierarchy at that time – but equally applicable to divisive types of today) describe the church as a child would, “the believers and sheep who hear the voice of their Shepherd.”
I read those words and hear the voice of Jesus, “take and eat, this is my Body, given for you” and “take, drink of this all of you, it is my blood of the new covenant, shed for you for the forgiveness of sin”
There is our goal, to hear the voice of the Shepherd, to grow in unity until we realize that we are one in Christ. Just as He and the Father are One. What begins in baptism is our goal, our desire, just as it is His. Complete unity, because He has lovingly healed the brokenness, giving us new life.
It is that unity in Christ, the miraculous unity of baptism in Christ, that gives me joy. I look forward to sharing in that unity tomorrow, as people gather here, as they hear of the peace promised and given by the Lamb of God, as they commune together with God. As we deal with division, as we deal with brokenness and separation, may we never forget that His feast is what we were re-born to share.
His love, His unity, trusting in Him and His work.
Lord, Have mercy on us all.
(1) Catholic Church. (2011). Decree on Ecumenism: Unitatis Redintegratio. In Vatican II Documents. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
(2) Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 614). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
Prayer, Holiness Mission and the Unplugged Cellphone
Devotional Thought of the Day:
8 O my people, trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge. Psalm 62:8 (NLT)
107 Sanctity without prayer? I don’t believe in such sanctity.
109 If you’re not a man of prayer, I don’t believe in the sincerity of your intentions when you say that you work for Christ. (1)
I woke up this morning and reached for my cellphone to see what time it was. I unplugged it and tapped the screen three times to turn on the screen.
Immediate I got a warning, less than 5% power remaining, and it shut itself off. No power and it didn’t work. No phone, no internet, not even the simple information about what time it is. Apparently, while I ensured I plugged the one end of the cord into my phone, the other end wasn’t plugged into the wall.
No problem, I’ll just switch to my tablet. It had power, and I found out it was 8 o’clock here, or 5 am at home. Okay. I got what I want.
But then during my devotion time, I came across a number of passages about prayer, and the necessity of it. Then a blog post that talked about all of the different conferences and things that help pastors become more missional, more serious about the apostolate.
I started to wonder, how many of these conferences have a focus, not just a section or a speaker, I mean an entire conference, If it were, would pastors and church leaders come?
Do we see the correlation between time spent in conversation with God, bi-directional conversation, and effective ministry? The Apology of the Augsburg Confession (one of the basic documents explaining the Lutheran understanding of our relationship with God) encourages prayer, even naming it as a sacrament because then men may pray more.
Because we need it. It is not just our source of power; it is our source of life. It is the source of our mission as well. Without an active conversation with God, our life becomes stale, our wisdom is reduced to dry knowledge, and there is no relationship we can share with others. Like a cellphone with a dry battery, a believer without prayer is dead.
But an active prayer life helps us understand the will of God, His desire to love all of us, to show us mercy so we could realize that love. It brings healing to our brokenness. Healing so great it drives us to others, with the compassion to share the healing with them.
One last thing. Don’t read this and start praying so that you will be a more effective evangelist, to be a better witness of God’s mercy. The more time you spend with Him, the more the zeal for inviting others to the conversation will occur, not forced, but naturally.
Just walk with God, pouring out everything to Him, and hear him pour out His heart to you.
Have a blessed day…. with Him!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 399-402). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Who Am I? Who are You?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
36 For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen. Romans 11:36 (NLT)
Your boat—your talents, your hopes, your achievements—is worth nothing whatsoever unless you leave it in Christ’s hands, allowing him the freedom to come aboard. Make sure you don’t turn it into an idol. In your boat by yourself, if you try to do without the Master, you are—supernaturally speaking—making straight for shipwreck. Only if you allow, and seek, his presence and captaincy will you be safe from the storms and setbacks of life. Place everything in God’s hands. Let your thoughts, the brave adventures you have imagined, your lofty human ambitions, your noble loves, pass through the heart of Christ. Otherwise, sooner or later, they will all sink to the bottom together with your selfishness. (1)
It is amazing how much our identity is wrapped up in things. Who we are is wrapped up in what we are able to do far more than we think. Far more than is good.
You don’t believe this, lose your driver’s license on a trip!! You can’t rent a car, you have trouble checking into your hotel ( lucky I am staying with someone), There will be a myriad of things that will become impossible, others that just become difficult.. Take away the mask that we thought was our identity, and we think we lost our identity. We get stressed ad anxious; we try to come up with a million logical options for replacing what was lost.
Not the driver’s license, or the tablet, or the home.
Our identity. Or what we perceive our identity to be.
WE have to remember that our identity is found, not in things, but in Christ. For if we died with Him and have risen in Him, then He is our identity.
St Josemaria understood this, as his early ministry was spent in a war-torn state, where he had to hide his priesthood from those where killing priests, as he left his beloved homeland. The lesson is not one easily learned, but it is one we need to be reminded of daily.
Before I am Pastor, before I am Dt’, before I am Kay’s husband, William’s daddy, before I am a son. Before I am a driver and resident in the state of California.
I am His.
That’s enough to get me through this life.
It will be enough for you as well.
AMEN.
Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). Friends of God (Kindle Locations 540-545). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
