Thoughts which carry this broken pastor to Jesus, and to the cross

“But now in these last days God has spoken to us through his Son. God has chosen his Son to own all things, and through him he made the world. The Son reflects the glory of God and shows exactly what God is like. He holds everything together with his powerful word. When the Son made people clean from their sins, he sat down at the right side of God, the Great One in heaven.” (Hebrews 1:2–3, NCV)       

The summer bee flits from flower to flower, not at haphazard, but designedly; not merely to recreate itself amid the garden’s pleasant diaper, but to seek honey, and carry it to its hive, to the symmetric comb where it stores its winter food. Even so the devout soul in meditation. It goes from mystery to mystery, not merely as dipping into the beauty of those wondrous matters, but deliberately seeking fresh motives for love and devout affections; and having found these, it feeds upon and imbibes them, and, storing them up within, condenses them into resolutions suitable to the time of temptation. Thus the Heavenly Bride of the Canticles hovers like a bee round the cheek, the lips, the locks of her Beloved, drawing thence innumerable delights, until, kindled with sacred joy, she talks with Him, questions, hearkens, sighs, longs, marvels, while He fills her with content, opens her heart, and fills it with boundless light and sweetness, yet so secretly, that that may be said of this devout communing of the soul with God which we read of Moses: “Moses went up unto God, and God called to him out of the mountain, and they spake one with another.”

For the Word must first have been heard, and must have entered the human heart, showing the mercy of God in such a way as to create faith. Then they clung to these tidings, trusted them, went thither, and hoped to receive of him what they had heard. In this way faith grows out of the Word of God. We must, therefore, earnestly search the gospel in order thus to lay the first stone. The Word first informs us of the mercy and goodness of God; faith then lays hold on the Word with firm confidence, and we obey it. We now become conscious of it in our hearts and are satisfied. For as soon as we believe we are already justified and are with Christ in his inheritance.

Back in the 80s and 90s a term was re-introduced to the church which caught on and became a overnight focus for some ministries. The term was “Spiritual Disciplines”, and it basically was a form of spiritual calisthenics – do these things, preferably in these orders and you well end up a leaner, stronger spiritual warrior who can overcome evil, evangelize the world and live a blessed life.

Prayer, devotional Bible study reading and meditation, frequent reception of the sacraments are awesome experiences, but they are not spiritual exercises, anymore that talking to a spouse or a dear friend is.

The moment we legislate the effort, the moment we turn it into a system to produce some kind of growth, we turn a blessing into a law, and rob it of the very thing that makes it special – the love that motivates and empowers it.

I don’t think that was the intent of people like Richard Foster, Dallas Willard and others had in mind as their objective. They didn’t want to force these practices on people as a cookie cutter – at least as I read their works.

These things are devotional – they come out of a heart seeking to understand the devotion God has for them – to explore the height, depth, breadth and width of God’s love for us, to experience it, much as De Sales’ bumblebee does, much as Solomon’s lovely bride did. To seek that communion, not for the sake of the the outcome and effect, but for the moment of joyous communion.

This is the point Luther talks about – where the experience of fellowship is found and experienced, not just with the mind, but with the heart. and a peace-filled satisfaction is the side of effect of knowing we are in Christ Jesus. Having a time of devotion – exploring God’s love, mercy and faithfulness becomes a time of delight, a time we wouldn’t trade for all the power and riches in the world. It’s our time to explore the glory of love beyond our imagination, beyond any explanation…

This is the foretaste of heaven we need – as the Spirit heals us, and carries us to heaven.

AMEN

Francis de Sales. 1888. Of the Love of God. Translated by H. L. Sidney Lear. London: Rivingtons.

Luther, Martin, and John Sander. 1915. Devotional Readings from Luther’s Works for Every Day of the Year. Rock Island, IL: Augustana Book Concern.