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The Purpose…
Thoughts to encourage us, as we are drawn to Jesus..
Teach me your ways, O LORD, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you. 12 With all my heart I will praise you, O Lord my God. I will give glory to your name forever, 13 for your love for me is very great. You have rescued me from the depths of death. Psalm 86:11-13 (NLT2)
I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, 17 asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. Ephesians 1:16-17 (NLT2)
2 God is my Father! If you meditate on it, you will never let go of this consoling consideration. Jesus is my intimate Friend (another rediscovery) who loves me with all the divine madness of his Heart. The Holy Spirit is my Consoler, who guides my every step along the road. Consider this often: you are God’s… and God is yours.
I show them (the sacraments) due honor when I believe that I truly receive what the sacraments signify and all that God declares and indicates in them, so that I can say with Mary in firm faith, “Let it be to me according to your words and signs” [Luke 1:38].
King David, the writer of the Psalm above, found his identity so enveloped in his intimate friendship with God. So much so that he was called a man whose heart resonated with God’s, for that was his goal. As the church fades in American, we struggle to find to resonate with things. The next book that is right on, the next new believer’s course, the next mission statement, the next strategy of consolidation or repurposing.
Without resonating with the heart of God, none of those options are worth the outcome of a bowel movement.
From his intimate conversations with God, David learns so much of God’s love that he automatically responds with praise. He realizes what God has done, far more than you learn from a theology text, or the latest book written to motivate us to keep trying to do things that are beyond our comfort zones. We see the same heart in Luther’s thoughts on the sacraments. Meditating on them leads Luther to accept, as Mary did, what God has planned and promised. St. Josemaria encourages such meditation as well, as he concludes that when you realize the divine madness that is the love of God, you will never let go of the hope it gives.
You don’t find such love by reading—you have to experience it. That is the idea of knowledge (epiginosko in Greek) . Study alone does not impart such knowledge—it comes by experiencing God’s presence as God reveals and enlightens our hearts. The Apostle Paul, another brilliant man, desires this for his people, and that is what he asks God for, for them.
The purpose of this all – to intimately know God. We all need to experience His presence and love in a way beyond description, but in a way that teaches us.
It is what I desire for myself, as David did.. and what we need to learn to desire, not just for our friends at church, but for all people.
Lord, teach us Who You are… and who we are in Your sight.
Escriva, Josemaria. The Forge . Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 42: Devotional Writings I, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 42 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999), 101.
The Could Not See This… Will We Refuse to?
Photo by Ric Rodrigues on Pexels.com
John 9:40–41 (CEV) — When the Pharisees heard Jesus say this, they asked, “Are we blind?” 41 Jesus answered, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty. But now that you claim to see, you will keep on being guilty.”
And what decides it is your love. “In the twilight of our lives, we will be judged on how we have loved”, says John of the Cross, one of the great Christian mystics and lovers. From the beginning to the end, love is the guiding thread that leads us through all the labyrinths of time and life and history.
At the end, when we look into the eyes of our divine Lover, we shall see ourselves in totality, we shall see ourselves as He saw us and designed us from the beginning. At the end we shall touch the beginning. We shall hear Him sing to us something like the popular songwriter Dan Fogelberg’s lovely song “Longer”:
Longer than there’ve been fishes in the ocean,
Higher than any tree ever grew,
Longer than there’ve been stars up in the heavens,
I’ve been in love with you.
Jesus says something very much like this: “Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world’ ” (Mt 25:34).
Some avoid seeing it by locking onto tradition. Others by keeping busy working in the mission field. Others dive deep into academic approaches to theology. Some dive deep into doing things, into being a workaholic, as if over-using the talents of God is pleasing to Him.
I think all of these pursuits allow us to avoid actually interacting with God, much as Israel did at Sinai when they pleased that God speak through Moses. This is the modern version of Phariseeism – avoiding God.
I am not sure why we are afraid to explore the width and length, the height and depth of the love of God, but we are! We don’t want to know that God passionately loves us, that He desires an intimate relationship with us. We scoff at such, saying it sounds to sexual or even to effeminate. And we are less likely to talk and meditate on this love that 9 guys are to sit down and watch a Hallmark movie together!
So we remain blind to the immense love of God. We know all about Him, we can defend His existence, but like the Pharisees standing in the presence of the Lord God Almighty, we remain blind.
We are unable to sit and meditate on the love of God – because we are afraid of that love.
Read that line again…
Kreeft’s words get to the heart of the matter. They are glorious to read, yet as glorious as they are, they are challenging.
To look into Jesus’ eyes, and see how He sees us?
To see the depth of love that He has for us when we struggle to know who we really are?.
It is time to stop all that…
It is time to be still, and let your eyes be opened and see that He is God – and that he loves YOU! Amen!
Peter Kreeft, The God Who Loves You (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004), 135.
Do We Have the Courage to “shut up?” Some thoughts about worship…
Devotional Thought of the Day:
Stay quiet before Yahweh, wait longingly for him, do not get heated over someone who is making a fortune, succeeding by devious means. Psalm 37:7 (NJB)
The continual recitation of the canon aloud results in the demand for “variety”, but the demand is insatiable, however much these eucharistic prayers may proliferate. There is only one solution: we must address ourselves once again to the intrinsic tension of the reality itself. In the end even variety becomes boring. This is why, here especially, we are in such urgent need of an education toward inwardness. We need to be taught to enter into the heart of things. As far as liturgy is concerned, this is a matter of life or death. The only way we can be saved from succumbing to the inflation of words is if we have the courage to face silence and in it learn to listen afresh to the Word. Otherwise we shall be overwhelmed by “mere words” at the very point where we should be encountering the Word, the Logos, the Word of love, crucified and risen, who brings us life and joy.
It happens every so often, when a worship leader or the rubrics (the small italic letters in our hymnals or bulletins) call for silence, that a musician determines that he must fill the silence with a solo. Sure, it is well-meant, and not ostentatious. just a little light playing.
But there is a reason for silence, a reason for the awkward feeling of emptiness. the time when we are left alone with our thoughts when we need to realize they aren’t on God.
It is awkward, it even may produce a moment or two of guilt and regret.
That doesn’t mean we should ditch those moments.
In fact, we need them! Desperately need them.
We need to enter the heart of worship, as the old worship song describes, the moment of awe in the presence of God, a presence so powerful we cannot speak. It is not that we dare not, rather, we need to wait for God to speak.
We need to be comforted by Him, we need to enter into His presence to hear that He is taken care of our sin, and we belong with Him.
We can’t do that if we are trying to fill each and every moment with sound, with novelty, with trying to make things fresh and new. Eventually, you can only overload people with so much, before the stimulation overload numbs them, and their participation is minimized. ( Try playing five songs without a break, each one with the congregation clapping – how many are left at the 13-minute mark? )
I am not saying we do the stuff dry and without meaning either. And i don’t think Ratzinger/Pope Benedict was saying that either. Rather I think his point is making sure people realize that they are in the presence of God…..
and are loved by Him…
and have the time of silence ot know this… to realize it, not just as an academic point, but in the depth of their souls, the place that needs the most healing. Time to descend to that place, and there, even as we cry out because of the pain, we find God at work, cleansing the wounds, healing them, comforting us…
We need this.
For it is the heart of our worship…
Lord, help us to shut up… and hear You, see You at work comforting us, and healing us. AMEN!)
Joseph Ratzinger, The Feast of Faith: Approaches to a Theology of the Liturgy, trans. Graham Harrison (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1986), 73.
Our Need for Contemplation…
1 O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. 2 I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory. 3 Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you! 4 I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. 5 You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy. Psalm 63:1-5 (NLT2)
In a nutshell one could say that the goal of Asiatic contemplation is the escape from personality, whereas biblical prayer is essentially a relation between persons and hence ultimately the affirmation of the person.
We know God aright when we grasp him not in his might or wisdom (for then he proves terrifying), but in his kindness and love. Then faith and confidence are able to exist, and then man is truly born anew in God.
Luther’s words in green above come from a pamphlet (the forerunner to the blog) on the contemplation of the suffering of Jesus. It is a pretty difficult read, as he takes us through contemplating the incredible power of sin, that breaks us down, the crushes us…
that we to often choose.
It is painful, and though I hate to say it, it should be. We need to be horrified by the actions we have done, the words we have said, both in anger, and simply to do damage to those we dislike or are jealous of, we need to take a moment, and examine our thoughts to realize how little we control them.
And then, find relief, not in our own resolve, or our ability to make things right, or even survive our brokenness, but in the presence of God, in the Holy Spirit’s comfort and gentle careful cleansing of our lives, our hearts, minds, souls… all of it.
This is the meditation that Pope Benedict XVI discusses, the relationship we have with God, and He with each and all of His people. It is what affirms us, this new birth in God that we have to really contemplate – that we really have to sit and discover.
And in that contemplation, as we gaze on the power of God, as we realize what He has done and is doing, we can cry out praise, much as the Psalmist does.
It is in those quiet moments, contemplating the riches of God, revealed in Christ so that they may be revealed in our lives, that the desire for God’s work becomes stronger and stronger.
So take some time, not just a moment. Consider the cross and the grave… let the Spirit help you know the entire picture, how you’ve been broken, and how you’ve been healed…
For the Lord is with you…
(no matter which side of the Tiber you are, or whether you are on the bridge)
Joseph Ratzinger, The Feast of Faith: Approaches to a Theology of the Liturgy, trans. Graham Harrison (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1986), 24.
Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 42: Devotional Writings I, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 42 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999), 13.
Oh, You’re here?
Devotional Thought for the Day:
16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” 17 But he was also afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!” Gen. 28:16-17 GNT
While communication with God would be a stretch for many, there is still more. In the progress of God’s redemptive work, communication advances into communion.
Communication often occurs over a certain distance, even amidst possible opposition. We can still communicate with those with whom we are at war. God communicates with us even while we are his enemies, dead in our sins. When communication between two people rises to the level of communion, there is a distinctness but also a profound sharing of the thoughts, feelings and objectives that make up our lives. Each recognizes the thought or feeling as his or hers, while knowing with joy that the other is feeling or thinking in the same way.
Often out journey through life is reflected in the journeys we see in scripture. Or perhaps our journey is simply following in their steps.
Jacob grew up in a house of faith, and yet his life didn’t reflect it, at first. Though there would become a time where God would define himself as the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, that time was only just dawning at the point the passage mentions above. He will still need to wrestle with his God, he will still need to reconcile with his brother, but the work has begun.
God has made his promise known to him. The relationship will begin to deepen and make the change from communication to communion. To the point where feelings that once had to be expressed are now known. Jacob’s heart and mind will slowly begin to resonate with God, as the repentant man slowly is transformed, becoming one of our fathers in the faith.
Communion is what prayer really is about. It’s not just communication, it is so much more. It is more than talking, more than just telling God what you and others need. It is complete sharing, letting him heal the heartache, letting His cleanse out you life, replacing the old stone heart with a one that beats in the Spirit’s time, conforming our mind to that of Christ.
We have to remember this is a journey, that it takes time, that we will stumble along the way. Jacob doesn’t go from Sinner to Saint in one night. We struggle with the old person trying to pop back up, even though crucified with Christ. Jacob will see this as he will still have to deal with his uncle, and his wives, he will still live in fear of his brother. Yet he will grow, as we will.for God is at work.
We see it when we have those “aha” moments. When we realize we have been standing/sleeping on Holy ground. When we suddenly realize what we should have known, the Lord is here, and we didn’t ever know it. But now we do, now, in the moment, there isn’t a doubt.
The Lord is with you…
Those aren’t just words in that moment, this is our existence. In the presence of the Lord who loves us, who comes to dwell with us. Not just to be studied, not just to talk to, but to commune with!
He is here! AMEN!
Willard, D., & Johnson, J. (2015). Hearing god through the year: a 365-day devotional. Westmont, IL: IVP Books.
Devoted to what?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
Ac 2:42 — All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.
Ac 6:4 — Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”
Ro 12:12 — Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.
Eph 6:18 — Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.
Col 4:2 — Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.
91 You wrote to me: “To pray is to talk with God. But about what?” About what? About him, and yourself: joys, sorrows, successes and failures, great ambitions, daily worries—even your weaknesses! And acts of thanksgiving and petitions—and love and reparation. In short, to get to know him and to get to know yourself— “to get acquainted!”
16 Ultimately, if we should list as sacraments all the things that have God’s command and a promise added to them, then why not prayer, which can most truly be called a sacrament? It has both the command of God and many promises. If it were placed among the sacraments and thus given, so to speak, a more exalted position, this would move men to pray.
Some people are devoted to working out others are devoted to making sure their family is okay. Some are devoted to their work, and others to the volunteering they do. Some are devoted to their political parties, or this cause or that. Or maybe we are more
But how many of us are devoted to prayer, and as part of that prayer, to listening to God through meditation on the word of God and the cross of Christ?
And if we see ourselves as devoted to prayer, what do we mean by prayer? In my case it often means intercession. Our church’s prayer list is between two and three times the size of our congregation, and those people all need to be prayed for, daily! That obviously is a part of prayer, but it isn’t everything that is”prayer”
Prayer Is what St Josemaria describes it as, a conversation that gets deep into who we are, and who God is. It is an intimate discussion of life, even to the point of discussing our weaknesses, and as much as it may hurt, our sin. It is getting to explore the dimensions of God’s love and mercy, it is getting to know Him, and letting Him reveal who we are. (since He knows us better than we know ourselves!) Prayer is that time where our hearts can find peace, where we can realize we are loved, because everything else fo a moment fades, for we realize we are in His presence.
That’s why the early Lutherans agreed in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession that prayer could be considered a sacrament. It is an individual and corporate encounter with God that penetrates our heart and soul. It is both talking, and being silent before God, it is the communication that happens at the altar, and when we are trying to learn from the scriptures, it is the Holy Spirit in us, who even interprets the prayers we can’t find the words for, for the pain is too deep.
Prayer is not an option for us, any more than electricity is a option tor my electronic devices, or blood is an option for the living. Not as a duty, or burden, but as part of our essence.
For the Lord is with you, there to talk to, to listen to, to get to know.
† Lord, help us to walk in Your presence, and be more aware of that presence. Help us to talk, and to listen, and to find out how much You love and care for us. † Amen!
Escriva, Josemaria. The Way (Kindle Locations 365-368). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 213). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
The Value of Quietness…and how it leads to a joyful dance!
Devotional Thought of the Day:
9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God.
Genesis 6:9 (NLT2)
All of us, in this era when public life is being more and more Americanized, are in the grip of a peculiar restlessness, which suspects any quietness of being a waste of time, any stillness of being a sign of missing out on something. Every ounce of
You can suffer from a desperate hunger to be loved. You can search
long years in lonely places, far outside yourself. Yet the whole time, this
love is but a few inches away from you.
It is at the edge of your soul, but you have been blind to its
presence.
We must remain attentive in order to be able to receive.
John O’Donohue
Our primary goal, then, is not just to hear the voice of God but to be mature people in a loving relationship with God. This will result in our living a certain kind of life—one
As a child, my favorite times were when I was alone. Alone to read, along to wander the woods behind our home, alone especially in a church, an hour or two before mass.
Something happened as I was growing up, somehow, I turned into an extrovert, which is kind of awkward, because socially, I am pretty awkward. I can’t find contentment, or satisfaction, or peace easily when I am alone anymore. Which is pretty good considering my vocation as a pastor, but not okay really, because spiritually, there is a huge need to be alone.
Well, not really alone, for in Christ, we never area.
The quote from O’Donohue above (from the Northumbrian community daily devotions at https://www.northumbriacommunity.org/offices/morning-prayer/) struck me first this morning. How often
For as Pope Benedict notes, there is a mystery that occurs as we are still, we grow and become, we find our reality, we relate to God.
Willard reinforces this as well, as he notes we aren’t just made to listen toGod, to hear His voice, to praise Him in unison with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. We are
Which means we have to find the quiet times, not to be disciplined, but to
So set the time aside, learn to love the moments of peace that finally set in…learn to leave all the distractions behind.
Meditate on the fact that He
Lord, may all those who read this,
[1] Ratzinger, J. (1992). Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. (I. Grassl, Ed., M. F. McCarthy & L. Krauth, Trans.) (pp. 386–387). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
[2] Willard, D., & Johnson, J. (2015). Hearing god through the year: a 365-day devotional. Westmont, IL: IVP Books.
Are You Ready for God to Invade Your life?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept thinking about the whole matter. Gen 37:11 TEV
True evangelization presupposes a desire in the Church to come out of itself and go to the peripheries, not only geographically but also to areas where the mystery of sin, pain, injustice, ignorance, and indifference to religion has its permanent dwelling.
We have no right to keep caressing our soul, to stay locked up in our own little, tiny bubble.
we see persons who regard personal communion and communication with God as life-changing episodes and as daily bread. Untold thousands of humble Christians who will never preach a sermon or have their name appear in print can testify to the same kinds of encounters with God as are manifested by the great ones in the Way.
Reflect: How do you respond to God invading human personality as a daily occurrence? How might you want God to invade your personality in greater ways?
As I was reading Genesis this morning, the sentence above struck me. It reminded me of the times Luke records Mary pondering these things in her heart, and of the Psalms urging us to meditate on God’s word, to consider what He has done for His people.
So Israel considered all that God was showing Joseph, and he tried to think it through, tried to understand these encounters with God, for he recognized that was what his beloved was enduring.
The quote from Dallas Willard in green notes the same kind of encounter. Some radical, something life-changing, something where God invades not just our lives but invades our personality. Where communion runs deeper than our minds can express, where our hearts and souls are overwhelmed by His mercy and love. It is what we so desperately need, this invasion of God.
When God invades, there is nothing that He doesn’t affect, there is nothing left untouched. Oh how we need to learn to desire this more, how we need to grow comfortable with His presence!
This is what truly empowers evangelism, It brings us to the place where we are drawn to the brokenness, where sin and all its accompanying problems overwhelm people, we need to be there, as God invades the brokenness.
For while we need to meditate on His love, on His presence, this meditation gives us the ability to be there when the darkness seems to dominate, to be there when the presence of God is needed.
I think, even for those of us who ponder his love, who sit in awe and wonder at the things God is doing, if there isn’t a temptation to stay there, and not join God’s invasion. The gates of Hell cannot withstand His invasion, His actions to rescue people from their brokennes, from their sin.
So spend time, thinking about how He has sustained His people in the past… and then… be ready, to dwell with Him now means we go places to invade the brokenness with Him.
Lord, help us to be so comforted by You, so confident in your cleansing, so aware of Your presence that You reveal to us, that we become those who reveal Your glorious healing light to those trapped in darkness… AMEN!
Pope Francis. (2013). A Year with Pope Francis: Daily Reflections from His Writings. (A. Rossa, Ed.) (p. 366). New York; Mahwah, NJ; Toronto, ON: Paulist Press; Novalis.
Willard, D., & Johnson, J. (2015). Hearing god through the year: a 365-day devotional. Westmont, IL: IVP Books.
Meditation – the rest that isn’t an escape…
Devotional Thought of the Day:
14 But as for you, continue in the truths that you were taught and firmly believe. You know who your teachers were, 15 and you remember that ever since you were a child, you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living, 17 so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed. 2 Timothy 3:14-17 (TEV)
We are witnessing today a kind of meditation in which religion becomes a drug. Its object is to find, not an answer to truth, but a liberation from the burden and misery of each individual existence.
Though Pope Benedict’s quote is nearly 20 years in the past, I see it coming true today as well. There is a definite tendency in Spiritual Development to create a modern monasticism. There is a tendency to want to turn out the world, not to contemplate the mysteries of God as much to escape the rat-race.
We want to be freed from the brokenness of the world, we want to be saved from the misery and anxiety of today. We want respite, a rest that would refresh us.
We don’t want to leave our mountaintop experiences and return to our broken lives. I’ve seen this on too many retreats, and those who would easily volunteer to work on such retreats, experiencing the refreshing nature by observing others going through a process exploring what it means to depend on God.
But we need to meditate, we need to contemplate the mysteries of God. Meditation is not to escape life, but to embrace life in Christ, To explore the how wide, how long, how deep, how high the love of God is, by experiencing it in the midst of life. To treasure the guidance of God in His law, because we depend on His wisdom and mercy, to be amazed at the promises He has made us, and delivers in the sacraments.
That is why Paul urges Timothy to study the scriptures, to treasure them continually, for they give us the wisdom that comes from knowing we are saved, for we dwell in Jesus.
Meditation is not an escape from the world, it is the rest we need in the midst of the world, the chance to remember that the Lord is with us, the chance to take a rest and concentrate on His love, on His presence. To remember the cross, to remember our baptism and what it means, to remember the Body broken and the Blood shed for us. To see His place in our lives, revealed in the pages of the scriptures.
This is what we need, this gives us peace in the storm, a peace that can be far more powerful than the peace we find escaping the storm.
So take a moment, breathe deep, and remember you dwell in Him, and in His peace.
Ratzinger, J. (1992). Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. (I. Grassl, Ed., M. F. McCarthy & L. Krauth, Trans.) (p. 328). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
Do we understand, “for Christ’s sake!”
Devotional Thought for our days:
17 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! 18 I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me! Psalm 139:17-18 (NLT)
304 Each day try to find a few minutes of that blessed solitude you need so much to keep your interior life going.
48 By the blessing of God, the priests in our churches pay attention to the ministry of the Word, they teach the Gospel of the blessing of Christ, and they show that the forgiveness of sins comes freely for Christ’s sake. This teaching really consoles consciences.
.When I come across the phrase, for Christ’s sake, it makes me wonder how we hear it
The phrase is heard in our liturgies, and is used in so many theology texts. “we are forgiven for Christ’s sake,”.
Certainly, without Jesus’ intervention, we wouldn’t be able to be forgiven. And I can’t see the Father wasting the Son’s life, He honors the sacrifice, and Christ’s merit is applied to our lives, as sin is separated from the sinner, and we are found to be righteous without it.
Yet, when I hear we are forgiven for Christ’s sake, there is a part of me that hears it negatively, as if there is no worth God finds in us. As if the cross and all the suffering was simply God resigning Himself to save us, to deal with His frustration. As if His attitude was, “you screwed up again, I suppose I have to save you, okay. I’ll do it, but only because of Jesus.”
That interpretation doesn’t coincide with how God is revealed in the Old Testament or the New. Saving us is not something He reluctantly does, even as He is frustrated beyond frustration.
This is why we need to spend some time in solitude each day, why we need to be concerned about what St. Josemaria calls our interior life. The place where we know God is with us, where we can hear HIs voice and know we are safe. We need to know He’s found us, and we can relax, and listen
We need to hear God’s voice, we need to grow to where we can join the place the psalmist is at when he speaks of God’s thoughts about him. ,
About you.
About me.
To understand that God thinks about us leads us to realize how much He does care about us and sent Jesus to save us. To think that is not just a passing thought, but that God has thought about us since He created us. His thoughts are beyond our ability to count, yeah that makes sense. Clarifying that you were on God’s mind more times that you can count is, well I just have words for that concept.
He loves us that much…
Wow…
Yes, it is because of Christ’s coming that we can know this, that we can be counted holy, yet that just isn’t our goal, it is the Father’s desire.
What an amazing thought.
What an amazing God!
Escriva, Josemaria. The Way (Kindle Locations 789-791). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Tappert, Theodore G., ed. The Book of Concord the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press, 1959. Print
