Blog Archives
Why Religion is the Relationship: A Call to Something Deeper than a Meme or Tweet
Devotional Thought of the Day:
20 We put our hope in the LORD. He is our help and our shield. 21 In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. 22 Let your unfailing love surround us, LORD, for our hope is in you alone.
Psalm 33:20-22 (NLT2)
Among all worldviews it is the gospel alone that produces the beauty of the saints. Nothing else does. They are deeply converted, and therefore utterly in love with triune Beauty. Even though our surefire program is cast in contemporary thought patterns and terminology, it is pure gospel. As we have noted, this plan contains no gimmicks, no pop psychology. Clever phrases and shallow ideas do not, and cannot produce the splendor of profound intimacy with anyone, least of all with the radiance of Father, Son and Holy Spirit—our eternal enthrallment.
I have seen it on tweets, and on memes. Cute and clever sayings that are not unpacked, that do not consider the unintended consequences that actually considering what is said, means.
None more dangerous than the, “relationship not religion” concept that has been floating around for years…
If you have ever heard me teach or preach, you know how I refer to not just a relationship with God, but an intimate relationship with Him. Enough that with some folk, i just mention the I.R. because they don’t like that word intimate.
What leads us from just knowing God exists, to believing in Him, to being a disciple, the point where the relationship is becoming ever more and more intimate? Well that is where religion comes into play, that is where God’s revelation to us, the covenant with its blessings and curses, with its promised intimacy and its discipline come into play.
That is where we get to know (another IR word!) Him. It is where we find we can trust Him, where His faithful devotion to us becomes our hope, and our joy. It is in the midst of the religious frame of reference that we understand His love for us, the mercy and comfort He will show us.
This can’t be understood in a meme, or a tweet, or even in this WordPress post. Because it is more than the words on the screen. It is revealed in meditating (not reading or studying) His word. Letting the thoughts of God, revealed to us, sink beyond our mind into our heart, into our soul. Into the depth of our being, where the Spirit transforms us.
And as it does, those places that we once feared to go, the depth of our being, are converted by the Spirit, and it is there we begin to realize the splendour of having a God who wants to know us at the very depths of our being. And He wants us to know Him there, to know His faithfulness, His mercy, His comfort, His healing and His love.
That kind of work takes time, and sometimes, it is scary, and it hurts, for He cuts away what is not good and holy and right. So be patient with the process, and ask God to keep working, even as He comofrts you in the mist of it.
Have a relationship far deeper than a cute saying… have one based in the framework, the religion that is more intimate than anything else we know. For this is what God designed and created you for… to walk with Him!
Thomas Dubay, Deep Conversion/Deep Prayer (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), 121.
Facebook, Memes and Christlikeness
Corcovado jesus (Photo credit: @Doug88888)
Devotional thought of the day:
5 Let your good sense be obvious to everybody. The Lord is near. 6 Never worry about anything; but tell God all your desires of every kind in prayer and petition shot through with gratitude, 7 and the peace of God which is beyond our understanding will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers, let your minds be filled with everything that is true, everything that is honourable, everything that is upright and pure, everything that we love and admire—with whatever is good and praiseworthy. Philippians 4:5-8 (NJB)
Quite a considerable proportion of the people who go to Church read bad publications… Calmly and with love of God we need to pray and teach them sound doctrine so that they don’t go on reading those diabolical worthless papers, which they claim their families buy—for they are ashamed of it—though perhaps it is they themselves who do so. (1)
It was once said that the one who controls music controls the world. I think we can udate that a little – whoever publishes the “meme’s” controls the world. ( A meme is a picture – usually put on DB or Google+ that has words written over it)
The problem is that most of the “memes” are of the sort that St Josemaria talks about – the “bad publications”. Bad because they lead to us rejoicing in sin, rejoicing in mocking, in backstabbing, in gossip. They divide us, they wreck relationships – they encourage us to disengage from relationships and instead engage in distant criticism. When challenged on them, we try and justify the caustic ways in which we express our opinions. It’s as if we’ve been given permission to ignore the wise words of Philippians 4 – which talk about what we should feed our minds with, that which is true, honorable, upright and pure.
Instead we rejoice in this that tear down, and get offended when the target is us.
During this Lent, may we carefully guard our words, and our “share buttons”, and as we do – may we instead find things that praise the Lord who died to forgive us of these sins… and many many others.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 3445-344. Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Related articles
- Bored or Tired at Work? The Answer is not finding something new, but… (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Tiger Stripes and Christlikeness (anemergingorthodoxy.wordpress.com)
- They failed us, they sinned….now what? (justifiedandsinner.com)
