a drop of water

Dallas Willard, The Great Omission

The people to whom we minister and speak will not recall 99% of what we say to them, but they will never forget the kind of persons we are. This is certainly true of influential ministers of my own past. The quality of our souls will indelibly touch others for good or for ill. So we must never forget that the most important thing happening at any moment amongst all our ministerial duties is the kind of persons we are becoming.

I’m only a chapter into “Sacred Companions” by David Benner, but I’ve already been fed a wealth of clearly articulated insight and wisdom.  Here are a few quotes that I want to share:

“The supreme gift anyone can give another is to help that person live life more aware of the presence of God.” p.17

I often associate the best gifts with the best advice or a step by step guide from my own experience on how to resolve an issue.  I associate the best gift as being very tangible and concrete, like equipping someone with the tools necessary to complete their task.  But Benner’s point reminds me that the point is not to successfully navigate life with all the guides and howto’s of those before us, but to know God.  In light of this perspective, the supreme gift I can give to anyone is to help them live a life more aware of the prescence of God.

“If you are making significant progress on the transformational journey of Christian Spirituality, you have one or more friendships that support that journey.  If you do not, you are not.  It is that simple.” p.16

A lot of times I have the misconception that I need to figure out God on my own.  There are certainly times when you need to wrestle with God, but I think that those times are always within the context of a communal relationship with God.  C.S. Lewis talks about the idea that everyone brings out a special aspect of each other.  I will bring out a unique response from my best friends that no one else can.  Likewise–all of us bring out a side of God in how he responds to each of us.  That reality of how God relates to each of us uniquely helps us to understand and see more of God through each other.

“The soul’s journey in Christian Spirituality is a journey of becoming, not simply of doing or even being.” p.27

Sometimes I liken Christian Spirituality to the Nike motto, “Just Do It.”  But maybe thats an oversimplification.  Benner seems to be getting at the depth of the journey with this statement.  Failures, successes, mistakes and discoveries are all apart of the journey of becoming more Christ-like.  We aren’t just doing what we are told, and neither are we completely and fully being who we are called to be.  Instead we are becoming, day by day, more Christ-like.

There are a handful of books that take a well traveled bible story and dive deeper, beyond the standard conclusions and understandings to open up a wealth of life giving discoveries and connections for the reader.   A Shepherds Look at Psalm 23 is one of those books.  The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller earns this tag too.

The familiar conclusion from the parable of the prodigal son is that God is a loving father who will welcome us with open arms, regardless of the mistakes we have made.  Keller digs further, encouraging us to look at the parable as a story of two lost sons.  Since the parable was originally directed at the Pharisee’s the observations of the elder brother was intended to speak to them.  Keller proposes that the elder and younger brother represent two ways of life.  The elder brother represents the lifestyle of living by the law in order to get what he wants; the younger brother represents the lifestyle of ignoring (breaking) all laws on a path of self-discovery in order to get what he wants.  Both want the father’s assets instead of the father.  They just have opposite methods of getting what they want.

A beautiful realization that Keller writes about, addresses one of the argued points over this parable.  Some scholars point out that the grace shown to the younger son did not cost anything.  However, Keller notes that there was a real cost that the elder brother had to pay, since it was out of his inheritance that the party for his younger brother’s celebration was financed.  Through the parable, Jesus is showing the deficiency of the elder brother and juxtaposing himself as the true elder brother who paid the price for us.  In the two previous parables, (lost sheep and lost coin) the person who has lost something searches for it unceasingly until it is found.  That attribute of unceasingly searching for the object lost (the younger brother) is absent from the parable of the prodigal son and allows us to realize that Jesus has that characteristic of unceasingly searching for us until we are found.

It gives us a calling to turn our “elder brotherness” that makes us feel like we’ve earned something in God’s eyes by working hard in ministry or following his rules to become the person who is willing to unceasingly search and pay whatever is needed to find and welcome the people who have rejected God.  It helps us realize that our “elder brotherness” is very often the same type of sin as the younger brother’s and that we are both in great need of the Father’s invitation into his house.

I finished Francis Chan’s book, Crazy Love (www.crazylovebook.com), encouraged and inspired.  It infused and revitalized my understanding and desire to respond to God’s love.  In the 4th chapter, Chan profiles the lukewarm Christian.  It was a healthy check to my lifestyle.   Here are a few that convicted me:

• Lukewarm people tend to choose what is popular over what is right when they are in conflict.  They desire to fit in both at church and outside of churhc; they care more about what people think of their actions (like church attendance and giving) than what God thinks of their hearts and lives.
• Lukewarm people don’t realy want to be saved from their sin; they want only to be saved from the penalty of their sin.  They don’t genuinely hate sin and aren’t truly sorry for it; they’re merely sorry because God is going to punish them.  Lukewarm people don’t really believe that his new life Jesus offeres is better than the old sinful one.
• Lukewarm people love others but do not seek to love others as much as they love themselves.  Their love of others is typically focused on those who love them in return, like family, friends, and other people they know and connect with.  There is little love left over for those who cannot love them back, much less for those who intentionally slight them, whose kids are better athelets than theirs, or with whom conversations are awkward or uncomfortable.  Their love is highly conditional and very seletive, and generally comes with strings attached.

Later in the 8th chapter he profiles those obsessed (to have the mind excessively preoccopied with one emotion or topic) with God.  Here are a few that convicted me:

• People who are obssesed with God are known as givers, not takers.  Obessed people genuinely think that others matter as much as they do, and they are particularly aware of those who are poor around the world (James 2:14-26)
• A person who is obsessed with Jesus is more concerned with his or her character than comfort.  Obsessed people konw that true joy doesn’t depend on circumstances or environemnet; it is a gift that must be chosen and cultivated, a gift that ultimately comes from God (James 1:2-4)
• People who are obsessed with Jesus aren’t consumed with their personal safety and comfort above all else.  Obsessed people care more about God’s kingdom coming to this earth than their own lives being shielded from pain or distress.

Chan has filled this book with countless stories of people who have lived and are living lives evident of  God’s power and love.  The stories are humbling, amazing, challenging, and revitalizing.  He cautions and encourages the reader in the following quote to listen, obey and live Christ…

Oswald Chambers wrote, “Never make a principle out of your experience; let God be as original with other people as He is with you.”  To that I would add, “Be careful not to turn others’ lives into the model for your own.” Allow God to be as creative with you as He is with each of us.

p. 167 | Crazy Love | Francis Chan

In Chapter 3 of Prayer, Richard Foster describes the Prayer of Examen.  He starts out by noting that there are two parts of this prayer, 1. The examen of consciousness and 2. The examen of conscience.  He describes each separately but ends with the understanding that they are much more like two overlapping circles, always influencing with each other.

He describes the examen of consciousness as the method “through which we discover how God has been present to us throughout the day and how we have responded to his presence.”  It’s implication is that we become more aware of our surroundings and that “God wants us to be present where are.”  I know that for me I am often asking God for and about tomorrow, completely ignoring what is infront of me today.  God becomes limited to the servant who is preparing and providing for my tomorrow (which he is), but I forget that he is the God who is present with me right now, today.

The examen of conscience is the process of inviting the Lord to search our hearts to the depths of the psalmists words in Ps 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.  See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”  We uncover those areas that need cleansing, purifying and healing.  Foster mentions two dangers to deep introspection without God: 1. “If we are the lone examiners of our heart, a thousand justifications will arise to decalre our innocence” and 2. “If left to our own devices, it is easy for us to take one good look at who we truly are nad elcare ourselves unredeemable.”

It is easy to be upset and want to end the evil and sin that is outside of ourselves.  What if we had the same kind of feelings towards the actions within ourselves of the same ilk?

When we are sick, we often go to the doctor for a diagnosis.  They have the knowledge of the how the human body works and know the current remedies for our ailments.  God has the knowledge of not only how our human body works, but how our heart and mind work.  It makes sense that we should go to the great physician regularly to stay healthy.