Last year I blogged about the notion that Christmas is about our receiving, not giving. Grace is about what God gave us in the redemptive love of Jesus and the truth about ourselves found in receiving this gift. In the John 1 passage I focused on the grace and truth found in the Incarnate Christ.
I still like the Christmas story found in verse 14, but this year God drew my attention to another word in the verse, "beheld". "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory .."
While emphasis is on giving in remembrance of the gift we have been given in Jesus and on receiving because unless and until we receive the gift, we don't have it, I like to reflect on the idea of beholding His glory. Taking it on and sharing in it, now that's a cool idea. Maybe even awesome!!!!!
Appropriating the gift is the Christian life. Soaking in His Glory so others may see Him. Being lavished with the provisions and privileges of the Heavenlies, that sounds nice. Our life becomes not some expectation of God because we give to others or some legalistic obligation to do great things for God but to point to Him through Thanksgiving. That's what others should see in us.
Merry Christmas!!!
random musings from the heart of a CRAZY old man (dedicated to those who inspire me)
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
"Go with the wind"
One of the classic movies of all times is "Gone with the Wind". This story focuses on how the Civil War ended a Golden Era of culture for many peeps. This movie captures the idea of looking back at good times gone by, maybe even lamenting how things used to be.
If we change tense of verb "to go" to present tense, we have the notion of "go with the wind". Generally speaking this is not seen as a favorable way to view life or to live it. There might be an occasional good time, but not a lot of success. We are encouraged by others to have goals, to be grounded by a plan, to be anchored in a desired outcome, or we will be tossed to and fro by anything that comes our way. Our life would never account for anything much without goals.
We all are certainly taught this way, but what if our anchor in life is a wind, a special wind? What if we are supposed to order our life in a way that we are meant to be "tossed about" by something other than the typical anchors the world advances, such as rules, morality, ambition, and responsibility, all inherent in our human nature designed in us to gain acceptance from the world around us?
What if we are not intended to let goals control us, but to subject our decisions and actions to something beyond ourselves that defines and delivers "winning." This is what I would consider living STRATEGICALLY, but in a different way.
You may be saying now, "professor, what r u talking about?" and that would be a reasonable thought for you to have :-)
A friend of mine recently shared an interesting point. He asked, "since 'born again' is a very trendy saying in Christian circles, what did Jesus really say is the characteristic of being born again?" What would your answer be? It's easy enough to find out.
Jesus says (John 3: 8), "the wind blows where it pleases, you hear its sound but don't know from where it comes or where it goes, so it is with everyone that is born again (of the Spirit)". In other words one who is born again is one whose life is ordered by being blown around by a wind, not any wind of the world but the wind of a God Himself. Kingdom living is flexible, spontaneous, pliable and opportunistic; open to His prompting - led by the Sovereign King of the Universe. So what constrains the Kingdom life?
From this perspective Kingdom living is a strategic, not planned life. Life is free to flow with the unctions of God. It is not one anchored by anything that keeps it from being "blown around" by God. In trying to protect ourselves, drive out uncertainty in our life and make ourselves acceptable to others, we set goals anchored in fear, pride, worry, comfort, "right behavior", self-sufficiency and so on.
In doing so we often miss the opportunities to love others in bizarre and unusual ways. We miss the joy of knowing God better, what He is up to in our life and those he puts in our path. We miss the assurance that we are OK because God made us OK and not because of what we accomplished. We miss the power God has given us to be transformed and to transform the lives of others. We miss being satisfied by provisions of His grace.
That's all ..... just saying :-) :-)
If we change tense of verb "to go" to present tense, we have the notion of "go with the wind". Generally speaking this is not seen as a favorable way to view life or to live it. There might be an occasional good time, but not a lot of success. We are encouraged by others to have goals, to be grounded by a plan, to be anchored in a desired outcome, or we will be tossed to and fro by anything that comes our way. Our life would never account for anything much without goals.
You may be saying now, "professor, what r u talking about?" and that would be a reasonable thought for you to have :-)
A friend of mine recently shared an interesting point. He asked, "since 'born again' is a very trendy saying in Christian circles, what did Jesus really say is the characteristic of being born again?" What would your answer be? It's easy enough to find out.
Jesus says (John 3: 8), "the wind blows where it pleases, you hear its sound but don't know from where it comes or where it goes, so it is with everyone that is born again (of the Spirit)". In other words one who is born again is one whose life is ordered by being blown around by a wind, not any wind of the world but the wind of a God Himself. Kingdom living is flexible, spontaneous, pliable and opportunistic; open to His prompting - led by the Sovereign King of the Universe. So what constrains the Kingdom life?
From this perspective Kingdom living is a strategic, not planned life. Life is free to flow with the unctions of God. It is not one anchored by anything that keeps it from being "blown around" by God. In trying to protect ourselves, drive out uncertainty in our life and make ourselves acceptable to others, we set goals anchored in fear, pride, worry, comfort, "right behavior", self-sufficiency and so on.
In doing so we often miss the opportunities to love others in bizarre and unusual ways. We miss the joy of knowing God better, what He is up to in our life and those he puts in our path. We miss the assurance that we are OK because God made us OK and not because of what we accomplished. We miss the power God has given us to be transformed and to transform the lives of others. We miss being satisfied by provisions of His grace.
That's all ..... just saying :-) :-)
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