This morning The Lovely Joanne told me in her endearing way, "Well, you're stuck with me forever, so you'd better just get used to it." By which she was telling me she loves me and is not interested in ever being anything but married to me. Which is really a good thing, because I
Showing posts with label loyalty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label loyalty. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Giving Grief to the Holy Spirit
It's easy for me to make my wife, The Lovely Joanne, upset. All I have to do
is say something unkind about the way the house looks, or about her cooking or driving. Truth to tell, we can each make the other upset, about all kinds of subjects. But it's not just the comment. The root of it, when we say or do the wrong things, is that we aren't paying attention to the desires and needs of the other. Nurturing our love, trying to love each other more deeply, means being sensitive to what the other one is thinking or might want at any certain point. It means for me to expend some effort to figure out what my wife would actually like me to do, and then to do that. And I appreciate it a great deal when she does the same for me.
Marriage is a very close relationship and takes ongoing attentiveness to work right. But guess what -- it's the same with our most intimate relationship, that is, with the Holy Spirit. Rather than leave us alone (John 14:18) to figure out how to understand and follow Jesus, the Father sends the Holy Spirit to live in us and continue to teach us about Jesus and the Father (verse 17). That indwelling of the Spirit is the very heart of our ability to relate to God. His mind in us is real and can be felt.
We need to decide how we will live within that relationship. We can pay careful, constant attention to the Spirit's presence and will, as he leads us to live according to his mind; or we can be lax about his presence. Guess which gets better results? Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:30: "And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own." I puzzled over that instruction for many years before realizing that the Spirit, who is the mind of God, genuinely lives in me and is troubled when I go against his will for me.
In Rom. 8:6 we read: "Letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace." That sounds like the relationship between my wife and me. Putting attention to the reality of the Spirit's presence, and letting him have his way instead of stubbornly doing my own will, leads to a much more peaceful existence. If you're having stress and anxiety, maybe it's time to let go and let the Holy Spirit direct more. Why not give it a try?
is say something unkind about the way the house looks, or about her cooking or driving. Truth to tell, we can each make the other upset, about all kinds of subjects. But it's not just the comment. The root of it, when we say or do the wrong things, is that we aren't paying attention to the desires and needs of the other. Nurturing our love, trying to love each other more deeply, means being sensitive to what the other one is thinking or might want at any certain point. It means for me to expend some effort to figure out what my wife would actually like me to do, and then to do that. And I appreciate it a great deal when she does the same for me.
Marriage is a very close relationship and takes ongoing attentiveness to work right. But guess what -- it's the same with our most intimate relationship, that is, with the Holy Spirit. Rather than leave us alone (John 14:18) to figure out how to understand and follow Jesus, the Father sends the Holy Spirit to live in us and continue to teach us about Jesus and the Father (verse 17). That indwelling of the Spirit is the very heart of our ability to relate to God. His mind in us is real and can be felt.
We need to decide how we will live within that relationship. We can pay careful, constant attention to the Spirit's presence and will, as he leads us to live according to his mind; or we can be lax about his presence. Guess which gets better results? Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:30: "And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own." I puzzled over that instruction for many years before realizing that the Spirit, who is the mind of God, genuinely lives in me and is troubled when I go against his will for me.
In Rom. 8:6 we read: "Letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace." That sounds like the relationship between my wife and me. Putting attention to the reality of the Spirit's presence, and letting him have his way instead of stubbornly doing my own will, leads to a much more peaceful existence. If you're having stress and anxiety, maybe it's time to let go and let the Holy Spirit direct more. Why not give it a try?
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
God, in His Own Words
Who is God? What is he like? We can speculate on and on, or we can read what God said about himself. Hmmm...what might work better?
In Exodus 3, God has confronted Moses from the burning bush, and says about himself "I am who I am" (verse 14, NIV). On first glance that might not tell us much. But let's think about it: "I am who I am" was a self-revealing statement of a God who had been pretty mysterious for the last several hundred years, but who was now determined to open up his chosen peoples' understanding of him. So what might it mean? It means, among other things:
--God is self-existent; he doesn't depend on anything
--God himself determines who he is and how he relates to us; he isn't bound by our preconceptions
--God is eternal; the verb here implies past, present and future tenses rolled into one
--Since God IS, it might be helpful for us to get to know him as he is.
This isn't the only place God reveals himself to Moses and to us. In chapter 34, God tells us something fundamental about himself: "Yahweh—Yahweh is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth, 7 maintaining faithful love to a thousand [generations], forgiving wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin. But He will not leave [the guilty] unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers' wrongdoing on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation."
These descriptions (compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, rich in faithful love, rich in truth, etc) all show important aspects of who God is. God has freely chosen -- without being obligated to us by anything we have done -- to be compassionate and merciful to us. He is 'rich in faithful love' which has to do with his decision to be loyal, dependable, reliable and dedicated to his people. In spite of themselves.
This self-description is a good place for us to start in getting to know God. This explains why, for instance, he continued to pursue his chosen people Israel in spite of their constant rebellion, why he never gave up on them. And why, in expanding that relationship of unsolicited love (see Romans 5:8-10) to all humanity, he sent his Son into the world to save us pitiful creatures (John 3:16-17, 1 John 3:16).
There are lots of other points to discuss in this passage, like why God says he is compassionate and merciful, yet punishing sin. But for today, why not meditate on these words that describe the gracious God who created the universe and made you to be his child?
In Exodus 3, God has confronted Moses from the burning bush, and says about himself "I am who I am" (verse 14, NIV). On first glance that might not tell us much. But let's think about it: "I am who I am" was a self-revealing statement of a God who had been pretty mysterious for the last several hundred years, but who was now determined to open up his chosen peoples' understanding of him. So what might it mean? It means, among other things:
--God is self-existent; he doesn't depend on anything
--God himself determines who he is and how he relates to us; he isn't bound by our preconceptions
--God is eternal; the verb here implies past, present and future tenses rolled into one
--Since God IS, it might be helpful for us to get to know him as he is.
This isn't the only place God reveals himself to Moses and to us. In chapter 34, God tells us something fundamental about himself: "Yahweh—Yahweh is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth, 7 maintaining faithful love to a thousand [generations], forgiving wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin. But He will not leave [the guilty] unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers' wrongdoing on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation."
These descriptions (compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, rich in faithful love, rich in truth, etc) all show important aspects of who God is. God has freely chosen -- without being obligated to us by anything we have done -- to be compassionate and merciful to us. He is 'rich in faithful love' which has to do with his decision to be loyal, dependable, reliable and dedicated to his people. In spite of themselves.
This self-description is a good place for us to start in getting to know God. This explains why, for instance, he continued to pursue his chosen people Israel in spite of their constant rebellion, why he never gave up on them. And why, in expanding that relationship of unsolicited love (see Romans 5:8-10) to all humanity, he sent his Son into the world to save us pitiful creatures (John 3:16-17, 1 John 3:16).
There are lots of other points to discuss in this passage, like why God says he is compassionate and merciful, yet punishing sin. But for today, why not meditate on these words that describe the gracious God who created the universe and made you to be his child?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)