We Have Seen God!

God is immaterial -- he's not made out of anything. We physical ones can't grasp immaterial things with our five senses, so we have no hope of seeing God as he is. Except for one supremely important matter:

Be Still and Know...Part 1

Our neighborhood has half a dozen dogs that take turns yapping at, well, whatever dogs yap at. They seem to like hearing themselves, and each other. They don't seem to have much appreciation

Dirty Toes and Messy Hearts

On Thursday of the week he was to die, Jesus did something no one expected. During a meal with his disciples, he got up from the table and began

Keeping it Simple (Part 4)

My Windows 'desktop' on my computer keeps getting more complicated.  Too many icons for audios I haven't listened to yet and for projects I promised somebody I'd do.  Just too busy and cluttered.  Oops, I guess I mean life as well.

I have to admit, I've done some of it to myself.  To be useful and helpful, I have taken on more work.  Other people have been really good about letting me some responsibilities to them, which has left me free to take on other tasks that I got asked to do, or decided on my own to attempt.

Why?  Because we humans are designed to interact with God, to have him fully in place as Numero Uno; and when he isn't completely there, our lives don't work right.  We keep trying to patch that brokenness with other stuff that sounds good at the time.  We try serial relationships, responsibilities and titles that make us feel more important, more material goods that we have to paint or clean or lubricate or make room for, or food or sex or money.  But all those are unsatisfying, and they get in the way of the peace that would be ours from completely trusting God.  Because he is the one -- the only one -- who can satisfy that craving for being included, wanted, needed, loved and fitting in.  He planned from before the first humans drew breath, that we would be invited and included in his love, (Eph. 1:3-5) and he wired us to want that, to have an itch so deep that only he can scratch it -- so that eventually, we would turn and look for him.

The good news is, God is the one who already loves us completely, already considers us important, and already includes us totally in his love.  He loves us so much that his Son died for us, "while we were utterly helpless...while we were still sinners...while we were his enemies" according to Romans 5:6-10.  Nobody else could ever love you or me like that!

So why do we all do it fall into these traps?  Because we don't accept that unlimited love that flows to us from God.  We don't feel worthy; we don't believe he has really forgiven us.  But the scripture is plain -- he already has forgiven and accepted us, without our having done anything.  Ephesians 2:8-10 says that our salvation (simply, acceptance into God's love) is by faith, and even that faith is a gift from God.  You and I didn't earn it, we can't earn it, and it won't happen because of what we do. It's simply a gift.

Simply, God has saved you and me because of his son Jesus -- and that is a gift that we need to accept, and let his acceptance and love soak into every part of our thinking. When we fully accept what God has done, we will find the peace in life that we've always looked for, and a simplicity that will make everything else in life fall into its rightful place.  Looking for the simple life?  Look no farther!

Keeping it Simple (Part 2)

I miss The Lovely Joanne when she's away.  I don't sleep as well and I get distracted a lot.  On a much more powerful level, we humans are made to be connected, at the heart level, with God.  (Some of my agnostic friends and relatives disagree, but that's okay for the moment.)  We're created not to be alone, but in relationship with God.  That is so fundamentally important to us, something goes haywire in our souls when that connection is not active, or not primary, in our lives. Our thinking is confused, and our other relationships don't work the way they should. So we try to fill up that hole in our hearts with stuff, busyness, people and chores to make ourselves feel needed; but it's not the same as that one relationship.

Getting our connection with God back can be helped by practicing simplicity.  I wrote last time about how, in Jesus' words, we need to "seek the Kingdom of God above all else" (Matthew 6:33).  Richard Foster, in his book Celebration of Discipline, describes "an inward reality that results in an outward life-style" (page 79).  Some try to create an outward show of simplicity without the inner conviction.  Foster notes that this always results in legalism, and I've seen enough legalism to agree with him. We should be convinced, as well, that an inward simplicity of thinking and belief will result in changes that we will express on the outside. 

Jesus' words about God's Kingdom spring from an older and more basic command: "And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength" in Deut. 6:5.  We might see that as a one-time decision, but it seems to me like a lifetime journey.  Every day offers distractions, temptations, and siren songs of busyness, chores and responsibilities.  The more stuff we have, the more we work at maintaining it; and if we look at what others have -- not just their possessions, but their positions -- we are likely to try harder to catch up to where we think they are. And all of it distracts us from God.

So how can we get some of this simplicity? A focus on loving God with all we have, encourages us to trust him too.  Trusting God to supply what we need is what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 6.  That trust enables us to stop striving, and to enjoy what we have right now.  It helps us to stop working for more stuff, more power, more position, more respect and awe and love from other people.  It helps us accept others, right where they are now, even as we learn to accept the position we are in now.  Paul says "I have learned the secret of living in every situation" in Philippians 4:12; and he had lived through all kinds of pain and trouble as well as comfortable living by trusting God to handle his needs and his future. 

How do you simplify life when it is just too busy?  We'll look at that next time.

Keeping it Simple (Part 1)

Sometimes I wonder where all the 'stuff' in my life came from.  It's everywhere - in the house, in the closets, in the garage, in the yard.  I don't even remember where some of these things came from, but here they are, and because I have to store them and maintain them and repair them, it seems like they own me!  Yikes!  Is that how this is supposed to work?

In a word, no.  The Message Bible says in Eccl. 7:29, "God made men and women true and upright; we're the ones who've made a mess of things." James says in 4:2-3 that every kind of conflict comes from evil desires for more, more, more:  "You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure."  Adam and Eve messed things up when they wanted more, and we're still doing it!

Jesus gave us our priorities in Matt. 6:33 -- "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."   Earlier, in verse 24, he said we cannot succeed by having two gods:  "You cannot serve both God and money."  So do we give all our stuff away so we can just live simply?  Richard Foster, in his classic book Celebration of Discipline, quotes Kirkegaard commenting on this passage, 'no, we must first seek God's kingdom.'  Shall we spend all our time preaching the Gospel so our lives will be properly simple?  No, we must first seek God's kingdom.  In other words, we have to get our inward life right, then we will find the right outward expression of what is true inwardly. 

Simplicity, as a spiritual tool, is a huge topic.  Foster writes a chapter on it, and barely begins to outline it.  But simplicity begins, and continues, with having our hearts and energies and lives focused on the will of God.  Studying the life and teachings of Jesus, and how those were expounded by the rest of the New Testament, is our best view of 'the will of God.'  As Jesus himself said in John 6:28-29: They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?”  Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.”

Focus on what he said just there, and we will find simplicity.  More on this idea next time.