Eugene Peterson wrote, Eat This Book, from the conviction that we need to read and digest the spiritual words of God found in scripture. In Revelation chapter 10 John was preparing to take notes on the message he had heard from the angel, when he was interrupted by a voice telling him to go and retrieve the scroll from which the angel had been reading. John went to get the scroll, but then, oddly enough, the angel told him to eat it. It seems strange to think of eating even a small piece of paper, yet John ate the scroll of God’s word as he was told and it tasted sweet, but it soured his stomach.
Peterson hopes that we can approach scripture in the same way John was instructed. The Bible is not just rules of conduct, lists of doctrines, or even great stories about God and his people. God’s word is not dead words on paper, flattened and manageable. We must take it inside of us, let it digest into us and affect us…even if it sours our stomach.
This is the idea of formation. For much of my early life, I looked to the scripture only for doctrinal truth. I was missing the point of letting the word do its work of changing me more into the image of Christ. We would do well to submit our “self” to the words of scripture, to let the word critique our living, our attitudes toward righteousness and unrighteousness. As we read the word, we seek not just to learn some new fact or idea, but to learn about ourselves inside the word, to let it speak to our bodies and then, through our bodies to speak to others.
Our best worship for Jehovah God is to let our learning re-create us into his image (Romans 12:1). Where we live, right now, is God’s gift for our spiritual development (Acts 17:26, 27). You should take some time to contemplate the mystery of your own creation and the creation that surrounds you: all of it is from God for your eternal benefit. Submit yourself to God by being what he created you to be, participating with him in his work. Let your life become so intertwined with God’s that when you tell your story, people also hear his.
If we truly are what we eat, as the popular saying asserts, then let us not be formed by this world and its culture, but by the word of God living and digesting inside us. Let our story be God’s story in our bodies.
Showing posts with label worship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label worship. Show all posts
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Praying
Henri J. M. Nouwen’s short, yet profound book, The Way of the Heart: connecting with God Through Prayer, Wisdom, And Silence, begins at the first open page:
Solitude. Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit where he undertook one of the most severe tests on his life. I suppose Satan sought to nip his ministry in the bud, so to speak. But it is promising that God did not abandon Jesus, ever. While he was in the wilderness, accosted by Satan, God sent his angels to minister to him. In the solitude of the desert, Jesus found the wonderful presence of his father in the midst of some of his darkest temptations.
Silence. The psalmist says, “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10) To be still is to wait quietly. According to this verse, two powerful things can happen when we come before God listening and waiting in silence. First, we can be assured that he is God and second, while we are quite before the Lord, listening, he will be exalted among the nations.
Prayer. Nouwen criticizes our tendency to reduce our approach to God to a mere intellectual pursuit, advocating an intentional exercise of the heart in prayer. “When we enter with our mind into our heart and there stand in the presence of God, then all our mental preoccupations become prayer.” (p. 86) Nouwen points the way, through prayer, to a restful heart in a tumultuous world. This makes our prayer life of great value in our daily Christian walk.
Ancient spiritual wisdom to heal our troubled modern souls
On Solitude
“Solitude is the place of purification and transformation, the place of the great struggle and the great encounter…the place of our salvation”
On Silence
“First, silence makes us pilgrims. Secondly, silence guards the fire within. Thirdly, silence teaches us to speak.”
On Prayer
“The prayer of the heart opens the eyes of our soul to the truth of ourselves as well as the truth of God. The prayer of the heart challenges us to hide absolutely nothing.”
Solitude. Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit where he undertook one of the most severe tests on his life. I suppose Satan sought to nip his ministry in the bud, so to speak. But it is promising that God did not abandon Jesus, ever. While he was in the wilderness, accosted by Satan, God sent his angels to minister to him. In the solitude of the desert, Jesus found the wonderful presence of his father in the midst of some of his darkest temptations.
Silence. The psalmist says, “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10) To be still is to wait quietly. According to this verse, two powerful things can happen when we come before God listening and waiting in silence. First, we can be assured that he is God and second, while we are quite before the Lord, listening, he will be exalted among the nations.
Prayer. Nouwen criticizes our tendency to reduce our approach to God to a mere intellectual pursuit, advocating an intentional exercise of the heart in prayer. “When we enter with our mind into our heart and there stand in the presence of God, then all our mental preoccupations become prayer.” (p. 86) Nouwen points the way, through prayer, to a restful heart in a tumultuous world. This makes our prayer life of great value in our daily Christian walk.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
One Woe
As Jesus looks toward his impending crucifixion and the culmination of his ministry he gets more and more confrontational with the religious leaders who are influencing God’s people to follow them in their hypocrisy. On the one hand he is certainly angry at their abuse of position and its results on the people who have depended on them for spiritual guidance. On the other hand, his purpose is to find a way to redeem even them into a reconciled relationship with the Father. So when we look at the Seven Woes in Matthew 23:13-36 we have to make a decision about how we hear Jesus’ words. Is he angry or is he speaking a lament? Is he preaching for them or is he preaching against them?
At times I have heard these woes in my mind as a rant against the scribes and Pharisees – “hypocrites!” But most of the time I hear them as a more pitiful dirge; an explanation of their arrogantly pathetic circumstances and the disastrous results of their self-righteousness.
The fifth and sixth woes particularly strike me as sad. The fifth one says, “Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will also be clean.”
These people think that their religious activity is the essence of their relationship with God. Jesus proposes that they should work from the inside out; that when they are contrite and humble before God – when they devote their hearts to God – their bodies will follow their hearts' decision. Some have suggested that they were taking the opposite approach; that is, they were trying to work from the outside in, but that is not the case. They were completely neglecting the inside. In fact their motives for caring about the outside were corrupt from their conception. Jesus says they are motivated by greed and self-indulgence.
I think Jesus is preaching to two groups of people here. I think he is making a loving and frank attempt to jar the consciences of these leaders and he is also warning their followers and us about cultivating hypocrisy. Anyone can have a bad moment, a lapse in self-control, which they regret and bring to the Father for transformation and forgiveness. May we never attempt to hide behind a veil of religious practices, but be genuine in turning our hearts toward him.
At times I have heard these woes in my mind as a rant against the scribes and Pharisees – “hypocrites!” But most of the time I hear them as a more pitiful dirge; an explanation of their arrogantly pathetic circumstances and the disastrous results of their self-righteousness.
The fifth and sixth woes particularly strike me as sad. The fifth one says, “Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will also be clean.”
These people think that their religious activity is the essence of their relationship with God. Jesus proposes that they should work from the inside out; that when they are contrite and humble before God – when they devote their hearts to God – their bodies will follow their hearts' decision. Some have suggested that they were taking the opposite approach; that is, they were trying to work from the outside in, but that is not the case. They were completely neglecting the inside. In fact their motives for caring about the outside were corrupt from their conception. Jesus says they are motivated by greed and self-indulgence.
I think Jesus is preaching to two groups of people here. I think he is making a loving and frank attempt to jar the consciences of these leaders and he is also warning their followers and us about cultivating hypocrisy. Anyone can have a bad moment, a lapse in self-control, which they regret and bring to the Father for transformation and forgiveness. May we never attempt to hide behind a veil of religious practices, but be genuine in turning our hearts toward him.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Treasure
Solomon sought meaning for his life; he wanted to believe that his life would be more valuable than its mere length. Perhaps he measured himself by his father’s accomplishments – driven to achieve. But Solomon approaches meaning from a broad perspective, in some ways like Victor Frankle’s work, Man’s Search for Meaning. In Ecclesiastes 2 he briefly mentions his search for meaning through pleasure, only to turn abruptly, “Laughter is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?” So he searched in other ways:
But in the end he says, “…when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 2:3-11).
Verse 8 reveals a lot about humankind, Solomon drew to himself all the delights of the heart. Interestingly, this is the only verse in the Bible where “treasure” and “heart” both appear, other than when Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Solomon’s search for meaning is really a search for what to worship.
Where do we search for meaning in our lives? That is where we keep our treasure, and that is our god. Remember…We follow Him!
Don Morrison
Solomon sought meaning for his life; he wanted to believe that his life would be more valuable than its mere length. Perhaps he measured himself by his father’s accomplishments – driven to achieve. But Solomon approaches meaning from a broad perspective, in some ways like Victor Frankle’s work, Man’s Search for Meaning. In Ecclesiastes 2 he briefly mentions his search for meaning through pleasure, only to turn abruptly, “Laughter is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?” So he searched in other ways:
I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly--my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.
I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards.
I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.
I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees.
I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me.
I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well--the delights of the heart of man.
I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.
I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor.
But in the end he says, “…when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 2:3-11).
Verse 8 reveals a lot about humankind, Solomon drew to himself all the delights of the heart. Interestingly, this is the only verse in the Bible where “treasure” and “heart” both appear, other than when Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Solomon’s search for meaning is really a search for what to worship.
Where do we search for meaning in our lives? That is where we keep our treasure, and that is our god. Remember…We follow Him!
Don Morrison
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