Last night during our Bible Timeline discussion, D. commented that he was musing recently how he could love God more?
We were covering the books of Kings, Daniel and Ezekiel and the destruction of both the northern and the southern kingdoms due to the rejection of God's covenant by the people.
The over-riding message as we journey through the Old Testament is that God wants to love us and forgive us but the refusal to respond in love and acceptance is reflective not just of peoples of old but of us today.
Jeff Cavins asked a very incisive question at the end of his talk. We may have returned from exile in that we are regular church-going and even active parishioners, but have we truly returned to God in our openness of heart. Are we completely in sync with God and His ways or are there still false gods and petty, pernicious sin in our lives?
I think that D. has the right idea. If we seek to show God how much we love Him all the time in every little thing we do, if we continue to look ahead and see how we can make our dreams His dreams for us, if we say yes every morning to let the Spirit guide our thoughts, actions and words through the day, then, perhaps, we will have shown we have walked out of exile into the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
It is hard to remain single-minded and faithful all the time in all things. Even those among us whom we consider saint-like will demur from being thought so, for sin is all too accessible and convenient.
As Jesus did, so must we. Pray constantly. Unceasingly. Night and Day.
A deliberate act of integrating heart, mind and soul will earn us the virtues of faith, hope and charity, virtues that can only be bestowed to us by God alone, given their theological nature.
Virtues that will help us crack the happiness code and be as close to perfection as we'll ever get.
My SD recently gifted me with a way of praying: Place your disappointments, weaknesses and sins in your outstretched palms and present them to the Lord, asking that He accept what is offered sincerely, humbly begging for transformation.
This attitude of prayer is a sign of spiritual well-being, for fear of the Lord, a reverential love and worship of the Creator, will be our saving grace through the rigours of life.
It is what led Abraham from barren marriage to precious son who sired a nation, a son whom he was willing to sacrifice out of obedience.
It is what made Jesus drink the excruciating cup of death in order to fulfil his mission of saving the world.
So to pull my thoughts together, for me, the ability to love God more is to nourish a healthy fear of the Lord that will restore and refresh me as I pray, pray and pray.
We were covering the books of Kings, Daniel and Ezekiel and the destruction of both the northern and the southern kingdoms due to the rejection of God's covenant by the people.
The over-riding message as we journey through the Old Testament is that God wants to love us and forgive us but the refusal to respond in love and acceptance is reflective not just of peoples of old but of us today.
Jeff Cavins asked a very incisive question at the end of his talk. We may have returned from exile in that we are regular church-going and even active parishioners, but have we truly returned to God in our openness of heart. Are we completely in sync with God and His ways or are there still false gods and petty, pernicious sin in our lives?
I think that D. has the right idea. If we seek to show God how much we love Him all the time in every little thing we do, if we continue to look ahead and see how we can make our dreams His dreams for us, if we say yes every morning to let the Spirit guide our thoughts, actions and words through the day, then, perhaps, we will have shown we have walked out of exile into the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
It is hard to remain single-minded and faithful all the time in all things. Even those among us whom we consider saint-like will demur from being thought so, for sin is all too accessible and convenient.
As Jesus did, so must we. Pray constantly. Unceasingly. Night and Day.
A deliberate act of integrating heart, mind and soul will earn us the virtues of faith, hope and charity, virtues that can only be bestowed to us by God alone, given their theological nature.
Virtues that will help us crack the happiness code and be as close to perfection as we'll ever get.
My SD recently gifted me with a way of praying: Place your disappointments, weaknesses and sins in your outstretched palms and present them to the Lord, asking that He accept what is offered sincerely, humbly begging for transformation.
This attitude of prayer is a sign of spiritual well-being, for fear of the Lord, a reverential love and worship of the Creator, will be our saving grace through the rigours of life.
It is what led Abraham from barren marriage to precious son who sired a nation, a son whom he was willing to sacrifice out of obedience.
It is what made Jesus drink the excruciating cup of death in order to fulfil his mission of saving the world.
So to pull my thoughts together, for me, the ability to love God more is to nourish a healthy fear of the Lord that will restore and refresh me as I pray, pray and pray.
No comments:
Post a Comment