Gleanings

"A life of unmitigated 'ratio' (having to define all by what can be proven) where nothing was simply 'seen' would presumably be impossible; for nothing can be proved if nothing is self-evident".  C S Lewis - The Discarded Image.

This past week has given me opportunity to catch up with some theological material I've been meaning to reference for a while (highly recommended - Mike Reeves F O C L lectures on You Tube, examining items as diverse as the Christology of Karl Barth to Luther's glorious discovery of salvation by Justification through grace alone).

One message that really struck home was Chad Bird's 1517 Conference message on The Cross before the Cross. Starting in Genesis 1 and touching also on the experience of Moses, Chad shows how all divine action is essentially cruciform in its nature - the Father pouring Himself out through the Son, into creation. It's when this is allowed to happen without hinderance (by us), that we savor and wallow in the beauty of Gods exquisite goodness. It's when this stops (because of us) that we find ourselves owning a house of broken rules and, worse yet, damaged lives.
Thankfully, as Chad notes, God is used to taking what is most crude and chaotic and speaking something far better into these realms because of that cruciform nature, and it is this that gives us confidence and assurance beyond our own inevitable ability to mess it up.

This is especially important when it comes to Christian ministry. Our priesthood (service) is both to God and our neighbor, but we're not going to be effective if all we have to offer is just ourselves. What is imperative as we read through the stories of prior believers throughout the scriptures is that there is something more going on than just the messing-up that they often inhabit. Quite often, amidst that failing, God comes alongside and speaks or acts in a fashion that re-assures us of His great affection to a people entirely lost without that.

In his second epistle to Timothy, Paul grants some very wise instruction in respect to our being children of the cross. 'Do your best", he writes "to present yourself to God as one steadfast after being tested, a worker without shame who rightly handles the Word of God" (2:15). That last statement really needs to weigh on us, because it's saying that without that manner of 'rightness' in our words which spring from invaluable experience of a great truth in life (hence Paul's words about a depth to Timothy's character), we will loose what should define us in our being less than what really counts.

The key here is that it is when God's word 'speaks', everything is made afresh, so that is the life that needs to be ours. If we settle for less, then we are missing out.

Sometimes, we find ourselves so far removed from being the kind of person that is doing well, and we're not sure how we change that - how we can become the kind of person Paul is speaking about here? The good news is that in the 'darkness' of both creation and of those hours of the cross, God works His deepest, most astonishing deeds, so He can work in us in that fashion as well.

The things which are currently 'unseen' can, indeed, become seen, because there is an amazing love that is waiting for us - the Father, revealed in Jesus Christ.