I imagine that the Creator of the Universe takes pretty big steps when left on His own. If so, Eden must have been huge! As Adam and Eve took their evening strolls with God, they undoubtedly covered a reasonable amount of turf.
As the story goes, within that paradise of enormous proportions, there was a tree that, in all probability, was not by comparison, all that large. Nonetheless it represented the critical counterpoint -the restriction, the Law, the 'eat of any but...' So let us presume that in that gigantic world of freedom where one walked about somewhat casually with the Lord, there was a comparatively small limitation that the first beings were forbidden to overstep.
That's not to underestimate the ramifications of disobedience. Death is a significant consequence! However, it might be worthwhile to consider God's intent in the light of the fact that earth's first inhabitants were given a huge playing field that contained within it a minor, if deadly, restriction. Compare it to a needle in the haystack and God saying , "Here, enjoy the hay! Just be somewhat careful since there is a needle in the middle of it. I've even marked it with a big, red X. Don't hurt yourselves, okay!"
If such were the case it would be very easy to rant about what it is in mankind's makeup that our focus almost immediately turns to the tiny needle and a rebellious insistence that we know better about the upkeep of our soul's welfare than God.
However, here's the point. I think God's intent is freedom and that He created a universe of potential within which such liberty was to be experienced. The Law was not designed nearly as much to control, manipulate and govern as it was to inform us of a vital safety clause, a warning to us that certain actions would be deadly.
Current spiritual trends would either deny that there really is a needle in the haystack or they would lead us to believe that if we just sit tight in our pew, decked in our Sunday best, we'll be okay.
I think they both miss God's intent of relationship. My personal conviction is that God created a world where we were to be set free to find Him, know Him and enjoy Him. Freedom was His intent. The phenomenal cost of ensuring such freedom was Christ. All the pew-sitting in our Sunday best not only can't do the job, but completely misses the point.
If we truly believed that our greatest failures were already covered, paid for and worked out for good, how would that change our decisions in the year ahead? How would it alter the 'just in case' actions we take to cover us in the event that the Good News isn't quite as thorough as it claims?
What if comparatively speaking, Eden really is that big and the tree that small?
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
'Danger' on my Forehead
Because of my natural tendencies towards loyalty I should be required by law to wear a danger sign on my forehead. While much is to be said about the fruit of loyal leanings there is a downside to possessing such qualities.
I am not naturally open-minded, objective or (take note) 'wrong'. It only stands to reason that if I am to defend my chosen cause, I am not only going to be certain that it is worthy but that I am quite right about it all; for why else would I extend such a loyalty towards it? Objectivity will not be my strong suit since I don't find that helpful on the front lines of defense.
Without thought, I naturally demand loyalty of others - particularly those who love me. Unquestionably there is an additional perversity inherent in that because I also got it locked into my thinking that to love me is to agree with me. (That certainly made for an interesting first few years of marriage.)
I can laugh (somewhat sadly) at the above since the wrongness in this thinking and these approaches finally caught up with me, stared me back full force in the mirror and demanded radical changes in my heart. Nonetheless for a significant portion of time, they went by unnoticed, unidentified and in a fully destructive mode of operation.
The most pathetic demonstration of such folly was that it, at best, generated denial of truth and, at worst, forced obstruction of it. There could be no objectivity; I had to agree with the precepts of anyone or thing to whom I was loyal. And if in some deep recess of my mind I questioned, I had to find some way to agree and defend in spite of any inner doubt.
I look back now at years of ministry, and time and again confess, "I missed my cue." For anyone struggling through their personal call and commitment to ministry I was no safe place for a healthy working through. I was, instead, full of jabber - a 'clanging gong' of regurgitated doctrine. I refused to become vulnerable to the struggle or question at hand. Had I taken the risk and listened, then there is no doubt in my mind that the next step I should have taken was to speak up. I didn't. I was too intent on coming out on top myself.
I am fully aware that present regret does not undo the harm caused. Nonetheless, I do ask for forgiveness from those to whom I failed collectively and individually. I blew it. Full stop.
about covenants ...
It is my personal belief that vows, covenants and commitments reflect the quality of relationship. They identify the foundation upon which a relationship is built. An, "If you ... then I will" sort of process. I commit to this and you commit to that and on those identifiers we build our future interaction. While we may find the constraints of the agreement binding, a new freedom is discovered which is based in both trust and the terms of the agreement. Without mutual investment covenant relationships cannot exist nor survive. It is futile for a single party to try and make it work alone because a covenant defines relationship.
When that relationship fails, becomes abusive, unfaithful, one-sided or non-existent it is re-examined through the terms of the covenant and decisions are made. Forgiveness is key. Nonetheless forgiveness itself requires relationship. It is the Christ-centered response to repentance. While we can release wrongs that have been done to us and place them into the Lord's hands for whatever His vengeance might entail, it is my feeling that forgiveness is the grace extended towards, and dependent upon repentance.
When a relationship ends up one-sided I think we release wrongs done to us, quite frankly, because we have no spiritual grounds for which to hold onto them.
Whether the Lord ever intended for a covenant to identify a relationship between an individual and an organization/ministry, I sincerely don't know. I will say that, in my opinion for the said organization to refuse to identify or own up to its part of that covenant because it is between the individual and his/her God is as deplorable to me as any marriage partner refusing to fulfill their side of a nuptial agreement for the same.
Relationships are living dynamics, they twist and turn, adjust themselves and readjust themselves as each comes to a deeper understanding of who the other is. They are not stagnant. Working relationships call for effective communication and changes from both parties. There is no room for, "You joined me; I didn't join you." We joined each other and a successful relationship will require the contribution of both parties to reveal the new identity that comes through union.
Effective relationships do call for a form of resilience, an unconditional love that doesn't up and abandon at the first violation or the second or the third. It is exactly there that I struggle with the question, "At what point (if ever) does one abandon a covenant relationship?" To that, I doubt there is an absolute answer, a one-size-fits-all. I imagine it is individual, personal and between the individual and God.
I do feel that we can stay in an unhealthy relationship for all the wrong reasons and walk away for right ones. I think that many times I have fallen into the trap of the former when it comes to my personal call to ministry.
I am not naturally open-minded, objective or (take note) 'wrong'. It only stands to reason that if I am to defend my chosen cause, I am not only going to be certain that it is worthy but that I am quite right about it all; for why else would I extend such a loyalty towards it? Objectivity will not be my strong suit since I don't find that helpful on the front lines of defense.
Without thought, I naturally demand loyalty of others - particularly those who love me. Unquestionably there is an additional perversity inherent in that because I also got it locked into my thinking that to love me is to agree with me. (That certainly made for an interesting first few years of marriage.)
I can laugh (somewhat sadly) at the above since the wrongness in this thinking and these approaches finally caught up with me, stared me back full force in the mirror and demanded radical changes in my heart. Nonetheless for a significant portion of time, they went by unnoticed, unidentified and in a fully destructive mode of operation.
The most pathetic demonstration of such folly was that it, at best, generated denial of truth and, at worst, forced obstruction of it. There could be no objectivity; I had to agree with the precepts of anyone or thing to whom I was loyal. And if in some deep recess of my mind I questioned, I had to find some way to agree and defend in spite of any inner doubt.
I look back now at years of ministry, and time and again confess, "I missed my cue." For anyone struggling through their personal call and commitment to ministry I was no safe place for a healthy working through. I was, instead, full of jabber - a 'clanging gong' of regurgitated doctrine. I refused to become vulnerable to the struggle or question at hand. Had I taken the risk and listened, then there is no doubt in my mind that the next step I should have taken was to speak up. I didn't. I was too intent on coming out on top myself.
I am fully aware that present regret does not undo the harm caused. Nonetheless, I do ask for forgiveness from those to whom I failed collectively and individually. I blew it. Full stop.
about covenants ...
It is my personal belief that vows, covenants and commitments reflect the quality of relationship. They identify the foundation upon which a relationship is built. An, "If you ... then I will" sort of process. I commit to this and you commit to that and on those identifiers we build our future interaction. While we may find the constraints of the agreement binding, a new freedom is discovered which is based in both trust and the terms of the agreement. Without mutual investment covenant relationships cannot exist nor survive. It is futile for a single party to try and make it work alone because a covenant defines relationship.
When that relationship fails, becomes abusive, unfaithful, one-sided or non-existent it is re-examined through the terms of the covenant and decisions are made. Forgiveness is key. Nonetheless forgiveness itself requires relationship. It is the Christ-centered response to repentance. While we can release wrongs that have been done to us and place them into the Lord's hands for whatever His vengeance might entail, it is my feeling that forgiveness is the grace extended towards, and dependent upon repentance.
When a relationship ends up one-sided I think we release wrongs done to us, quite frankly, because we have no spiritual grounds for which to hold onto them.
Whether the Lord ever intended for a covenant to identify a relationship between an individual and an organization/ministry, I sincerely don't know. I will say that, in my opinion for the said organization to refuse to identify or own up to its part of that covenant because it is between the individual and his/her God is as deplorable to me as any marriage partner refusing to fulfill their side of a nuptial agreement for the same.
Relationships are living dynamics, they twist and turn, adjust themselves and readjust themselves as each comes to a deeper understanding of who the other is. They are not stagnant. Working relationships call for effective communication and changes from both parties. There is no room for, "You joined me; I didn't join you." We joined each other and a successful relationship will require the contribution of both parties to reveal the new identity that comes through union.
Effective relationships do call for a form of resilience, an unconditional love that doesn't up and abandon at the first violation or the second or the third. It is exactly there that I struggle with the question, "At what point (if ever) does one abandon a covenant relationship?" To that, I doubt there is an absolute answer, a one-size-fits-all. I imagine it is individual, personal and between the individual and God.
I do feel that we can stay in an unhealthy relationship for all the wrong reasons and walk away for right ones. I think that many times I have fallen into the trap of the former when it comes to my personal call to ministry.
Monday, December 1, 2008
A Prevailing Good
There appears to be a hunger within us to salvage the good. It requires a redemption of sorts because, if we have lived at all, dared to taste at risk, we cannot come out of the past unscathed. We have shouldered blows. We have fallen, crawled and finally found a way to stand again.
We gather around and with a bold marker, highlight what can be recollected of the joy we knew in the midst of it all. We celebrate. We identify where we were in that wonderful adventure of our youth, carving into the paint of our past an "I was here." We wait to see if anyone responds to assure us they recall our presence.
It all seems a holy process. Whatever it was that drove us apart, etched a distance in our lives, is left behind. We are once more brought together to laugh boldly and place our tears on the table of proper perspective.
Good prevails. It always has. It always will. We cannot explain why. We simply live the reality - victim to the fact. And we are glad it is so.
We gather around and with a bold marker, highlight what can be recollected of the joy we knew in the midst of it all. We celebrate. We identify where we were in that wonderful adventure of our youth, carving into the paint of our past an "I was here." We wait to see if anyone responds to assure us they recall our presence.
It all seems a holy process. Whatever it was that drove us apart, etched a distance in our lives, is left behind. We are once more brought together to laugh boldly and place our tears on the table of proper perspective.
Good prevails. It always has. It always will. We cannot explain why. We simply live the reality - victim to the fact. And we are glad it is so.
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