We're Not Dead Yet

“For this reason I now bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit . . .” Ephesians 3:14-15
I love this phrase, “strengthened in your inner being.”

The author of Ephesians is tapping into something I believe in wholeheartedly. For so long we as people, especially Baptists, have neglected an intricate part of life – our inner being. I feel like it was lost or overlooked during the Revivalistic Era in America which put so much energy into saving souls and getting people into Heaven. This is an important time period in Baptist History but we overlooked what to do with the people who claim Jesus as the Lord and haven’t died yet. What do the Christians do after they accept Jesus and aren't dead yet?

My answers are: Become more like Christ. Learn to commune with our Creator. Join in the Biblical narrative. Partner with God. Become fully human. In short, strengthen your inner being.

But this notion of strengthening your inner being is scary. I think most people’s fear comes in not knowing. “What happens? How do I know I am communing? Am I supposed to feel something or hear something?”

These are appropriate questions. And my pastoral answer is, ‘yes.’ Sometimes you will think you hear God. I am a big proponent that if you slow your life down enough you will hear the voice of God speaking to you. Other times you will just know you are communing. You will tap into the centeredness of your life and you will instantly know you are ‘being’ with God. Sometimes you will feel God. It feels as if a blanket is wrapped around your heart.

Even this, though, can be scary— if you are not used to it.

But Jesus came to us to help us overcome our fear of God. As long as we are afraid of God, we cannot love God. Love means intimacy, closeness, mutual vulnerability, and a deep sense of safety. But all of those are impossible as long as there is fear. Fear creates suspicion, distance, defensiveness, and insecurity.

The greatest block in a spiritual life is fear. Prayer, meditation, and education cannot come forth out of fear. God is perfect love and perfect love drives out fear.

So don’t hesitate to run to God, be with God, speak with God, or listen to God. Ephesians’ message is that God loves us with an unconditional love and desires our love, free from all fear, in return.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Most Difficult Parable Ever

Image
Theologian N.T. Wright finds the parable of the fig tree to be quite strange.  He says, “Jesus' warning in Luke 13 is at once amplified by this almost humorous, yet in fact quite sinister, parable of the fig tree in the vineyard.” And it is sinister.  It’s a hard pill to take.  Jesus' parable goes like this: A man has as fig tree planted in his vineyard.  One day he comes out looking for fruit on it, but there are no figs.  He says to the vineyard keeper, “Look at this tree.  For three years, I've come hoping to find some fresh figs, but what do I find? Nothing.  So just go ahead and cut it down.  Why waste the space with a fruitless tree?” The vineyard keeper replies, “Give it another chance, sir.  Give me one more years working with it.  I’ll cultivate the soil and heap on some manure to fertilize it.  If it surprises us and bears fruit next year, that will be great, but if not, then we’ll cut it down.”...
Read more

The Bird of Dawning Singeth All Night Long

Image
This Christmas I was moved by the words of Frederick Buechner.  For my last blog of the year I offer to you his wisdom rather than my own ramblings.  I hope it does for you what it continues to do for me. Frederick Buechner says in his book The Faces of Jesus: On the dark bulwark of Elsinore, Shakespeare has Marcellus and Haratio reflecting on Christ in the opening scene of Hamlet: Some say that ever ‘gainst that season comes Wherein our Savior’s birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long; And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad, The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike, No fairly takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallowed and so gracious is the time These lines from the first scene of Hamlet in a sense say it all.  We tend to think time is just progression . . . as moment following moment, day following day, in relentless flow, the kind of time a clock or calendar measures.  But we ...
Read more

Sacrificing Joy

Image
I have been told my biggest weakness is I take myself too seriously. I agree. But here is my dilemma: My life is filled with responsibilities and deadlines. I go to school, pastor a church, assist my seminary in their admissions process, and feel obligated to be a good friend. My school takes up twelve hours a week plus roughly twenty hours of study. I work at least 10 hours on my sermon and spend two days a week with my congregation. Fifteen hours of my week is given to the McAfee Admissions Office and every Saturday I play softball with some friends. With this schedule I am up to 57 hours of responsibility time plus two days are given to my congregants. Why do I do this you ask? Because I can. Because God is blessing me in it. Because it gives me a sense of fulfillment. All of these shape an identity for me. And I love every second of it. We are all busy people. We all know what it is like to work the extra hour or sign up for one my volunteer role. We all over...
Read more