Walking with the Father

Two weeks, no posts, so one post for two weeks, folks! For those who read this that belong to the grad Bible study, I apologize, because I’m going to be speaking about this in some detail next week. However, you are more than welcome to look at this as a preview of what’s to come. I’ve been searching for things to talk about for a little while now, but I think I’ve got some interesting stuff, finally.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the bride of Christ, the church corporate, mostly because I’ve been examining the value of continuing to attend the church I go to here. I was blessed with a few insights into what it means to be the Bride in prayer a few days ago, and I wanted to share them here. The first is a prayer with a heart towards marriage preparation, with God the Father the clergy and Christ the Son as groom-to-be. This is, of course, all tied up in the current state of affairs I find myself in as regards the role, the responsibility and the authority of what it means to be a man of God. Old hat…I’ve discovered that God has only the best intentions in keeping me single right now, which itself is a major step. Anyway, it’s got me thinking about the role of Christ as lover, as man before his bride, and what that means to we who may have forgotten our promise of marriage. The more I think about those of my friends here who are getting married, the more I look into the growth and development of a relationship that would lead to marriage with a new sense of gratitude for what sort of example we’ve been continually shown throughout the Word. I can’t get the passage in Ezekiel 16 out of my head, and this is only one of many images to consider in the new joys I have in the Word and in God. But the point in all of this is that the Bridegroom becomes ever more important in my thinking, such that it presents another long-overlooked facet of Christ to me, and one that is often passed over fleetingly in churches as I’ve attended them. Churches do not often speak of the romance of the lovers that God clearly intends his Word to convey, which reduces substantially the passions of the Lord for his people and their passions as they should be. My marriage preparation vision (from prayer) has not left my head, either. Think of it. Christian marriage preparation courses present, to those who attend, a real sense of the love Christ shows as King to his bride, who will become his Queen, presented and adorned to Himself as a glory on his head. This is a semi-paraphrase of verses in Proverbs 12 and Proverbs 31, but it really gives a different vision to strive for if one is seeking to be a godly husband, a godly father and a godly son. What is it that prevents so many of us from really seeking after displaying this type of relationship? Ramblings aside – and these are ramblings – Why should we not be conscious of the role of lover in our relationship with Christ AS IT IS MEANT TO BE? Stay tuned…I’m going to get into this again next week.

The other thing I wanted to share is the sense of really walking with the Father, speaking of things a son should speak of. The understanding of God the Father is a sadly misaligned one for many of us, but with time and humility, it becomes much clearer as our eyes are opened and our ears unstopped. I had a very clear sense of the pleasure of the Lord’s company on Saturday, actually. I was clear-headed enough on Saturday morning to spend some good time in prayer and in praise, and it really does move through your day with you. I’ll want to get more into this next week as well, so stay tuned.

Chris

Cracked Pots and Foot Fetishes

After such an interesting post title, I’m sure you’re wondering what exactly it refers to. Allow me to shed some illumination. The references are to part of tonight’s Bible study and to John 13:1-15, which arose as part of the study. The story is that which involves Christ washing the feet of his disciples, and it’s got me thinking about the abhorrence we find even at the idea of foot washing. It’s as if something in us fears to uncover our feet because of an intense self-consciousness regarding them. It’s not something that any of us can really articulate, and I’m inclined to believe that something in the spiritual man of each of us remembers – a species memory, if you will – one of the greatest acts of Christ’s humility, while something in the worldly man combats against the very notion of such humility. Think about this for a second, now. Who of us would stoop to wash the feet of, for example, a murderer who had accepted Christ? Who of us would dare abase ourselves that much? Who of us would care enough to enact this demonstration of having part with Christ? It’s stories like this, and the ensuing meditations that remind us of exactly how far we are from God without grace. And grace, ladies and gentlemen, is what we have sufferance by.

I’ve been trying to ‘get’ or understand the gospel of grace of late, because it seems to be one of the largest oversights in Christian education and upbringing. At least in mine. It’s shameful to think that there are so many walking wounded who have, through no intentional oversight, been excluded from having part in that gospel by the very churches who preach it. I was reading Ezekiel 16 the other day and it really spoke to me concerning the profanity of sin. It’s really a treasure when the Word speaks to you like that. I want more of it. Anyway, to get to my point about God’s great redemption, this is a great example of grace. I was actually reading it as a counterpoint to Ruth 3, which Mark Driscoll is preaching on at this time. I’ve mentioned the “Ruth Gone Wild” chapter in my lifeblog, but I’ve got to mention it here, too. Ruth went in to the threshing floor and sat at Boaz’s feet until he woke and saw her. The conversation speaks of redemption, and Mark preached on the idea of what it is to be a redeemer, and what exactly Boaz would figuratively be doing for Ruth, and this is seen so, so clearly in Ezekiel. I’ve got to say it, folks…know your Old Testament, because it’s all about the God we NEED to know. A good God, one of jealous love and terrible wrath, but so, so beautiful. The sensation of the beauty of God just can’t be articulated in words as I write them here. This is the God to whom I’m thankful I belong, although I need assurance of that from time to time…actually, just about all the time. A lot of wounds to be healed, all the way from being the beloved son of a loving Father to being a tender warrior (another book I must get my hands on, Tender Warrior. These texts that speak to a regenerating man of God, mm mm good!) But if you look for something, as Kristen was talking about this evening, you’re going to see it, and you’re also going to be intentional about seeing it. Opening the eyes of our hearts is really a challenge, but it can be accomplished if you open your eyes to the right things.

You’re wondering, I’m sure, about the cracked pots reference. I’ve not got as much about that one as I might like, more or less an insight from a paraphrase we spoke about this evening, but here it is…as I put it in my notes, a cracked pot will hold nothing but light. Thus, we’ve got to be vessels broken wide for the Lord to pour through. I’m going to expand on this a little further, actually, as now that I think about it, there’s a lot more to be said about that cracked pot. Think: Anything you seek to put into such a pot will flow outward. Think: Water (living water, of course), poured into a cracked pot becomes a shower, a provision for life, a trail of sown seeds lovingly fertilized each day, as the story says. So let the water flow. Let it fall over your face and wash you clean, and look towards that broken pot as you do, that you might seek it in your life.

The Lord bless you and keep you, and make his face to shine upon you. The Lord be gracious and merciful upon you, and grant you His peace. This is my prayer, folks. For you.

Chris

Famous Old Dead Guys, and other adventures.

I’m going to have to try harder to dig into those verses this week. As D.L. Moody said, “Read the Bible as if you were seeking for something of great value. It is a good deal better to take a single chapter and spend a month on it than to read the Bible at random for a month.” (Thanks for the book of quotes, Deb. It’s got some real treasures in it!) This is going to keep me going after it, for sure. It’s unfortunate, really, that what intervened this week was sleeping in…wasting time more effectively spent, although I did learn a great deal in other areas.

I’m also still working through Eldredge, but I’m beginning to see the wider mountains behind the first great peaks. As he gets into the point he is trying to make with his book “The Way of the Wild Heart”, it is as if things larger open out suddenly, implications becoming vistas. I’ve decided to take only edifying books to work to read on my supper hours. It’s actually a possible opening to witness, but it’s also a good way to keep myself regularly going with the journey. We’ll see how it works out. It’s Eldredge for the time being, but it will move further out. I’ve got books I should reread, as well as books that I need to get again, so that I can reread them. I don’t remember as well as I should when it comes to nonfiction, for some reason.

Anyway, to the current set of reflections on Hebrews. Never let it be said that I don’t try to honour my decrees. What I did find this week is that I spent some time on the verses that first arrested me in that passage, which are those that I previewed last week. “Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.” A call to action, first. A call I needed to hear when it was spoken, and a call which has driven me since. Raise holy hands, step forward in more confidence than you have shown. Strengthen your weak knees that you might walk the path appointed you. Turn away from self-reflexive prayers and turn outwards. Make straight the paths you see as winding and wearisome. Point yourself in the direction you need to go – I exhort you to remember your inheritance as sons – and endure that you might rejoice. It’s something of the same message repeated over and over in the New Testament, but for some reason it strikes me differently here than it might otherwise. And this brings me to the central point of these verses as I encountered it. What is that which is lame?

In my life right now, there are several lame areas, places in which I’m favouring my spirit and weakening in my walk. Here, I find an encouragement in the Spirit, one that speaks a warning. ‘If these areas are neglected, they will never be made true. Strengthen yourself that you might be healed.’ And we must all be healed. I’m merely seeing some of the ways that have been previously hidden to me, one of which is the knowledge of being a son of the Father. This was resonating tonight as we looked through some of the verses that Heather had picked out. One of the most important for me from tonight’s study was Matthew 19:29-30, in conjunction with Psalm 37:4-9. Both speak of moving deeply into God’s call, into the abandonment to Jesus that is so common in Oswald Chambers’ ‘My Utmost for his Highest’. They also speak of the great rewards the Father has in store if only we would trust Him. This is a truth that has never really spoken to my heart before, but is starting to work itself through now.

I may have more yet, folks, but this is a good start. Talk to you again soon.

Chris