Snow Day, so I have time to BLOG!
For those of you who don't know, I've been suffering from migraines since the beginning of the New Year. Apparently my New Year's resolution was to develop them. I didn't realize that :). Anyway, I was on some medication that had them under control, but insurance companies being what they are at times threw me a snag, and I was without my medication for a few days. The intensity of the headaches returned, and I was reminded of the pain I was in the first few weeks of January.
So the pain is such that it kinda pervades everything. It influences everything I do, my attitude, my words, my thoughts. I can't think of something without the pain being a part of it. And then I was wondering, what if God's love were as potent in my life as the pain of the untreated migraine? What if I really brought God's truth and God's love into my thoughts and actions and let it be front and center the way the pain is so naturally without me even having to say 'ok pain: take center stage.' I bet my life would look different then.
Chambers actually talked today about how we often doubt how God is going to do things because we look so much at the actualities and base God's abilities off of what we can physically, mentally, or emotionally do ourselves. I think I find myself in this boat even though I would like to think that of course I got past this Christianity 101 course years ago. For example, after my mom's visit last week, I find myself obsessed with some sin in her life that she doesn't seem to have under control. There are numerous ways she could 'squash' it, and it is driving me crazy. I am praying about it and talking to her about, and it's occupying my thoughts a lot. It's a SURFACE problem- something I see. What I am far less concerned about on a daily basis, however, is the eternal state of my father's soul. See, his sin is not so obvious and blatant. Mom is a believer; that is secured. She just has some issues with money. Dad, on the other hand, does a very many things right according to the 'rules;' therefore, I get far less concerned with him when the truth is that he is not a believer, and I should be as torn up over him daily as I am over mom's 'issues.'
But...I think on the actualities, on what I see. That's what I concentrate upon. So I prayed today "Give me eyes to see under that Lord, so I don't just look on the surface and outside but look at what's underneath and of greater, oftentimes, importance."
And then I started thinking, isn't that kind of what the Sermon on the Mount is about? Jesus is saying: Stop adhering to the principle as it drawn out on paper and written down. Stop being so concerned with coloring within the lines that you forget to let the paradigm and the SPIRIT of the law pervade your life. Sure, don't murder, but ALSO, don't insult! Don't be unrighteously angry! How many pharisees insulted and walk around displaying anger? A great deal I'm sure...but they did't murder. They were righteous, but Jesus says unless our right'ness' EXCEEDS theirs, we shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. It's not just don't commit adultery, but DON'T LUST! He continues to say "I did not come to abolish this law but to fulfill it...every iota of it!' Am I concerned with the letter or the spirit? Jesus challenges to go deeper.
So a friend was asking about the Sabbath and how it functions in the New Testament Era. Perhaps the right answer is just 'go deeper.' It's not about the 24 hours of a specific time...and what you can and cannot do. It's about the spirit of it all- How is the sabbath playing out in your mind?? I don't mean to get all weird and trascendental on you. Hold to the letter of things to a great degree too. Jesus didn't say, 'go murder so long as you aren't angry or insulting when you do it.' ha!
And then in John 4, the woman at the well who doesn't think Jesus can give her water b/c he has nothing with which to draw (once again looking at the actualities) asks him why he speaks to her and where she should worship (referring to the letter of the law which has rules regarding such things). And Jesus says "a time comes when you'll worship me in spirit and in truth." SPIRIT AND TRUTH! Is that how I live my life? Is that how I worship? Does the spirit of the law and of God pervade my actions like the pain of this migraine?? Do I manipulate so that I can feel I have not sinned?? If so, that is not truth. That is not righ'ness' in spirit. Instead, I'm like one of my middle school kids who think they haven't lied to their parents b/c they didn't specifically lie although they know good and well that they geared a conversation so that their parents wouldn't ask them questions to which they would have to lie in order to evade punishment.
So go deeper, I challenge myself, and you if you're reading. Let the SPIRIT pervade your actions like the pain of a migraine, but let this pervasiveness be more enjoyable hopefully :).
I pray for eyes to see and a mind that is more convicted over the underlying issues. I want to see deeper, inside my students and not just their outward actions. I want to see deeper inside myself and not just my outward appearance. How much of life could be solved if we had x-ray spiritual vision. I will start today...and again tomorrow I'm sure. Pray for my dad please. Happy snow day!
So the pain is such that it kinda pervades everything. It influences everything I do, my attitude, my words, my thoughts. I can't think of something without the pain being a part of it. And then I was wondering, what if God's love were as potent in my life as the pain of the untreated migraine? What if I really brought God's truth and God's love into my thoughts and actions and let it be front and center the way the pain is so naturally without me even having to say 'ok pain: take center stage.' I bet my life would look different then.
Chambers actually talked today about how we often doubt how God is going to do things because we look so much at the actualities and base God's abilities off of what we can physically, mentally, or emotionally do ourselves. I think I find myself in this boat even though I would like to think that of course I got past this Christianity 101 course years ago. For example, after my mom's visit last week, I find myself obsessed with some sin in her life that she doesn't seem to have under control. There are numerous ways she could 'squash' it, and it is driving me crazy. I am praying about it and talking to her about, and it's occupying my thoughts a lot. It's a SURFACE problem- something I see. What I am far less concerned about on a daily basis, however, is the eternal state of my father's soul. See, his sin is not so obvious and blatant. Mom is a believer; that is secured. She just has some issues with money. Dad, on the other hand, does a very many things right according to the 'rules;' therefore, I get far less concerned with him when the truth is that he is not a believer, and I should be as torn up over him daily as I am over mom's 'issues.'
But...I think on the actualities, on what I see. That's what I concentrate upon. So I prayed today "Give me eyes to see under that Lord, so I don't just look on the surface and outside but look at what's underneath and of greater, oftentimes, importance."
And then I started thinking, isn't that kind of what the Sermon on the Mount is about? Jesus is saying: Stop adhering to the principle as it drawn out on paper and written down. Stop being so concerned with coloring within the lines that you forget to let the paradigm and the SPIRIT of the law pervade your life. Sure, don't murder, but ALSO, don't insult! Don't be unrighteously angry! How many pharisees insulted and walk around displaying anger? A great deal I'm sure...but they did't murder. They were righteous, but Jesus says unless our right'ness' EXCEEDS theirs, we shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. It's not just don't commit adultery, but DON'T LUST! He continues to say "I did not come to abolish this law but to fulfill it...every iota of it!' Am I concerned with the letter or the spirit? Jesus challenges to go deeper.
So a friend was asking about the Sabbath and how it functions in the New Testament Era. Perhaps the right answer is just 'go deeper.' It's not about the 24 hours of a specific time...and what you can and cannot do. It's about the spirit of it all- How is the sabbath playing out in your mind?? I don't mean to get all weird and trascendental on you. Hold to the letter of things to a great degree too. Jesus didn't say, 'go murder so long as you aren't angry or insulting when you do it.' ha!
And then in John 4, the woman at the well who doesn't think Jesus can give her water b/c he has nothing with which to draw (once again looking at the actualities) asks him why he speaks to her and where she should worship (referring to the letter of the law which has rules regarding such things). And Jesus says "a time comes when you'll worship me in spirit and in truth." SPIRIT AND TRUTH! Is that how I live my life? Is that how I worship? Does the spirit of the law and of God pervade my actions like the pain of this migraine?? Do I manipulate so that I can feel I have not sinned?? If so, that is not truth. That is not righ'ness' in spirit. Instead, I'm like one of my middle school kids who think they haven't lied to their parents b/c they didn't specifically lie although they know good and well that they geared a conversation so that their parents wouldn't ask them questions to which they would have to lie in order to evade punishment.
So go deeper, I challenge myself, and you if you're reading. Let the SPIRIT pervade your actions like the pain of a migraine, but let this pervasiveness be more enjoyable hopefully :).
I pray for eyes to see and a mind that is more convicted over the underlying issues. I want to see deeper, inside my students and not just their outward actions. I want to see deeper inside myself and not just my outward appearance. How much of life could be solved if we had x-ray spiritual vision. I will start today...and again tomorrow I'm sure. Pray for my dad please. Happy snow day!
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