As I was praying this morning a thought came to me. It is not unusual for me to get these thoughts while praying and it seems to be how God speaks to me at times.
The thought was this: Early in our marriage, and until only a few years ago really, I would often reminisce in my head about how Sharon and I got together. It was really a romantic story which I may get into at another time. Suffice to say right now I realized that I wasn't going "there" as much as I used to. Now and then I would visit the scenes of my memory and how excited I was to have someone in my life that loved me as much as I loved her. It was also exciting to be able to go through the courtship rituals, the dating, the planning of the "sure-thing" engagement. Remembering those times would remind me of how fortunate I was to have this beautiful woman in my life. But lately I was not going back to those videos of my mind. And I realized this morning that I didn't need to. The past is important and now and then we must remember and celebrate what started the great romantic journey. But the truth is, now and the future have become more important. Now and the future, more "now" than future, is where I live. I look at Sharon and I don't see the girl from my "past" fairytale, I see the woman of my present marriage. I no longer think, "how did I get here" but "isn't great to be here?" There is security in the love that has grown and developed over the years, the history that has been shared, the time invested in another person. And I don't feel I need to revisit the romantic dream to appreciate where I am at with Sharon right now.
Now the theology in this is quite something. The Cross is the most important historical event that ever was and ever will be on this earth. It was at the Cross that Jesus showed his incredible love for you and me and began the divine romance on our end. When we need to remind ourselves of the length and depth and breadth of God's love for us all we need to do is look at the Cross. We visit this scene in our minds when we doubt our salvation or God's affection for us; we celebrate it in communion; we rehearse the steps at Easter. And yet there is the same growth as in a marriage relationship whereby we do not need to go to the Cross in the same way as when we were first saved. There is time spent with Jesus. There are memories of the things accomplished together in the Spirit since that day. There are answered prayers, an assurance that we have been heard and answered. It is not that we don't need to visit the Cross memory to recall what Jesus did, but we don't need to reinvent our salvation to feel what Jesus means to us. We remember the divine romance of our first love with Jesus but now we live in the present and the future of a secure relationship that is based on so much more.
Maybe that's obvious. Maybe we just need to see it and say it. Well, there it is.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Authority
I recently finished reading a book on authority called "Under Cover" by John Bevere. Now his theology is basic and yet quite clearly bang on despite its simplicity. How he hears the voice of God and the consequences of his interpretation of such hearing is open to critique. Yet when he does listen to the Spirit's voice it is usually for the better. So I will not be too harsh on what he believes he hears. In fact, I have had those promptings myself and am only jealous that I don't hear them more often.
Bevere writes on authority in the church, in leadership, in the home and in the marriage. Since reading his book I have found that I am more sensitive to the references on authority in the Bible. It is quite remarkable and also quite shameful in how we have lost the essence of authority in our lives. Several biblical examples of respecting authority come to mind: One is the story of Saul and David where while Saul was king, David was the anointed successor. Even though David had every right to the throne and could have killed Saul several times, David refused to harm the Lord's anointed and current king. He had a deep respect for what God had instituted and would wait upon the Lord to have this worked out. Another example of respecting authority was when Paul in Acts was struck in the face and he retorted by calling the person a "white-washed wall", a great insult at the time. When he discovered that the person was the high priest, he repented of his insult recognizing that God had given this person a position of authority. Without going into great detail about these stories it is obvious that godly people respected the authorities of their time even though they were acting in evil ways.
Today we have broken down the authority of every sphere of life for our own pleasure. We think it our right to criticize the government. We think it our right to challenge policemen when they scold us for bending the law. We think it our right to claim equality with those in leadership so that we don't have to do what they say. We claim equality of the sexes so that no one's feelings get hurt and thereby ignore the unique and functional differences between men and women. we think it our right to discuss the preacher's sermon as if it were up for debate about how he spoke, what he wore, the illustrations he used and so on. We ignore the content and theology of his sermon to pick at his demeanor or what he failed to do the week before. We ignore the authority of our leaders because it suits us better. Yet we also deny ourselves the blessing of God who wants to see us respect the authority of our leaders which he has given them. That is the key: God gave them authority and therefore we resist God when we resist authority.
This is nothing new. From the rebellion in the Garden to the American Revolution to the Freedom marches of the 60s we have always been a rebellious people thumbing our noses to authority. Godly people don't live this way.
Bevere writes on authority in the church, in leadership, in the home and in the marriage. Since reading his book I have found that I am more sensitive to the references on authority in the Bible. It is quite remarkable and also quite shameful in how we have lost the essence of authority in our lives. Several biblical examples of respecting authority come to mind: One is the story of Saul and David where while Saul was king, David was the anointed successor. Even though David had every right to the throne and could have killed Saul several times, David refused to harm the Lord's anointed and current king. He had a deep respect for what God had instituted and would wait upon the Lord to have this worked out. Another example of respecting authority was when Paul in Acts was struck in the face and he retorted by calling the person a "white-washed wall", a great insult at the time. When he discovered that the person was the high priest, he repented of his insult recognizing that God had given this person a position of authority. Without going into great detail about these stories it is obvious that godly people respected the authorities of their time even though they were acting in evil ways.
Today we have broken down the authority of every sphere of life for our own pleasure. We think it our right to criticize the government. We think it our right to challenge policemen when they scold us for bending the law. We think it our right to claim equality with those in leadership so that we don't have to do what they say. We claim equality of the sexes so that no one's feelings get hurt and thereby ignore the unique and functional differences between men and women. we think it our right to discuss the preacher's sermon as if it were up for debate about how he spoke, what he wore, the illustrations he used and so on. We ignore the content and theology of his sermon to pick at his demeanor or what he failed to do the week before. We ignore the authority of our leaders because it suits us better. Yet we also deny ourselves the blessing of God who wants to see us respect the authority of our leaders which he has given them. That is the key: God gave them authority and therefore we resist God when we resist authority.
This is nothing new. From the rebellion in the Garden to the American Revolution to the Freedom marches of the 60s we have always been a rebellious people thumbing our noses to authority. Godly people don't live this way.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Because I can...
What does this picture have to do with theology? Nuthin...got a problem with that? I just wanted to post a happy little picture. This is me at 1880's town in South Dakota. I got to dress up in my alter ego personage. So grab your hogleg or get outta my way.
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