active in God's will

I reposted the Saturday posting on nationalism because I thought it might get a couple more readers today. But I add a short post for any who may have read that one already.

To talk about being active in God's will is indeed a mouthful. It doesn't mean some mindless or dead repetition of works or routines. Though it certainly involves repitition of works and routines.

It involves first of all learning God's revealed will from Scripture and in Jesus. This comes from our own reading of Scripture, as well as our participation in the community gathering of the church. We learn by listening, but we also learn by participation. And in this two-fold dynamic we will begin to sense God at work in our lives. Both in using us in our lives and witness, and in changing us to be more and more conformed to the likeness of Jesus.

For me lately, this means I'm making it a priority to intentionally gather with God's people other times than our regular times, but in more intimate, smaller gatherings. This also involves more openness to correction to critique from others if it happens, and from Scripture itself as I view my life and seek to learn from both Scripture and life with others.

One of my biggest problems in the past as a Christian is that I haven't been active enough in God's will. And God's will while involving acts also involves change in our lives. In our hearts as well as actions in words and deeds. This is the tipping point we need.

What about you? What have you discovered about being active in God's will?

news

Paying attention to the news is complex since reporting is always subjective, even when trying not to be. What is reported and left out, and how people on a given issue may differ, all these play out and are heard differently by each of us.

I agree with John R.W. Stott that Christians need to be both in God's word/Scripture, and in God's world, which includes the news. It is important that we try to get some idea of what's going on, and who is thinking what. We do well to listen well to others. But in all of this we need to be those who are in the word and prayer, so that we can have discernment. And we must be humble in all of this, because Christians of equal conviction and learning are often going to disagree on key issues. Though the ninety-nine percent we do agree on can all but get lost in the shuffle over the one percent we don't agree on.

What is crucial as we take in the news is the paradigm out of which we are evaluating it. The question we need to ask ourselves is: Just how Biblical is my paradigm? Do we see all in light of the kingdom of God come in Jesus, in terms of the gospel of God's reconciling grace in Jesus, and according to the God who is love and has sent his Son in love for the world? Or do lesser factors determine much of our thinking in regard to this? Though some such factors do have some value. We have to weigh all of that in the light of Scripture with the help of the Holy Spirit, not only by ourselves, but from others who will help us see more than we could see on our own.

We don't want to get drowned over much news. Some will want to take in more than others, of course. And we need to be those who are steady in God's word, and endeavoring to walk truer and truer in the truth as it is in Jesus. So that in Jesus by grace we can be more and more a part of God's work in this world.

What do you think of the news? Does it get you down? How do you evaluate it? Or do you simply avoid it? Is that good? Why or why not?

continuing on by faith

The story of Balaam is one which has to be read in the light of all that is said about him. Including the account in the Old Testament/Jewish Bible, as well as in the New Testament. The story itself (the donkey God makes speak, one children for sure remember, true of myself as a child), including a prophecy we Christians traditionally like to remember, is an interesting one indeed. Though his story has a tragic ending.

Our walk in Jesus is to be a walk of faith and obedience. The importance of obedience to his commands has stood out to me, in my recent reading of 1 John. And we need to proceed as those who are walking with God, in a relationship with him. As Jesus teaches us, this involves both loving God and loving our neighbor.

On the one hand we must avoid being on a reckless path, true in the case of Balaam. Can we Christians be on a reckless path in our lives? I don't think I have to answer that.

We must continue on by faith. And this requires an ongoing walk, and ongoing movement in the will of God as we understand it, by the Spirit and the word. This walk will be both in general terms: God's prescribed moral will found in Scripture, and in specific direction as to what we should or should not do in relation to our daily lives and circumstances. The two though separate are interwoven.

For me this is important. Sometimes because I don't have all the answers, or I have conflicting thoughts, I'm afraid to proceed in a certain way when all in all, having weighed everything, such a move seems good. In all of this we have to recognize our fallibility always, the need for us to be open to correction (we may be deceived!) and better understanding, and how in everything we need to become more and more like Jesus.

What have you found about this in your own life? Or what thought would you like to add here?

in the low places

In spiritual warfare we're often unaware of the dangers that beset us. The harm to our inner person that can come when we yield to that which is wrong, or fail to follow God's way.

For some reason, yesterday I spent a lot of time in Psalm 31, particularly in these verses. I was thinking of the scene in The Passion of the Christ, of Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane, and being tempted by the devil there, and uttering petitions to his Father, probably from the words of this psalm, "Shelter Me, O, Lord. I trust in you. In you I take refuge."

The time was not an easy one for Jesus in the garden. Do we have our times which though they cannot come close to plumbing the depths of Jesus' experience, still are most difficult? I do.

I am thankful that we have that part of Psalm 31 I was dwelling on, all of Psalm 31, the rest of the psalms, and all of Scripture. We need it all, because we can't live in the low places too long. But we need to be open to what God may be trying to do, or teach us in those "places" during that time. We need also to remember that change by its very nature comes often with tremendous difficulty. For a good number of reasons.

What would you like to share on this?

all Scripture

We are told in 2 Timothy that "All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable." Yes, we need it all.

I'm thankful for how well rounded Scripture is, and how it helps us to the goal of God's kingdom in the new creation through Jesus. Like the people in Scripture we experience many things, and we struggle in many ways. This is why it's important for us to be in Scripture, and all of it.

For me, as I've shared here a number of times, The Bible Experience is a real gift from God in helping keep me in Scripture. And it's important to get into passages and see them related to the whole and how our lives fit in with reference to that. Takes time and an openness which refuses to force anything out of a passage or out of the Bible itself. But an openness which is receptive to whatever God may be saying to us about God's will on earth.

David is a good case in point. A man after God's own heart, who could celebrate with his whole being in the joy and worship of the Lord. Yet who could also sin so grievously in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite. But did repent. Just one example among so many more of parts from "all Scripture" which we need.

Any more thoughts on this?

By the way, Spring is more than in the air here. Quite warm this morning, and we're loving it!

a helpful quadrilateral

I find what is called the "Wesleyan Quadrilateral" helpful in approaching Scripture and life. The quadrilateral consists of Scripture, tradition, reason and experience. John Wesley while well grounded in Scripture and in Reformed doctrine from his Anglican heritage moved beyond that in his time, anticipating what was to come in reference to a relational turn in theology and philosophy. And Wesley like Luther (I read)  emphasized the unity of the Spirit and the word/Scripture so that in God's work the two are never apart.

But to the quadrilateral. Scripture trumps all. But we never come to Scripture apart from tradition, reason and experience. Scripture stands in judgment of the others, but God also redeems them.  In this life we can't count on the latter three to be foolproof, but all three are an intrinsic part of our existence and humanity. So God is at work in all three. 

For example, tradition is important because in the church we find viable expressions of the faith, creatively different, yet bound together in what we affirm from Scripture. For me tradition is tied and related to the church and the work of God's Spirit in it. God gave us reason as a gift. Reason is submissive to revelation (general- nature/creation, and special- Scripture, Jesus), yet it is to be active, not passive. God gives us words (from Scripture) to reason through, and even calls us to reason together with him. Experience is where we live, and Scripture is given to us to help us learn how to live. The truth of Scripture and of God does us know good unless we taste of it! That again speaks of experience.

So Scripture, tradition, reason and experience I find helpful in seeking to approach and navigate life.

What do you think on this?