on the edge

We would like to be on an even keel, completely calm, with no troubles, temptations, trials, or sins. This is not life in the here and now for us in Jesus.

Yes, the kingdom of God is a matter or righteousness, peace and joy by the Holy Spirit. And this should be a part of our experience. But we live in an existence contrary to the way of life in Jesus because of the world, the flesh and the devil.

So living in Jesus in this world involves living on the edge, so to speak. What I mean is not that we can feel free to deviate a bit from the straight and narrow. Not at all! But we must get comfortable with the reality that our lives here are not about being comfortable. That the way is narrow and difficult to life, and that we go through many hardships.

So we need to accustom and harden ourselves to the fact that life won't be easy here. Grace is free but not cheap, and full commitment alone is costly in terms of what is valued by humans especially in terms of this world. We are indeed people in process, and we are in a war zone no less, in spiritual terms, so we'd best accustom ourselves to this, and just accept it as a part of our lot in this world, together, in Jesus.

What would you like to add to this?

Tomorrow chapter 3, "Stringing Pearls" in Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith, by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg.

Beyond the Gates of Splendor

Last evening Deb and I watched Beyond the Gates of Splendor. Named after Elisabeth Elliot's book, Through Gates of Splendor, wife of Jim Elliot, one of the missionaries who risked his life that others in Jesus might find true life.

In 1956, five American missionaries to Ecuador were brutally speared to death by a savage Stone Age tribe of Indians known as the Aucas. Two years later, the wife and sister of two of the murdered missionaries walked into the jungle to live with the same people who had murdered the men they loved. Today, the Aucas (now known as the Waodani) are a changed people. This is their story.

from the website of the movie

This is a wonderful film, largely a documentary talking to the actual people with shots of scenes of that time, including those from the camera which was discovered when the five bodies of the men were found. It is indeed a most powerful testimony of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ to transform individuals, societies and systems of evil.

It is I think wisely rated "PG-13 for some violent content and thematic elements."

I remember one of the killers of the missionaries coming to RBC Ministries for a very special chapel with Steve Saint, son of one of those who perished, Nate Saint. What a wonderful chapel. The grandchildren of the fallen missionaries call him Grandpa; there is a bond of genuine love that shows clearly the power of the gospel of Christ to save sinners and bring true reconciliation to humans in their/our relationship to God and to each other.

Have you seen the film, or read the book?

finding one's life

Over and over again Jesus told his disciples and he tells us that those who hold on to their lives, and hoard their lives will lose them. But those who lose their lives for Jesus' sake, who give up their lives to God through Christ, will end up finding them, finding their true life. Something that begins in this life.

True life is in Jesus. This is where we find the (good) kingdom of God. And where we really begin to lose the false selves we hang on to for dear life. Even as we know that deep down inside something is wrong. Are we willing to let God do his death dealing of us so that we can end up living, truly living? Finding the life that God intends for us, the life he made us for, of the new creation in Christ? Or does this just seem like empty fiction to us? So that we hold on to what is real to us, while wondering what we're missing in Jesus?

These are the kind of questions I'm asking myself. And maybe they are more the kind of questions we should be asking (among others). Questions either voiced in Scripture, or which arise from Scripture; questions that indicate God's word at work in our lives to show us our real selves and God's death and life dealing for us in Christ, and by the Spirit.

I have been thinking about this through some of my reading, and of course we know it well through the gospels. And I have found myself rather numb and just sensing that God is at work in me, lately. I don't live on feelings, but I do pay attention to them, especially anything out of the ordinary, to see if I can understand what they might indicate.

How can we who have trusted in Jesus miss out on this kind of life? Why do we? (a multitude of answers to these questions, seems to me) Or anything you'd like to add here.