the apostolic mindset

Going through 2 Corinthians is again a fresh reminder of what life is all about for us in Jesus. Although we aren't apostles (not to say in some sense that there might be apostles today, I believe there surely are according to Ephesians 4, but none of the apostles in exactly the original sense) we follow in their train in our following of Jesus. For the Apostle Paul, this was not an easy train. And it was one beset with fears from within, as well as from circumstances. He and his companions even felt the sentence of death on themselves, but this helped them grow in their dependence on God, being cast on him.

As I noted yesterday, it seems like I've been going through a short season of fear, at least largely irrational. Usually I just press through it and more or less ignore it, and it goes away as I continue to seek to follow Jesus and simply go on with life. Though sometimes I investigate concerns I have. But no matter what I read I still have to come back to trusting God through it all.

The apostolic mindset is what we need to put on and live from. It's not about us, or about our comfort, wishes, desires, longevity, etc., etc., etc. But it's about Jesus and our witness for him, and our love for God by following Jesus, and our love for our neighbor as ourselves, for our brothers and sisters in Jesus, for our enemies, for everyone. It's about the kingdom of God come in Jesus, our participation in that, and from that to the world.

What have you found about this, or any thoughts related?

the cross and Christmas

The cross has been more on my mind I think than at any Advent season before. It's not hard to guess that this is indicative of God's work in me to change me. The cross in Jesus puts to death all that is not of God's creation and will, and resurrects- life out from death- what is in God's new creation and will in Jesus. This begins at baptism for the Christian (however you may interpret Romans 6, and I would say strictly speaking, it begins at faith which I believe is understood to underlie baptism), and is ongoing throughout one's life in Jesus. We're to live out daily the truth of our baptism. In other words this is from God, but we are active in it in faith, as well.

God in Christ became human, a little baby, for our salvation, for the world, and for all of creation. The scope of what happened is truly beyond us, as well as us really grasping the meaning of it, as one commenter said on this blog, yesterday. And all that Jesus is and does is the mirror image of God. So that his life, words, and works all reflect God. And no less his death for us on the cross. This all reflects who God is, the very heart of God. The saying is true: He was born to die, that we (men) might live.

So as we celebrate the wondrous coming of God in the flesh, the birth of Jesus, let's remember as well the shadow of the cross which hung over his birth, and over Jesus' entire life. A necessary climax and part of his work and the fulfillment of all that God had given his people in covenant love. And part of the true meaning of Christmas which is all but lost in so much of our culture and activity surrounding it.

What might you like to add to this?

nothing less than a new life

Yesterday I read another for me, helpful meditation from John of the Cross. I was reminded of the necessity of coveting but one thing: the attitude and mind of Christ, which comes from the eternal life found in Christ. If I'm living for anything else, whatever that may be, then I'm not only not living in the way of Jesus, but I'm actually living in opposition to the way of Jesus. This reminds me of "the hard sayings of Jesus," and is something we must face.

As the meditation reminded me, we can clamor after many things, even okay in themselves and in their place, though how we hold them in our hearts can be nothing less than idolatrous. Some things we may want are completely wrong. It seems that we tend to hold on to what is killing us. Instead, in Scripture we're told to put such things to death in Jesus, and to put on the new kind of life found in Jesus. And then to walk in this new life, by the Spirit.

This was refreshing to me, as I meditated on this passage of Scripture after reading that meditation from John of the Cross and David Hazard. It's a new kind of life which is not into finding one new experience after another. But instead finding an entirely new life of death and resurrection in Jesus. Living that out with each other and in mission to the world, in Jesus.

Read the meditation if you can get this book: "11 - Created Anew." But far better yet, read each meditation one day at a time.

What would you like to add to these few brief words?