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?

learning in the way of Jesus

"Following the Rabbi" is a very wise chapter in what I'm coming to realize more and more is truly a wise book, Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith, by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg. Wisdom from the Bible is rooted in the Jewish writings of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, in Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, and found in other places. And Jesus learned and lived by the wisdom from God given through the Scriptures, and passed on in the tradition of his people. Of course not without critiquing that tradition, while living as part of it.

We know the adage, "Wisdom is more caught than taught." But do we really believe it? It doesn't matter at all what we tell our children if our lives don't line up with our words. They will end up following what we do, and not what we say. Or they will try to chart a new course if they see our lives as making no sense of our profession of faith, and indeed casting doubt on our faith.

This chapter skillfully and from different angles, with one fascinating present day example, looks at the way of being a disciple, learner, or follower as Jesus practiced it. It is a relationship no less, and that of apprenticeship. The disciple submits to the rabbi, or master, as a servant so that the rabbi, imperfect as he (or she, I would add, because of the dynamic in Christ of neither male nor female in the work and service of God) will be, since there is only one true Rabbi and Master, Jesus himself. Nevertheless what we must understand is that it is inevitable for us to live as we see others live, and others will be impacted by our lives, for good or ill. In fact in God's order in Jesus, this is part of how life is to be lived. As Paul told his readers, they were to follow his way of life, as he followed Christ. And this is not a quick fix or instanteous change, but rather a walk of a lifetime. Transformation comes slowly. As the authors point out, Jesus didn't just transform his disciples. It involved close relationship with him and a process.

Any thoughts?

Next week: chapter five, "Get Yourself Some Haverim."