Thus says YAHWEH: At the time of my favor I have
answered you, on the day of salvation I have helped you. I have formed you and
have appointed you to say to prisoners, ‘Come out,’ to those who are in
darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ Along the roadway they will graze, and any bare
height will be their pasture. They will never hunger or thirst, scorching wind
and sun will never plague them; for he who pities them will lead them, will
guide them to springs of water. I shall turn all my mountains into a road and
my highways will be raised aloft. Shout for joy, you heavens, earth exult!
Mountains, break into joyful cries! For YAHWEH has consoled his people, is
taking pity on his afflicted ones. Isaiah
49:8–11, 13
Love God and do whatever. –St Augustine
Well, my 1 Kings reading
started the morning off a little rough. As many times as I reread it, I could
not shake out of my head that David and Solomon were taking things into their own
hands, and that all of their slicing and dicing made no sense to my
twenty-first century way of thinking.
And Rob Bell helped a little bit. The Bible is like Van Gogh’s painting of sunflowers, rather
than a Wikipedia entry about sunflowers. It will not tell you what to
believe in order to make God happy. It is more likely to show you what
faith does than define what it is. The Bible is a work of art, a
collection of stories, histories, poems, flawed characters and beautiful songs.
And John Crowder describes a beautiful song
that weaves its way not only throughout Scriptures but throughout church
history as well, particularly in time of renewal and revival. And so I am
reading The Ecstasy of Loving God
because my heart’s desire is for renewal and revival.
Because undoubtedly I have been one of those striving little souls trying to make a dead
work out of loving God. Yes I have perhaps even been one of those grumpy old preachers who said, “Love is
not a feeling” and to do good things even when you don’t feel like it.
But last night as I led our community outreach
group through I John again and again, it is clear that Augustine had it right.
Our only job is to abide in the love of God. Nothing else matters.
The love
of God should electrify us, push us to hunger, and stir a fiery passion in our
bones that cannot be quenched. Consistent lack of emotion in our spiritual walk
can often be defined in one simple work: complacency.
Those who worship a dull god of
stoicism–though they call him by a Christian name–are really worshipping an
idol. A mere shadow of the truth. It is one thing to worship the Son of God by
name, but it is another thing to know His nature, worshipping Him both in
Spirit and in truth.
Jesus
quoted Isaiah when He said, “These people honor Me with their lips, but their
hearts are far from Me.” He does not want my time, my money, my Sunday mornings
if it does not come as an overflow of experiencing bliss. Our lives are rooted
in enjoying God and delighting ourselves in Him.
–Crowder
So Nicole was a lean lovely fourteen-year-old
who was getting lots of attention from those sorts of companies that are
looking for The Next Look. And perhaps her lower lip was just a mite too full,
but L.A. Models and Ford Models of New York City were willing to risk it. So
the offer came in for a trial year, complete with chaperoned housing, tickets
to Broadway and Madison Square Garden, and $100,000 which would certainly pay
for a college education should she decide this was not the life for her. And the
actual day-to-day of painting faces and painting faces and then waiting and
waiting, and then rushing and rushing in front of the camera was pretty dull,
especially for such a driven soul as she. Nevertheless alluring.
But Nicole’s Grandpa Voelkel had been filling
her heart and mind with other thoughts, asking her to memorize the Westminster
Catechism. And so when the photographer guy from Los Angeles gave her one more
plea and asked what do you want to do with your life, she knew exactly the
answer: the chief end of man is to
glorify God and enjoy Him forever. And the nice man had nothing to say, but
he packed up his lights, his camera and his action and walked out the door.
And now perhaps Nicole is not sure of the next
step exactly. But she has little signs that say, “Abide,” taped all over her
room. And her life looks like the Augustine “Love God and do whatever,” even though of course sometimes she is
curious.
I too am curious. But like
Jacob I do not want to take one step further until I see God. And Adrianna my
discussion partner last night reminded me once again, marveling, that we see
God in each face we meet during each day. His image bearers. And he who does not love his brother whom he
has seen cannot love God whom
he has not seen.
Love God and do whatever. –St Augustine
That My joy might remain in you. –Jesus
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