Meditate

 I will meditate on your majestic, glorious splendor and your wonderful miracles.  Psalm 145:5

We have long pursued the "knowing" of God.  To connect with the reality of the divine is quite the pursuit.  Oh, we know the facts that we read in the Bible.  We might have an experience of him in our lives, but can we hold that experience and let it flower into a deeper life with him?

I believe that proper meditation of God - his splendor and miracles for each of us - deserves to be multiplied.  It's an effort that the church has attempted to guide for a long time.  The stained glass of the buildings, the religious icons artfully presented, even the movies that we make today attempt to provide a bridge to realizing God's presence.

Yet, there is a difference between those man-made presentations and the actual presence of God.  Think about the difference between seeing a picture of a mountain or standing at its base.  Compare a video of pounding waves with swimming in them.  Note the difference between a picture of your team's football stadium or laying on the 50-yard line of the field.  

I remember the holy presence of laying at the foot of El Capitan.  It is breath-taking and focusing.  There is nothing like the lap of the tide at your feet or the terror of being caught in a riptide.  I have joined in with the crowd at the entrance of my team onto the football field.  No distant picture or video compares...and barely holds the emotions of the original act.  No replica will do.

Even God's word - clear, illuminating and truth-telling - is no substitute for the indwelling of the presence of God through his Holy Spirit.  The printed word comes alive only when the voice and movement bears its truth in our lives.  Meditation can provide that movement as we take a printed or spoken truth and remember how its truth is portrayed in us.

Gratitude is an easy meditative example.  Think of a delightful meal or drink you had this week.  How does that provision remind you of God?  What person presented love and care for you today.  How do you see God in that gift?  To take the time to re-live those moments is to truly meditate.  

The Psalm says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good."  Our senses, given by God, can supply us the conduit for meditation.  We know best with our senses.  Thus, meditation moves us from the printed Word - though good - into our heart where Christ dwells.

Life-Before-Death

 Someone came to Jesus with this question:  "Teacher, what must I do, what good thing must I do, to have and hold eternal life."  Matthew 19:16

We are looking for that "eternal life" and I think most of us don't even know what we are looking for.  Eternity is often explained and thought of as something in the future, but according to the Greek, it is more.  The implications of the language make it clear that this life is current.  It is life now.  It is life for now as much as in the future, which I like to call "life-before-death" because too many times we think this culminated life is only futuristic - after our death.

        "Eternal" - aionios - with no beginning and no end. So, this timeline doesn't start in the future, but has been ongoing.  This fulness has been possible all the time, the future only being an extension of what we have gained now.

        "Life" - Zoe - being in the state of vital living - in absolute fulness.  It is life active and vigorous: blessed and animated for the causes of community and God.  It is sometimes translated as "lifetime."  

        "What must I do" - agathos - sometimes translated as "good deed," but not really.  It's more positional - having a good constitution or nature; being good, pleasant, agreeable, joyful;  upright or honorable.

What if salvation, resurrection and eternal life is in the present:  us living our fullest life of goodness within our beings and within our surroundings....as God intended.  That is righteousness - literally "rightness" - to be as God intended, as he created us to be.  Jesus loves me just as he created me and then died to bring me closer to the divine.  He likes what I am.  He enjoys my presence, guards my journey.

Psalm 37:3-4 Trust and do the good* thing (for yourself) and live into what God provides and rest/keep company in his faithfulness.  Take joy in the Eternal.  His gifts are coming and they will meet your heart's needs.

        * good - tob - pleasant, better, well, merry, prosperous, precious, beautiful, glad; of rich moral character.

God wants the best for me now and into eternity.  I don't need to hit the wall of goodness after death, but live fully now in the life he has ushered in for me through the life and death of his Son.  

Make me ready to receive!

Attitude

 From an adult student:  "Our attitudes cannot be situational.  They must come from deep inside of who we are, otherwise, we are just pawns - victims of our circumstances.  This is life-diminishing."

Have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.  Though he was God, he did not think it was his place to seize that role as an opportunity; he did not cling to that identity for his advantage.

Instead, he gave up his divine privileges, took on the humble position of a slave and submitted to being born a human being as he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross.  Philippians 2:5-8

While Christ understood who he was, he also understood what his role was while on earth.  He came to save the least and the lost and could only do that by joining the community of humanity.  I wonder if it was a devastating loss just to leave heaven and become human...but he didn't stop there as he embrace his path and his human end, all for the cause of God's people.

Have that same attitude.  The Greek word is phroneo.  It means to be wise and mindful of one's role.  And it means to set one's affections and determinations to direct one's mind and actions toward the right cause, towards God's cause.

To do so based on knowledge and commitment of what God says about us removes us from the whims of the world.  We won't be blown this way and that, but can stay steady, firm on the word we get from God.

Since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe.  He understands because he faced those same tests as we do.  Go to him and find grace to guide and help you when you need it most. Hebrews 4:14-16

Psalm 51

Here's my rendition of Psalm 51:

Look on me with a heart of mercy, O God, in line with your great compassion (fondness, mercy, cherished as if "from the womb").  Wipe away my sin and any consequences thereof.  Thoroughly wash me (cleanse me and purify) of all my sin (and my sin nature.) (Take away the consequences as a symbol of my return to purity.)

For I am fully aware of all I have done wrong and my guilt is there staring me in the face.  It was against you and you alone that I have sinned...and I did it right in front of you.

You are right:  when you speak, when you judge, your judgments are based on just causes and pure motives.  I, on the other hand, was guilty from the day I was born, a sinner from the time my mother became pregnant with me.  Despite my bad beginnings, you want desire and take pleasure in the following:

• faithfulness
• truth - in my testimony and in my judgment
• reliability
• truth - portrayed in ethical and religious knowledge.

And you want these things throughout my being, imbedded in who I am.  In those deep, unseen places show me wisdom.  Cleanse me of wickedness and I will be clean.  Wash me and I will be whiter than snow.  Let joy and happiness be my song so my bones can dance with delight.  Erase my guilt from the record.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew my spirit and sense of being so that I am steadfast and stable in who I am with you.  Do not throw me far away from your presence and do not remove your Holy Spirit from me.  Give back to me the deep delight of being saved by you; let your willing Spirit sustain me.

When you do, I promise to teach rebels your ways and help sinners find their way back to you.  My tongue, which once was used to tear down, will be used to sing with deep delight of how right and just you are!

O Lord, pry open my lips that this mouth will sing joyfully of your greatness.  I would surrender every prized possession...but you aren't interested in such sacrifices or burn offerings.  Instead, the sacrifice I offer is my broken spirit, one that honestly regrets the past.  This, you love and accept.

Real Life

 God's purpose was for the nations to seek after him and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him - though he is never far from any one of us.  For in him, we live and move and have our being.  Acts 17:27-28a

It is where I "live and move and have my being" that my core values and purpose are revealed.  It is not whether I have religious learning, but rather whether I can search and seek God in the center of the life and the community where I live.  Finding God provides real life and energy to interact with creation and live meaningfully, having an impact on it all, even on myself.  This God-given life can "move" me internally and externally.

This provides me with transparency because my source and vision can easily be seen and makes me easy to trust.  This transparency, this filtration of ideas, action and life (without dualism), leaves no room for inconsistency.  This is where "core values" emerge.  They are enduring and consistent, augmented with power and placement through the Holy Spirit.

When spoken well and lived consistently, my beliefs are reassuring to the doubtful and questioning.  A consistent set of priorities can emerge for myself - not just "meaning" but also movement towards God for whom I am in contact.  This is where true life lies, enmeshed within an expanding and growing relationship with God within and expanding and growing relationship with others.

You are Enriched

 I (Paul) always thank my God for you and for the gracious gifts he has given you, now that you belong to Jesus Christ.  Through him, God has enriched you (your life and community) in every way  - giving you words and words of knowledge. This confirms that what I told you about Christ is true.  

Now you have every gift* you need as you position yourself and eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from blame when he returns.  God is faithful!  I Corinthians 1: 4-9

Let's expand on this word "gift."  Translators say, "spiritual gift," but even that translation doesn't give credit to this "gift" word.  In Greek, it is charisma.  Strong's definition calls it a "miraculous faculty," including characteristics of deliverance or spiritual endowment.  The expanded definition says it is, first, the result of faith in Jesus Christ, and, second, includes extraordinary powers enabling a person to serve in grace and (divine) power operated by the Holy Spirit.

Wow!  That's a confidence-builder!  That should give us a new strength to live for and serve Christ.  This means we can live out of strength and know that we are gifted with the right words and the knowledge to apply them.  That strength is a humble confidence in the power that the Holy Spirit brings to us to use the talent, knowledge and experience given by God for the causes of the Kingdom.

Notice that "I" am neither the cause nor the beneficiary of that strength.  The Holy Spirit enables me for purposes way outside of myself - the Kingdom of God.  Humble partnering with that Spirit and with others also enabled can complement partnerships so that all our life stories can confirm the life story of Jesus Christ.

I know that God-given strength can be leveraged to overcome my weaknesses in several ways.  That strength can be used to inform and transmute my lesser talents.  It can be used in partnership to learn how others use their given strengths.  It causes me to look on the "other side of the coin" in any area of weakness I hold/live with.  (I have taught that in every strength there is weakness and every weakness there is strength. i.e. strength can either be used for good or for evil.)

Ultimately, I am to always keep in mind the goal:  to equip others for a new life in Christ and to participate in ministry for the build-up of the body of Christ, earmarked for unity.  While I benefit within the community, the benefit ultimately is for God to finally be reunited with all of his creation.

The Blessed Community

 How are you blessed by the community around you?  Have you ever experienced the "Blessed Community" that is mentioned by several Christian authors?  How does the Christian community bless those in proximity?  Do Christians show up as people who bring comfort and joy to a hurting world?  Even to those within the community?

I have expected to find a developing kinship with "known" Christian circles in my life (church, meditative groups, etc), but as my geographic horizons continue to expand, I revel in how God is revealed so quickly by those who know him.  (Emphasis on "know" and not "know about" him.)  This fellowship to which I belong is often revealed in unexpected places, too.

Once when I was with people operating within a meeting of state-wide providers in the alcohol and drug treatment field, I listened to men speak about their work.  "This is God's work, you know," they said.  I smiled to myself.  Later a man, who worked in the prison system helping inmates receive treatment was telling me about his call and mission within his neighborhood church.  How easily these conversations developed!

When I have moved various places around the country, I am surprised by joy at the easy access God's people allow into their hearts and homes.  On one of my first days in California many years ago I had locked myself out of the house during the day.  I went to the mom-next-door at home with six children and asked to use her phone.  (That dates this event - pre-cellphone.)  It did not take five minutes of conversation to reveal we had a common bond in the Lord.  What might have been a five-minute conversation turned into a praise time of half an hour.  What might have seemed like a lonely venture into a faraway land began to feel like home with my brothers and sisters living next door.

I was once sitting in a court room waiting for a judge to pass sentence on my son.  When the judge saw me, he asked my son who I was.  It did not take by two questions on the judge's part fo reveal we had a common bond in the Lord.  The judge sent my son out of the court room and called me to the bench.  We had a lively discussion about seminaries around the state of Ohio (I had gone to one) and both our Christian calling and work.

How did this happen in less than five minutes?  Because God binds people together in unity.  We, as a fellowship, are easily recognizable.  Our love and compassion is front facing.  We are found!  

Being part of the fellowship expands my horizons, gives me comfort and care, and makes it so I really never feel alone.  God is present in these souls and there I get touched.  It makes me crave being present for others, so they never have to feel alone either.  It is an amazing part of the blessed, abundant life.  Sometimes I am overwhelmed at the newness of it:  at first, feeling guilty because I should have known and, then, aware that God is like that - beyond all expectations and ever new.

Truly his mercies are new every day.