The Pursuit of Joy

 

            "How much good inside a day?

            Depends how good you live 'em

            How much love inside a friend?

            Depends how much you give 'em.

                            "How Many, How Much"

                            A Light in the Attic

                                        Shel Silverstein 

 

Growth vs. The Pursuit Of Normal: Thought For The Day

 "Normal is a myth."

            Willliam Paul Young

             The Shack

Growth Thought For The Day

 "Faith does not grow in the house of certainty."

                                                  William Paul Young

                                                  The Shack

The Glorious Irony of God-Love

 If you were challenged to identify the single most dominant theme in the Bible—both Old and New Testaments—you would be hard-pressed to make a better choice than love.  The Old Testament describes for us a loving God faithfully looking after His wayward people.  King David proclaims the Lord’s faithfulness over and over in his Psalms.  And then in the New Testament, Jesus teaches us about the love between the Father and the Son, exhorts His disciples to love one another as He has loved them, and demonstrates God’s love by dying for fallen mankind.  The Apostle John exhorts believers time and again to love one another.

 

Most Christians have heard sermons teaching and preaching about the agape love of God: a love that is unmerited, unconditional, faithful, and long-suffering.  Agape love is a sacrificial love that seeks the best for another: “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).  

 

The month of February inevitably brings the topic of love to our minds, and it is a good thing to be reminded that we are invited into a personal relationship with the loving Creator and Lord of the universe and exhorted to love others as He loves us.  And with this comes the wonderful irony of God-love: even as it is intrinsically self-sacrificing and other-serving, practicing agape love is the most selfish thing we can do: It is as good for us as it is for those we love!  

 

In my counseling practice, I often remind clients of God’s economy: He does not endorse the good of one at the expense of another; rather, the Lord has ordered His creation as an expression and manifestation of His nature: desiring good for all, at all times.  And so it is entirely consistent that Love Himself would create us to be blessed as we love.  As science has begun to look at the links between spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical well-being, we have discovered that being “in love” boosts our immune systems; loving acts of kindness increase our “feel-good” hormones; spiritual connection with God and others provides a sense of connectedness and security as well as boosting our immune system.  But above and beyond this, exercising our God-love muscles enables us to partake in the very nature of our Lord and participate in His eternal kingdom’s work.

 

To be sure, attempting to exercise agape love for self-serving reasons would miss the point and the benefits of exercising such love.  But as we consider the reminder to love, may we also remember that our Lord calls us to love others because He loves us as much as He loves others.

 

A Perspective on Personal Growth

 "If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you."

                                                         Fred DeVito

A Thought For 2022

 "Success is sometimes the outcome of a whole string of failures."

                                                                       Vincent van Gogh

Here Comes the...Bridegroom!

 Christmas is coming!  ‘Tis the season for us to ponder with wonder the coming of Christ as God Incarnate in history and to consider with hope the promise of Christ’s return.  I would like to suggest that taking a bit of time to consider the return of Christ will enable us to make our celebration of the Incarnation more powerful and more deeply joyful.

 

The church is sometimes described as the bride of Christ (Revelation 19:7), and believers are now waiting for the Bridegroom.  This metaphor is worth careful consideration.  In today’s world, weddings are a big deal, requiring months if not years of preparation and care.  But that was similarly true in Bible times and in the centuries in between.  The truth is that marriage is a big deal.  God’s intent for marriage is lifetime intimacy that mirrors the unity and intimacy enjoyed within the Trinity.  And while our elaborate preparations reflect that, it is important to remember that it is the marriage relationship—not the ceremony—that is of ultimate importance.  In the counseling field, it is regularly bemoaned that young couples spend much more time preparing for their wedding than they do preparing for a lifetime of living together.

 

 

Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.  ²“Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent.  ³“For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, ⁴but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps.  ⁵“Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. ⁶“But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’  ⁷“Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.  ⁸“The foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’  ⁹“But the prudent answered, ‘No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’  ¹⁰“And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut.  ¹¹“Later the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us.’  ¹²“But he answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’  ¹³“Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.

 

 

This parable of Jesus, recorded in Matthew 25, reminds us that waiting for the bridegroom requires an active and engaged waiting.  And in the end, it is about a genuine relationship with Christ, one characterized by our knowing Him and His knowing us.  I would suggest that keeping our lamps lit is a metaphor for a continued pursuit of Christ, fueled by a desire to build that relationship.  Preparing for Christ is far more than looking good.  It is far more about building and deepening our relationship with Christ.  And while developing that relationship is serious business and more challenging than “dressing up” in Christian trappings, it also means that the messiness of our lives of faith is not the measure of who we are in Christ and need not distract us from pursuing Him.  

 

The celebration of Christmas is marked by special events, special decorations, gifts.  These symbols are reminders of deeper truths.  As we plan our events, dig out our decorations, and purchase our gifts, may we do so with our eyes, ears, and hearts fixed on our Lord so that this holiday may enable and empower us to keep our lamps lit.