Session 1
When Jesus walked with some of his disciples after his resurrection, their heart burned within them even though they did not know it was him (Luke 24:13-35). Why is it then that we start to live for Jesus and offer ourselves for his work, we get faint hearted and burnt out? Other words are inner deadness, spiritual sleepwalking, chronic stuckness.
We don't want to go back but sometimes, we are not very motivated to go forward.
There is a place I'll call Borderland in Africa where there are no laws. It is claimed or defended by anybody. Someone could shoot another, rob another and beat another, and the guards on either side of the borders watch unmovingly. The believers borderland is seen as this: temptation to sleep when we are called to pray, go shopping when we are called to fight, boast about free gifts, loose lipped with others secrets and tight lipped about the gospel. 'At times, the gap between the god we want and the God who wants us is vast beyond bridging.' This is a quote from a book I am reading by Mark Buchanan called Your God is Too Safe.
God is holy.
Do you dread God? Do you have a longing to flee, a love of distance, a desire to see God but only in a silhouette instead of face to face? Would you rather hear echoes instead of the thunder and whispers of his voice?
I say no to these but is that the deep truth of my heart?
Jesus is unpredictable.
Follow me? Where? Do you have hotel arrangements? What about travel insurance? What do I need to pack? What kind of clothes should I bring?
Some get angrier at missing a bus than at children going hungry or killing others in Africa.
Some get more pleasure at winning a game of Monopoly than seeing a drug addict delivered and coming to church.
Some get into relationships that deepen rather than remove our loneliness.
Some cry when we run out of Oxy pads while we blink and look away over an event like 911.
Some get impatient with reading a child a bed time story but waste hours watching TV or banter on the phone about nothing at all.
Some read more of People magazine, or look over and over in Ikea catalogues rather than reading the Bible.
What are some things that tick you about our every day life?
Do you dread God?
Are you in borderland? What keeps you there? What draws you out?
Is your heart burning within you?
We don't want to go back but sometimes, we are not very motivated to go forward.
There is a place I'll call Borderland in Africa where there are no laws. It is claimed or defended by anybody. Someone could shoot another, rob another and beat another, and the guards on either side of the borders watch unmovingly. The believers borderland is seen as this: temptation to sleep when we are called to pray, go shopping when we are called to fight, boast about free gifts, loose lipped with others secrets and tight lipped about the gospel. 'At times, the gap between the god we want and the God who wants us is vast beyond bridging.' This is a quote from a book I am reading by Mark Buchanan called Your God is Too Safe.
God is holy.
Do you dread God? Do you have a longing to flee, a love of distance, a desire to see God but only in a silhouette instead of face to face? Would you rather hear echoes instead of the thunder and whispers of his voice?
I say no to these but is that the deep truth of my heart?
Jesus is unpredictable.
Follow me? Where? Do you have hotel arrangements? What about travel insurance? What do I need to pack? What kind of clothes should I bring?
Some get angrier at missing a bus than at children going hungry or killing others in Africa.
Some get more pleasure at winning a game of Monopoly than seeing a drug addict delivered and coming to church.
Some get into relationships that deepen rather than remove our loneliness.
Some cry when we run out of Oxy pads while we blink and look away over an event like 911.
Some get impatient with reading a child a bed time story but waste hours watching TV or banter on the phone about nothing at all.
Some read more of People magazine, or look over and over in Ikea catalogues rather than reading the Bible.
What are some things that tick you about our every day life?
Do you dread God?
Are you in borderland? What keeps you there? What draws you out?
Is your heart burning within you?
posted by Salina | 6:30 p.m.
2 Comments:
Ugh!.........the conviction, the slap upside the head.....thanks though, I needed that. (glad you're back dimple face!)
My dear sister,I find many things stop or try to hinder our move forward with God.Only those who are very couageous will risk it all to find truth.This world has a pull on it and lets be honest, sin has pleasure in it or we would not choose it.Pain can be a very good motivator or it can totally crush you.What will you choose?How much do you want truth.That is a question for all of us and each of us will come to our own answers.The faintheart give up and we need to pick them up and help each other along the way.I will leave you with PHILIPPIANS 3 excellent passages to meditate on.
God Bless
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