It is written, "Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud; it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always hopes, always trusts, always perseveres. Love never fails."
It is also written, "Love does not harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."
I noticed that patience is first in the list of what love is. I also noticed that patience is one of the fruit of the spirit (along with love, and seven other fruit.) The connection between the fruit intrigue me. These connections convince of what some theologians seem to think: that there is one fruit (love) and eight descriptions.
To decide to "suffer long" before speaking results in joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and especially, self-control. I can see why patience is listed first.
As God showed me a long time ago, patience implies a time limit. It doesn't not imply waiting indefinitely. The "three strikes and you're out," rule seems to be what Jesus gives the apostles in dealing with offenses. If a believer is offended or sinned against, he or she is to go to the offender alone, then with a witness, then before the body. The offender is given "three strikes." In other words, the offended does not have to wait indefinitely before dealing with the offense.
I've personally experienced the value of limits placed upon patience. Once when I had a very long distance to walk, I used the telephone poles to shorten the distance in my mind. I thought, "I only need to make it to the next pole." If I had focused on the whole journey, I may have lost heart.
A second experience involved me deciding to wait a whole minute before repeating a request at work. Because I knew the minute would end, being patient was alot easier.
Thus love was alot easier. I saw it as an act of love to wait, resulting in joy (or satisfaction, or a maintenance of the state of well being), peace (between me and the person I waited on). It felt like an act kindess and goodness. I felt faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. I felt free. I did no harm. I experienced the united characteristics of love.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
What it means for God to be Spirit
I'm reading "Miracles," by C. S. Lewis. In it, as well as his book, "The Great Divorce," he illustrates this truth: Spirit is reality. God is reality.
When we think of spiritual things, we think of them as less tangible than the physical. But Lewis shows that they are more tangible; they are actually too tangible for words. In "The Great Divorce," a blade of grass in heaven cut like a knife. Flowers were too heavy to lift. People from earth were like mist, while people in heaven were as solid as mountains.
This is one of Lewis' most powerful quotes concerning God having no passions, "The passion of love is something that happens to us, as 'getting wet' happens to a body; and God is exempt from that 'passion' in the same way that water is exempt from 'getting wet.' He cannot be affected by love, because He is love."
Because there are concrete things, the source of all things concrete must be even more concrete than all we know.
God is reality. This is what it means for him to be Spirit.
When we think of spiritual things, we think of them as less tangible than the physical. But Lewis shows that they are more tangible; they are actually too tangible for words. In "The Great Divorce," a blade of grass in heaven cut like a knife. Flowers were too heavy to lift. People from earth were like mist, while people in heaven were as solid as mountains.
This is one of Lewis' most powerful quotes concerning God having no passions, "The passion of love is something that happens to us, as 'getting wet' happens to a body; and God is exempt from that 'passion' in the same way that water is exempt from 'getting wet.' He cannot be affected by love, because He is love."
Because there are concrete things, the source of all things concrete must be even more concrete than all we know.
God is reality. This is what it means for him to be Spirit.
Our true enemy
Satan and demons are our true enemies.
It is written,
This is hard to remember. We can see people, not demons. But I believe it is possible, and necessary, to know the schemes of Satan. Then we can effectively resist him, and not people, as our true enemy.
We can recognize demons through their primary weapon: Deception.
Imagine this: A wife misunderstands her husband's intentions. Instead of saying "Thank you," for the gift she bought him and put on the kitchen table as a surprise, he takes it and puts it in the closet. He never calls or acknowledges the gift from work.
The truth is, she does not know why he did this.
It is written, "No one knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him." It is also written, "From the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." In other words, unless her husband expresses in words why he put the gift in the closet, the wife simply doesn't know or understand his actions. This, and this alone, is the truth.
But if she starts to open her mind to speculation, then the devil attacks her imagination with deceptions. The husband's "silence" becomes selfishness and ungratefulness. The wife starts to feel anger welling up inside of her. The longer she goes without hearing from him, the more angry she becomes.
Furious!
The phone rings. She looks at the caller i.d. It's "him!"
She answers.
"Sweetheart, I'm sorry I haven't been able to call. As soon as I got to work, my boss called me into his office for an emergency project. This is the first opportunity I've had to call. I saw your gift on the kitchen table. I wanted to wait and open it in front of you so you can see how happy you made me. Just seeing the gift made the thought of the approaching day bearable. I love you so much. You make my life good and easier to live."
Conviction.
Regret.
Earlier that day, the wife went to the closet, took the gift, and threw it away in rage. After this, Satan accused her relentlessly.
Do you see what happened?
When she focused on speculation, the devil introduced deception. She assumed that her husband was her ungrateful enemy. She retaliated.
If she had waited to find out the truth of his action, being quick to listen to him, slow to speak to him, and slow to get angry with him, she would know the truth. The truth defeats the lie.
So we can always know our enemy by deception, and the temptation of the assumption of opposition instead of unification and reconciliation. This assumption of opposition is a primary weapon of the enemy. This is what causes defensiveness. This is what causes us to have imaginary arguments in our heads about what a person will say, verses dealing with what they have said (if they've said anything at all.) This is when we take things personally that were not meant personally.
We can avoid the assumption of opposition when we seek and focus upon "what we know, and testify to what we have seen and heard." We can refuse speculation. If we do this, we will save ourselves many arguments and broken relationships. We will avoid misunderstanding and misrepresenting each other.
We will see our true enemy.
It is written,
"We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of the age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places."
This is hard to remember. We can see people, not demons. But I believe it is possible, and necessary, to know the schemes of Satan. Then we can effectively resist him, and not people, as our true enemy.
We can recognize demons through their primary weapon: Deception.
Imagine this: A wife misunderstands her husband's intentions. Instead of saying "Thank you," for the gift she bought him and put on the kitchen table as a surprise, he takes it and puts it in the closet. He never calls or acknowledges the gift from work.
The truth is, she does not know why he did this.
It is written, "No one knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him." It is also written, "From the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." In other words, unless her husband expresses in words why he put the gift in the closet, the wife simply doesn't know or understand his actions. This, and this alone, is the truth.
But if she starts to open her mind to speculation, then the devil attacks her imagination with deceptions. The husband's "silence" becomes selfishness and ungratefulness. The wife starts to feel anger welling up inside of her. The longer she goes without hearing from him, the more angry she becomes.
Furious!
The phone rings. She looks at the caller i.d. It's "him!"
She answers.
"Sweetheart, I'm sorry I haven't been able to call. As soon as I got to work, my boss called me into his office for an emergency project. This is the first opportunity I've had to call. I saw your gift on the kitchen table. I wanted to wait and open it in front of you so you can see how happy you made me. Just seeing the gift made the thought of the approaching day bearable. I love you so much. You make my life good and easier to live."
Conviction.
Regret.
Earlier that day, the wife went to the closet, took the gift, and threw it away in rage. After this, Satan accused her relentlessly.
Do you see what happened?
When she focused on speculation, the devil introduced deception. She assumed that her husband was her ungrateful enemy. She retaliated.
If she had waited to find out the truth of his action, being quick to listen to him, slow to speak to him, and slow to get angry with him, she would know the truth. The truth defeats the lie.
So we can always know our enemy by deception, and the temptation of the assumption of opposition instead of unification and reconciliation. This assumption of opposition is a primary weapon of the enemy. This is what causes defensiveness. This is what causes us to have imaginary arguments in our heads about what a person will say, verses dealing with what they have said (if they've said anything at all.) This is when we take things personally that were not meant personally.
We can avoid the assumption of opposition when we seek and focus upon "what we know, and testify to what we have seen and heard." We can refuse speculation. If we do this, we will save ourselves many arguments and broken relationships. We will avoid misunderstanding and misrepresenting each other.
We will see our true enemy.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)