Yesterday in the adult Sunday School class (called GROW), we talked about God's presence. We first noted truths pointed in Scripture about God's transcendence as well as His immanence.tran·scen·dent : being beyond comprehension; : transcending the universe or material existence
im·ma·nent : being within the limits of possible experience or knowledge
It's like the argument that Jesus was 100% God as well as 100% man, or the "already but not yet" concept in sanctification. The verses are sweet, so I'll go ahead and list them for your viewing pleasure:
Transcendence verses: John 8:23; Psalm 113:5-6; Isaiah 6:1-6; 55:8-9
Immanence verses: Job 12:10; Acts 17:25, 28; Hebrews 1:3; Ephesians 4:6
Now it comes down to trying to be more aware of His presence while balancing these two qualities. You see, we continued in the class to discuss the paradox of awareness:
"The ancient spiritual writers noticed in themselves and many of their committed disciples the experience in which at an earlier time when less mature, that God seemed very close [consolation] and a later on when one was more mature, that God seemed less close [desolation] in experience...this set of experiences puzzled them."*
con·so·la·tion : for the "beginner," is often the filling of the Spirit ahead of one's character with purpose to encourage faith and reinforce the doing of spiritual disciplines
des·o·la·tion : may be a sign of God withdrawing "infant consolation" and is according to a person's actual character. This experience acts as a mirror to show the reality of one's heart, one's true motivations. This is not a withdrawing of the presence of the Spirit, but rather the Spirit drawing near in truth apart from a feeling, to show the person the true state of some vice elements in the character, of how the person is not truly filled with the Spirit in those places of the heart, and how they need more deeply to depend on God.
Further discussion led to using the metaphor of the parent-child relationship. A child without its parent is helpless, and we are sure to feed and coddle him/her until they are ready to do some things on their own. Not that the parent is then absent from that relationship, but plays a different, more mature role. And as married couples fill the GROW class, they discussed how it is like the beginning of a relationship. There is romance, a woo-ing involved, much like when Christ first fascinates us to follow Him. Over time though, His role with us is different. We are not always to rely on feelings (similar to romance), but on the knowledge of Him.
As I internalized this, I recognized some things in the marriage relationship. Obviously, I don't really know what I'm talking about because most of this is observation, but I hope you'll hear me out.
It's a great thing when married couples fight. It's a great thing when they have times that are hard. As one person pointed out, "You will probably end up in the desert."
What do I mean? A relationship becomes more real in those moments. Coming from someone who hasn't been in too many arguments with her friends, I worry a little. However, I have had some pretty anger-filled conversations with God, and have cried a lot. It is in these moments, although usually in retrospect, that I recognize the most growth. And after doing some self-refection time in a former GROW class, I realized that it was the times when I felt most alone in which I felt the closest to God. What came out of those harder moments was a testing as to why I was really in a relationship with Him in the first place.
In the afternoon time, I ended up watching most of Enchanted on tv. Here comes the connection of the title and picture, are you ready for it? Me neither :P. So they sing that song "How Does She Know," and it's all about the things that a guy does for a girl as proof that he loves her. They are little things--leaving a note to tell her she is on his mind, sending flowers, taking her out dancing--but they are things that require sacrifice. It's not typical for a guy to think of this stuff for someone else, mainly because they are, well, girly. It is also hard to keep up these efforts for the long haul. The things we do as an effort not necessarily to prove our love for God, but out of (hopefully) a desire to love and know Him better, aren't exactly things we normally seek out either. I.E. serving other people and not ourselves, spending long hours of silence, reading an ancient book, spending time confessing with one another our deepest and darkest sins.. the list is exhaustive. And what usually happens is that we set about to do these things, and more painful truths about our hearts and our needing to change are made visible. These disciplines reveal to us how much further we have to go. ("So close.. and still so far.."*** if you will)
After all, if we made marriage the end goal, we'd end up like these two who say, "Okay.. now what?":
It's why Christ tells us to go make disciples, not converts. Yes, that "first love's fire" is pretty cool, and feels all warm and fuzzy on the inside, but it's not all there is to our relationship with Christ. It's hard to accept this. It's also hard to put this into practice. But if there's anything to comfort you, may it be the great cloud of witnesses who surround you and say that it's worth it. May it be Christ, who promises to be the perfecter of our faith, particularly in times of desolation.
May you remember how big God truly is, and yet how personal He desires to be with you. May you become more and more aware of His constant presence in your life. May you also continue to seek Him out daily, pursuing the uncomfortable in order to know Him well.
*Coe, John. "Spiritual Theology: A Theological-Experiential Methodology for bridging the Sanctification Gap."**
**I didn't read this folks, this was in the notes from the class. I wish I was that smart!
*** lyrics from Jon McLaughlin's "So Close" that is sung near the end of Enchanted.
con·so·la·tion : for the "beginner," is often the filling of the Spirit ahead of one's character with purpose to encourage faith and reinforce the doing of spiritual disciplines
des·o·la·tion : may be a sign of God withdrawing "infant consolation" and is according to a person's actual character. This experience acts as a mirror to show the reality of one's heart, one's true motivations. This is not a withdrawing of the presence of the Spirit, but rather the Spirit drawing near in truth apart from a feeling, to show the person the true state of some vice elements in the character, of how the person is not truly filled with the Spirit in those places of the heart, and how they need more deeply to depend on God.
Further discussion led to using the metaphor of the parent-child relationship. A child without its parent is helpless, and we are sure to feed and coddle him/her until they are ready to do some things on their own. Not that the parent is then absent from that relationship, but plays a different, more mature role. And as married couples fill the GROW class, they discussed how it is like the beginning of a relationship. There is romance, a woo-ing involved, much like when Christ first fascinates us to follow Him. Over time though, His role with us is different. We are not always to rely on feelings (similar to romance), but on the knowledge of Him.
As I internalized this, I recognized some things in the marriage relationship. Obviously, I don't really know what I'm talking about because most of this is observation, but I hope you'll hear me out.
It's a great thing when married couples fight. It's a great thing when they have times that are hard. As one person pointed out, "You will probably end up in the desert."
What do I mean? A relationship becomes more real in those moments. Coming from someone who hasn't been in too many arguments with her friends, I worry a little. However, I have had some pretty anger-filled conversations with God, and have cried a lot. It is in these moments, although usually in retrospect, that I recognize the most growth. And after doing some self-refection time in a former GROW class, I realized that it was the times when I felt most alone in which I felt the closest to God. What came out of those harder moments was a testing as to why I was really in a relationship with Him in the first place.
In the afternoon time, I ended up watching most of Enchanted on tv. Here comes the connection of the title and picture, are you ready for it? Me neither :P. So they sing that song "How Does She Know," and it's all about the things that a guy does for a girl as proof that he loves her. They are little things--leaving a note to tell her she is on his mind, sending flowers, taking her out dancing--but they are things that require sacrifice. It's not typical for a guy to think of this stuff for someone else, mainly because they are, well, girly. It is also hard to keep up these efforts for the long haul. The things we do as an effort not necessarily to prove our love for God, but out of (hopefully) a desire to love and know Him better, aren't exactly things we normally seek out either. I.E. serving other people and not ourselves, spending long hours of silence, reading an ancient book, spending time confessing with one another our deepest and darkest sins.. the list is exhaustive. And what usually happens is that we set about to do these things, and more painful truths about our hearts and our needing to change are made visible. These disciplines reveal to us how much further we have to go. ("So close.. and still so far.."*** if you will)
After all, if we made marriage the end goal, we'd end up like these two who say, "Okay.. now what?":
It's why Christ tells us to go make disciples, not converts. Yes, that "first love's fire" is pretty cool, and feels all warm and fuzzy on the inside, but it's not all there is to our relationship with Christ. It's hard to accept this. It's also hard to put this into practice. But if there's anything to comfort you, may it be the great cloud of witnesses who surround you and say that it's worth it. May it be Christ, who promises to be the perfecter of our faith, particularly in times of desolation.May you remember how big God truly is, and yet how personal He desires to be with you. May you become more and more aware of His constant presence in your life. May you also continue to seek Him out daily, pursuing the uncomfortable in order to know Him well.
*Coe, John. "Spiritual Theology: A Theological-Experiential Methodology for bridging the Sanctification Gap."**
**I didn't read this folks, this was in the notes from the class. I wish I was that smart!
*** lyrics from Jon McLaughlin's "So Close" that is sung near the end of Enchanted.
1 comment:
first, i love you. second, i love that you used Enchanted. third, i feel oh so convicted. thanks for sharing this friend!
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