Those Days and These Days

I still have those days:

when the it feels as if Church has abandoned me,

when the World seems to close in around me,

when my vision of the Kingdom of Heaven fails,

and when the call of God grows faint.  

I still have those days:

when I’m not sure what I’m doing,

or why I’m doing it.

when I don’t know if I can do it,

or if I’m worthy of such a calling.

when I search for an excuse to say,

“Lord call another, God send another”   

I still have those days… and then I have these days:

when the Christians gives me reason to hope,

when Creation seems to be singing God’s love,

when the Spirit directs my thoughts and actions,

when Jesus’ ‘follow me’ rings loudly in my mind.    

I have these days:

when the next step is all that matters, 

and obedience is all that counts.  

when in my weakness I know God’s strength,

and when Christ’s grace is sufficient.

when I believe with total conviction,

without time to doubt the call.   

For a God who can make the whole universe in a big bang the odd resurrection should be child’s play!

I don’t know whether you’ve heard people say they ‘kind of’ believe in the God who created the universe but they don’t believe in the Jesus. I guess the barren, loveless, and deterministic world of Professor Dawkins isn’t for them, but neither do they want to surrender the idea that they are masters of their own destiny. Thus, they reason that whilst the world has both material and spiritual depths the creator has no continuing interest in the creation. It is left to them to make what they will of the world, to plumb the hidden corners of creation, to discover the ‘spiritual’ meaning behind life.

It is a strange conclusion to stumble across because who would invest the time and care needed to form all the wonders of this world, the ocean deeps, the highest mountains, the impenetrable jungles, the never-ending horizons, and the perfect sunsets? Also, how might one hope to find spiritual meaning if the Creator cares nothing for His creation, and how is humanity any better for having a creator if we have been orphaned by that power?

In contrast to the cold, pre-determined, scientific world of the atheist and the creator abandoned world of the neo-agnostic, the Christian claim is that there is a God who cares for all of His creation. Indeed, the entire earth is sustained by His providence. Humans are neither an accident of science nor an orphan of the creator, but children of a parent God who loves us.

Still, some people will be unconvinced that the God who created the universe is the same God who raised Jesus from the dead. ‘It is against the natural laws of the universe’, such people may protest, and this is of course true. In fact, if someone were to show that Jesus resurrection was a natural occurrence then the claims of Christianity would be unsensational.

I can not hope to do justice to such a broad topic in four hundred word blog, but if you are unconvinced I can only encourage you to pray, read the bible, and listen/watch the believers. It may be that as you are seeking truth, the One who is True will find you!

thoughts on beauty…

The secret of beauty is not in what is seen it is in what is not seen, you can not replicate great master pieces, your can not capture love, because it is not something wholly present but something transcendent. Likewise, beauty is not passing away (saeculum) but rather eternal.

The myth of this world is that beauty is about what is seen, understood, and temporary. But Christians know this to be false for scripture assures us that what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal. We are taught to see the world holistically; materially, emotionally, and spiritually – to look beyond images to the heart and soul of a person.

The great preacher, Charles Spurgeon once said ‘an ounce of heart knowledge was worth all the head knowledge in the world’ and he was right but there is a deeper call for people to hear the Spirit in their depths. For beauty (and the beauty of God) is not something formed just between the heart of a subject and an object itself but between the testimony of the Spirit to one’s soul.

I imagine some readers might think that I’ve finally lost touch with reality, but search yourselves – is not the world in the bosom of God, are there not moments of perfect contentment when you feel totally at one in communion with God. It is these moments that the world seems most completely beautiful, when you glimpse with your soul something of heaven.

You cannot describe such moments, you cannot capture them physically, nor are they purely emotional experiences (though they may be emotional), but they are something more, they are spiritual. It is perhaps the feeling one gets when one finds oneself in step with God – a note to self on beauty seek communion, look beyond the images, feel more than emotion, listen to the Spirit.