Monday, August 20, 2007

Living Loved


Paul makes it clear that we are always slaves, either to sin or to righteousness, but always slaves. This is a key point. In this we can plainly see that we were never equipped to be the god of our own lives. This is not a statement of failure or shortcoming for the human race. It is rather a clear recognition and concession about how we are made. Look at it another way, my car cannot climb trees. This does not mean that it is a bad car. All this shows is that my automobile was never outfitted as a machine to perform this function. For the function that it was design for, carrying people and things down roads, my car works quite well. The same is true for us. When we function as we were designed to live we do well and we enjoy rest and peace. When we try to do things we are not equipped to do we suffer anxiety and failure.


The above was written by a friend whose book I am now reading. It fits in with some thoughts I have been pondering, 'living loved' as Wayne Jacobsen puts it.

This whole thing of being a 'Christian' encompasses so much more than meets the eye, you know, the tip of the iceberg thing.

This morning it dawned on me that maybe, just maybe, living loved is an inbuilt design that was all part of the package when I became one of His sons. It is a biological part of our physiology that when we wake in the morning we usually eliminate the toxins and other stuff from our bodies, freeing us to maintain the machinery of this temple that is so fearfully and wonderfully made. If this is but a natural operation or law functioning within us, maybe there is a purging, cleansing function of the Father's heart built within our spirits as well. Is it possible that our Father is wanting to wash/purge/cleanse us moment by moment, like when we first wake up in the morning, only this is a continuous flow, or expression of what it might mean to live loved?

As my friend Bill said, 'When we function as we were designed to live we do well and we enjoy rest and peace. When we try to do things we are not equipped to do, we suffer anxiety and failure.'
When we do not 'know' we are unconditionally loved (and that is a continuous knowing), by default I will gravitate towards trying to go through life through performing. Isn't this what Paul speaks of in his epistles, that when we resort to the flesh, we sever, or cut ourselves off from grace?

The miracle of becoming a true son of the Father, displacing our previous state which was 'by nature being children of wrath and sons of disobedience,' we had at our disposal the only life love needed to live loved.

The ongoing miracle of His amazing grace is designed to save our souls, in other words, to have Christ formed within us, but if our perception of His loving correction is in fact is that he rejects us, how can we not but frustrate his grace for us?

Why has there been such morphed expressions of what it means to be a Christian, except for the fact that all of us have been born into a fallen world whose laws of operation governs everything to do with performing or measuring up outwardly?Not too many (those rebirthed ones) would disagree with God being our Father, but because of NOT knowing His love for us at the core of our being, we in fact live as orphans.

I am seeing, sensing His beckoning heart for me to draw ever closer to Him moment by moment, freeing me from pretending about anything I think I know, especially living loved.
Father, all I can say is, "I Love You!"

Rich

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