"The man who comes to a right belief about God is relieved of ten thousand temporal problems." (A.W. Tozer)... Never doubt that the Gospel proudly preached will prove 'relevant' to the problems of those you preach to.
What we believe about God affects the gait with which we walk, the expression on our face, the rhythm of our every moment, and every moment makes up every day.
I know my gait is not yet fully in step, in rhythm, with the Gospel. With the truth about how God sees me and what He has done for me. Adopted! Chosen before the foundations of the world! I do not embrace all the freedom that is mine. Do you find that as you get older, you do not seem to find your magic niche, as you thought might happen, but rather you see more and more your weakness and limitation?
I was thinking recently about how we are revelators. We are people who reveal. Reveal our God through the cracks in our vessel-ness. Reveal the Kingdom of God here on earth. We do not build it, or make it, or spread it. God does. We reveal it. It's coming. And it's here.
The Olympics are coming to Rio! (RiOlympics?)
Please pray that this will be a vehicle of blessing for the poor. Please pray that this will be a chance to give a voice to the poor. How wonderful it would be to be able to reveal a bit of the Kingdom to the watching world, by the grace of God. Pray for the street people who fear the police. Pray for the police who think 'cleaning up' means pushing around. Pray for administrators on every level, that they would use their power wisely. Pray for favela-dwellers and leaders and their relationships with both druglords and the government. Pray against corruption. Pray for Word Made Flesh in Rio, that we would read the times wisely and take opportunities to step in to glorify our God. I'll live in this city. But I don't understand it yet. Pray for inspiration, and a way I cannot see. God is mighty. God is Sovereign. May His people pray!!
Poverty, the Cantalamessa book-- I did end up having some issues with it, a few points on which I'd diverge from the author's theology and interpretation of Scripture. But. One thing I liked: the way he tied together material poverty and spiritual humility, as they're presented in the Bible: "two contrasting categories of people...on the one hand, the rich-powerful-satiated-wise, on the other, the poor-humble-hungry-small." Material wealth is often used as a symbol of self-satisfaction, putting your faith in temporary things. Poverty is often used as a symbol for humility. This doesn't mean every rich person is really lost, or that every poor person is humble. By any means. But there is a mysterious way in which these things very often weave together on this earth,
and our God is a beautiful writer.
He knows how to evoke truth with imagery, and how to weave stories together to reveal truths deeper than any simple maxim could express. (Though He includes nice simple maxims once in awhile too... )
Scripture is unplombable -- there's always going to be more to see in there!
Sometimes people -- like Israel -- are brought to humble contrition and dependence by being brought physically, materially low. Made poor.
Material poverty can be a powerful gateway to a deep understanding that we are indeed completely dependent. We are debtors indeed. Saved by grace alone, and created to show the glory of His grace.
May all we who are poor, however we are poor, come to seek refuge in the name of the Lord. Salvation belongs to our God, and unto the Lamb.
I've been noticing ways that spiritual and material are very tightly interwoven lately.
Like the miracle of feeding the 5,000, and the declaration "I am the bread of life... I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you." He who gives physical bread and physical life is also the only Source of unending Life. Life and life -- spiritual and physical, capital and lowercase -- they're not as separable as we think, in the end.
Like the new heavens and the new earth.
Reveal the character of God today -- only He can do this in You. You're not building the character, you're not inventing the character. But if He is in you, as people peel back layers, He is what they will see. May this be true of our persons, our work, our homes and our friendships.
The supernatural is penetrating the 'natural' every day; the spiritual is touching and transforming the physical; submit the material to the Lord of All. Watch Him work.
