Dispassionate

"What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short.  From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away." 

"Dispassion." This is a word that many of my Eastern Orthodox authors use to describe what our goal should be in this world. It is a place where our complete satisfaction is in being united with God. It means that my sole "passion" should be God himself. 

In my study of Eastern Orthodoxy I have also been doing some deep research into the book of Genesis again. From another angle I'm trying to understand the clear teaching of who I am in the sight of God and what I have been created to be. 

One of the teachings of the Orthodox Church is that man is composed of three parts ("tripartite"):  body, soul, and spirit. Man was designed to be governed by the highest part of his composition, the eye of the soul, the mind of the soul, the spirit. This is different than our common reason or intellect. It is the way of seeing all of creation through the Creator's eyes, to understand it through His eyes. It is a Christian worldview and it keeps an ungodly attachment to earthly things from taking place. 

The sin of mankind was that they chose to be "like" God through the lower part of their being. They chose to be "god" through their base intellect, reason, and their lower earthly passions. Eve saw and it was pleasing; it was desirable and...they ate. They didn't view the tree through spiritual eyes. The point of the tree of knowledge and evil was to allow them to see that a tree is not the source for true knowledge but the Creator God who put it there. The tree was not there to meet their needs but to display their reliance on God for such knowledge. 

From the Fall onward humanity now struggles to be what God designed them to be, to see in the way that God sees. They seek but only through base reason and understanding. They desire but only through selfish passions. Think with me about how much of your energy is based on consuming that which does not satisfy or brings short term satisfaction. How many during the Great Depression and even during our recent Great Recession took their lives because they lost their "stuff".  How many are consumed with alcohol, drugs, sex, pornography, video games, the stock market, etc...because it is the only reasonable path to satisfaction. Perhaps a reminder from the great theologian, Mick Jagger, would help us. "I can't get no....satisfaction." 

I have been led to memorize 2 Corinthians 5:16 of late. "So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer." 

My prayer is that God would continue to restore my mind - not my rational capabilities, but my ability to see things the way that God created me to see them - through His eyes and for His glory. 

Since I have been meditating and rehearsing this verse in practical ways, I have found myself becoming more and more detached from the things of this world. I am becoming less consumed by worldly events and how they will affect me, and I am looking at my world through the eyes of Christ. I am looking at people differently as well. People are not objects of consumerism or passionate lust. They are not created for my sinful pleasure or usage. And my heart grieves for those whom this world still has in its grips. I believe that many who name the name of Jesus should examine themselves in this area even as it pertains to the person of Jesus. Am I passionate about Him or is He simply another object to use for my own personal desire. I am asking the Holy Spirit to give me the gift of wisdom and knowledge to understand my own heart and the times for His glory and honor. 

How can I be used to reach others for Jesus? How will God use my passion for his word and His Word in this dying and decaying world? How am I at present being transformed into the likeness of Jesus so as to present to others a different path, the only Way? 

I must admit that I do not have a clear answer to this question yet. For now God has me in a local church where I get the privilege of teaching and proclaiming the Kingdom of God to those who willfully come, a place where I can work out my own salvation with trembling and fear. To that task I wholeheartedly run but realizing that other spiritual tributaries have not yet been disclosed. 

I am reading Randy Alcorn's new work (a comic Book) called "Eternity." And it is a beautiful reminder that this world is not my home; I'm just passing through." To think of Lazarus running into the arms of Father Abraham...to know that in this world he was simply a diseased beggar but in the next he was a guest of the King...

May we be passionate about being dispassionate regarding the things of this world and let us set our hope on things to come. By the way...I'm not suggesting that we "check out" but that we "check in" and live out our hope of living in the Kingdom where our sole passion is God and that which He is passionate about - His creation. 

Workin' it out

"Keep thy mind in hell, and despair not." 

The words of Fr. Sophrony have been rolling around in my spirit for a number of weeks. 

I've been trying to understand the connection that our repentance has to our becoming the image and likeness of God. 

Fr. Sophrony suggests that our repentance comes on two levels. In the first level we try, in our own strength, to change our thinking and actions and move toward the desires and character of God. This moves us in the right direction but as life will certainly manifest, sin continues to resurrect itself. 

The second level is the grace that God grants us to actually be transformed in the depth of our spirit. The latter provides the needed spiritual healing that brings us into a position of being like Him. 

The quote above is dealing with the first. It tells us to stay in the place where we are constantly being shown the darkness of our hearts. It is a place where not only the blackness of spirit is revealed but it is also the place where the beauty and light of God's holiness is revealed. The more we see and confess who we truly are the more God reveals who He truly is. This is the basis for our humility before God and before man. 

"Keep thy mind in hell and despair not" is a call to all of us who are fed up with this world, who are growing increasingly dissatisfied with what this world has to offer, and who long to be in the presence of God. It is not a morbid death wish. It is the appropriate yearning for a spiritual traveler looking to his final destination. It is a person who has introspectively seen the vileness of his nature and has lifted up his head toward the heavens to his great and wonderful salvation. 

May the present purging of that which is not of God be a reminder of the promise of ultimately being made in His likeness, not detached from this world but looking at it from the place of Jesus. When we finally get beyond our imperfections we begin to see the depravity of humanity from His perspective, and instead of desiring to escape it, we weep for it. We take on the true likeness of Jesus and commit to serving a humanity that needs to "keep their minds in hell, and yet not despair." 

In the words of the Apostle Paul to Timothy, "...may God grant repentance [to all of us] leading [us] to a knowledge of the truth, and that [we] will come to [our] senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken [us]captive to do his will." 

In Christ

"If anyone be in Christ he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." 

First, my apologies for not consistently writing. I am in the midst of my doctoral dissertation and all other writing assignments have become secondary.

Today I write in response to a thought that I had not previously had or if I did, it has long been forgotten and not ingrained in my soul. 

I have been reading the work of Archimandrite Zacharias (pictured first) called "Christ, Our Way and Our Life."  It is an theological review of the work of Archimandrite Sophrony (pictured underneath).

My doctorate is focused on a alternative evangelism strategy for
this upcoming generation that is based on the Eastern Orthodox central principle of Theosis and the image of God. (I have just lost my readership with this paragraph I'm sure). 

To try and regain your brain...I have been thinking about what it means to truly be made in the image of God and its connection to a person's conversion to Jesus. Thus far in my own journey I have been focusing on what it means to be God. Perhaps that is why I struggle and stumble so much in my own life. It  seems to be an impossibility for me and yet the Scriptures are clear that one day I shall see Him as He is for I will be like Him. I know that this verse speaks of the parousia, the Second Coming of Jesus, but their are other Scriptures, "be ye holy", for example, that compel me to be like Jesus in character in this world. 

For many years I have been looking up toward a potential divinity but this week I was reminded that to be "in Christ," to be like Jesus is also to be like him in his humanity. Jesus was 100 % God and 100% Man.  This was called the "hypostatic union of Christ" by the early church fathers and simply acknowledges the math challenge for those of us trying to figure out how anything can be 200%. But if you think about it what we are really talking about is a person who was perfect in every way. He is perfect as God and yet in humanity he is perfect as well. 

Father Sophrony said that in order to be perfectly converted one must be like Jesus not only in rising to the point of being divine (like Him) but we must also rise to the point where we are totally absorbed in our love for man and for the restoration of creation. 

To be like Jesus I must be totally abandoned and obedient to the Father and ready and willing to sacrifice for the healing and restoration of a broken humanity. It is the fullness of being "in Christ." 

Am I there yet? No. But I'm praying that my journey leads me ever closer. May the Holy Spirit of God that lives within me crucify these earthly passions that distract me from such noble cause and leave me dead to myself and yet fully alive in Jesus. 

Alone again, naturally

"To think that only yesterday I was cheerful, bright and gay
Looking forward to well wouldn’t do
The role I was about to play
But as if to knock me down
Reality came around
And without so much, as a mere touch
Cut me into little pieces
Leaving me to doubt
Talk about God and His mercy
Or if He really does exist
Why did He desert me in my hour of need
I truly am indeed Alone again, naturally."

Anyone remember Gilbert O'Sullivan?  He wrote a popular song in the 1970's called, "Alone Again, Naturally." This song tells the story of him being jilted at the altar and trying to figure out why. I find it interesting that his perception of the heart-wrenching event was that God left him. 

Our belief system is only as strong as our experiences. If we believe that God is good, then...nothing bad will happen to us. If we believe that God is ever-present, then we will never feel alone. And when the bad things come and the lonely times creep in, we either have to rethink who our God is or...rethink our circumstances in light of who he is. If bad things come and my God is good, then I need to rethink my description of what is bad. It is bad in terms of something not going well, hurtful, or difficult but it may be for my good in the long run. 

I am reminded of the Scripture that says, "Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?" (Lam. 3:38). In this passage Jeremiah reminds us that we should be thankful for any good that comes from the hand of God because we are all sinners deserving the calamity. 

It's hard to rationalize this when you think your doing your best to please Him. But maybe that's the problem. Perhaps equating God's mercy with my works is the wrong equation. "God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy..." The judge does what he wants according to his perfect justice and in spite of my understanding of it. It's why it's called "mercy."I'm not getting what I deserve nor what I understand to be justice (in a positive way).

So for all you Gilberts who are trying to figure out why things are going so badly, look for the mercy of God and know that He is with you. God does, indeed, work together  for the good of those who love Him and are called to be conformed into the image of Jesus.

May God have mercy, naturally.  

Blind Spot

Matthew 6:22-23, "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness."

I have been reading a book called, "The Illness and Cure of the Soul in the Orthodox Tradition" by Archim. Hierotheos Vlachos and it has given me pause to think about Genesis 1-3 from a different perspective. 

First of all, the Orthodox Tradition has been in my heart and mind for the last four years. I have studied it personally and now professionally with a zeal to understand a faith that, quite frankly, I was never told about in all my years of education (now going on 185 or so it feels that way) and if any of their mysterious doctrines  came to the surface they were quickly dismissed or aligned with Roman Catholicism. I was never encouraged to examine them or to  investigate them lest I should be theologically swayed to heresy. But what I am finding out is that a church tradition that is linked to first century Christianity has a lot to teach me about my faith. While not embracing all of their theology, I am growing to appreciate much of it. It has opened up the Scriptures for me and given me a deeper understanding. 

I have always wondered what the above verse in Matthew was talking about. At best it was metaphorical. But the Church Fathers seem to indicate that the soul is made up of three parts:  the nous (mind), reason (understanding), and spirit (love). What I find interesting is that the mind is more of...as we would say idiomatically, the mind's eye. It is the ability or potentiality to "see" God. It is spiritual illumination. 

When Adam and Eve sinned we run to the legal aspects of this and say that they broke the law of God. God said don't do this and if you do then death will happen. It becomes what we call forensic or legal in nature. In fact, John in his epistle tells us that sin is a violation of the Law. However, that is not the only way of looking at what transpired. 

The Eastern Orthodox view this quite differently. Sin is a brokenness of spirit, a brokenness of relationships. The soul has become sick; it has become spiritually dark. And the cure is illumination of the soul again. It is to put man back into his proper relational place but even further, to move him to be divine. 

So when I read the words of Jesus they make sense to me now. If

my eye, my spiritual gate of illumination is good then my whole being will be good for it sees as God sees; it sees God and it sees what is not of God (in this context it is equated with greed). But if my eyes are bad, if they are blinded by the darkness of sin, then my whole being will reflect that darkness. 

Jesus, instead of being my cosmic Lawyer who stands before the Judge, is viewed as the divine Physician who brings the cure to my soul. He is the Light of the world and calls me out of a world of darkness. 

I still struggle with what this all means in my Protestant context. If I have embraced Jesus as my Savior and yet still struggle with an eye that seems to be dark in certain areas, have I truly applied the cure? Perhaps its as simply as this is a journey and not an event. I guess I'm not blind but for some  reason I haven't taken the sunglasses off. It takes a while to look directly at the son without going blind. Ironic isn't it. 

Lincoln

"The greatest among you will be your servant." (Matt. 23:11)

A boring Saturday night gave rise to a Red Box visit at our local

McDonalds and an opportunity to view the movie, "Lincoln." It is a docu-drama about the last 4 months of Lincoln's life and his attempt to pass the 13th Ammendment that made slavery illegal in the United States. 

For my wife, who is not a history fan, it was a bit drawn out, but for myself, it was incredibly interesting. 

I can't imagine the horrors of the civil war and the weight of signing hundreds of Confederate prisoners of war death orders each day. It must have been a horrible burden. 

On top of this put the grief of losing a child and a crazy wife and you have an opportunity for a mental breakdown. 

I didn't like the film in that it demolished my pristine image of a man for whom I found to be next to Jesus. He was a politician. And as politicians go he was just as corrupt as those who had gone before him. We could say that his was a just corruption or the ends justifies the means but honest Abe wasn't so honest after all. 

A couple of lessons the film taught me was that greatness comes at a high price. And that truly great people don't seek it. Greatness finds them as they pursue something greater than themselves. 

I have often prayed that I would do great things for the Lord, and this film reminded me of the above two things: that it often comes at a high price and that it will only come when I pursue something or someone greater than myself. 

There is a reason I avoid the theatre and rent from Red Box. 

Guilty as Charged

In honor of Mother's Day...

It's interesting to look at this cartoon and see the truth in this for many people. Instead of a relationship being one of mutual respect and love, it is one of manipulation. It is sad because the desire is the same...to be loved, to be needed, to be appreciated. 

I think as kids we all feel a bit of guilt in regards to our parents. I'm not sure if it is a guilt laid upon us from the Holy Spirit or our culture/society, but none-the-less it is there. It is all those "I wish I would haves or wish I could haves" that we go to our own graves with and that our children will probably bear as well. 

I have been talking about Genesis 1-3 of late. And I posed a question to a seminary professor today. "What is the difference between guilt and conviction?'  When someone says, "I feel convicted about something," what does that mean? Are they saying that they feel guilty over something?" It could be in that context. It could be a synonym. It could be that conviction is the inner pricking of the conscience by God - good or bad - and innocence or guilt is established based on the evidence.  Here is where my conversation would like to take a turn. 

The normal pattern of thought would be, "I feel convicted because I

have violated a law of God. If taken to the holy courtroom, I would be found guilty." In our Protestant theology this is where Jesus comes in to play. I am guilty and yet Jesus takes my punishment. I believe this. I believe in the substitutionary atonement of Jesus for my sin. But then I sin again. And Jesus' precious blood covers me ...each and every time. 

But it keeps me in a guilt system. I am and will always be guilty and feel guilty over past, present, and future sins. 

What if we approached this differently? What if instead of starting at Genesis 3 where everything is broken and Adam and Eve are guilty...what if we start instead with Genesis 1 and 2. 

Humanity's history does not begin with the Fall. It begins with being made in the image of God - we are created to imitate and reflect our Creator God. 

What if we think in these terms rather than the guilt issue terms. When I sin it clearly is a violation of God's holy Law - the  law of the heart (Rom. 2) and the Law given to Israel. I am not denying this. But...we tend to forget that sin is also a re-imaging of ourselves. When we sin we move away from what we have been created to be and begin to image and reflect the opposite of God. Sin in not just transgressing the Law but moving away from our intended purpose - to be the very image of a holy God. In this case its not an issue of guilty or not guilty; its an issue of directionality and proximity. 

The questions become, "Are you heading toward the very purpose for which God created you - to be in His image?" "Or are you moving away from that image?" "If you are heading toward that image, where are you in proximity to that perfect image of Jesus?" 

Jesus paid it all for me and cleansed me with his redeeming blood.

It is no longer and issue of guilt but of image, reflection, nearness. Do I fail and return to sin in my life? More often than I would care to admit. But I'm on the continuum, and after I confess that reversal I press on toward the mark of the high calling of God - to be made in his image and likeness. 

I might still be convicted by the Holy Spirit but it will be because He is working on transforming me into the likeness of the Son not because He desires to confirm my guilt. 

And by the way...mom...I'll be sad when you leave this old broken world, but not guilty...O.K., O.K....I'll call more often...I'll try and visit you more often.... I'm a bad son.