Devotional 091210

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. It is always a joy to think of you in my devotion. Yes, we may not see each other as often as we want. But every time I thought of the blessings to be in the family of God with you, I rejoice. It is such a wonderful gift to become one in Christ. We love because He first loved us. Amen?

This world is no friend to grace. Seeking for intimacy at any level- with God or with persons—is not a venture that gets the support of many people. Intimacy is not good for business. It is inefficient, it, it lacks “glamour.” If love of God can be reduced to a ritualized hour of worship, if love of another can be reduced to an act of sex, then routines are simple and the world can be run efficiently. But if we will not settle for the reduction of love to lust and of faith to ritual, and run through the streets asking for more, we will most certainly disturb the peace and be told to behave ourselves and go back to the homes and churches where we belong. If we refuse to join the cult of exhibitionists who do a soul striptease on cue, or the “flashers” who expose their psychic nudity as a diversion from long-term covenantal intimacy, we are dismissed as hopeless puritans. Intimacy is no easy achievement. There is pain—longing, disappointment, and hurt. But if the costs are considerable, the rewards are magnificent, for in relationship with another and with the God who loves us we complete the humanity for which we were created. We stutter and stumble, wander and digress, delay and procrastinate; but we do learn to love even as we are loved, steadily and eternally, in Jesus Christ.

Paul used very strong words to express his intimate relationship with the church in Rome. He said, “I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong-- that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith” (Romans 1:1l-l2 NIV). Eugene Peterson translated it as, “The longer this waiting goes on, the deeper the ache. I so want to be there to deliver God’s gift in person and watch you grow stronger right before my eyes! But don’t think I’m not expecting to get something out of this, too! You have as much to give me as I do to you.” And to the Philippians he even said, “God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:8). Or using the Message translation it reads, “He knows how much I love and miss you these days. Sometimes I think I feel as strongly about you as Christ does!” In Chinese culture, we seldom use strong affectionate words like Paul did, not even to our spouses. So when we deal with the intimate issue of love, we hardly go deep into our thought and meditation. We are afraid to get hurt or stumble others in relationship so we keep a distance. We are afraid to draw close or we don’t know how to draw close in case we are fooled by our own flesh. The affection that God created in us for one another is being blocked or subdue, even in our relation with our Creator Father. For this Satan rejoices. Indeed, we have a long way to go in realizing the love of Christ and to love one another with the affection of Christ.

I agree with Peterson that spiritual formation is the most intensely creative work. When you are being creative, you are not copying, you are not transposing something that works someplace else and making it work here. When you are being creative, most of what you do is wrong. The creative people I know throw away 90% of what they produce. If you have ever tried to write a poem or a song, you know that you do it wrong most of the time, and you work and work and work. Throwing lines away, filling your wastebasket . . . until finally you have got it. Most of what creative people do is wrong. But they don’t give up. Let’s don’t give up trying to find creative ways to express the affection of Christ to one another in a holy and edifying manner.

With the love He designs in us,
Lawrence

Dear brothers and sisters,

Good morning. It is always a joy to think of you in my devotion. Yes, we may not see each other as often as we want. But every time I thought of the blessings to be in the family of God with you, I rejoice. It is such a wonderful gift to become one in Christ. We love because He first loved us. Amen?



This world is no friend to grace. Seeking for intimacy at any level- with God or with persons—is not a venture that gets the support of many people. Intimacy is not good for business. It is inefficient, it, it lacks “glamour.” If love of God can be reduced to a ritualized hour of worship, if love of another can be reduced to an act of sex, then routines are simple and the world can be run efficiently. But if we will not settle for the reduction of love to lust and of faith to ritual, and run through the streets asking for more, we will most certainly disturb the peace and be told to behave ourselves and go back to the homes and churches where we belong. If we refuse to join the cult of exhibitionists who do a soul striptease on cue, or the “flashers” who expose their psychic nudity as a diversion from long-term covenantal intimacy, we are dismissed as hopeless puritans. Intimacy is no easy achievement. There is pain—longing, disappointment, and hurt. But if the costs are considerable, the rewards are magnificent, for in relationship with another and with the God who loves us we complete the humanity for which we were created. We stutter and stumble, wander and digress, delay and procrastinate; but we do learn to love even as we are loved, steadily and eternally, in Jesus Christ.



Paul used very strong words to express his intimate relationship with the church in Rome. He said, “I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong-- that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith” (Romans 1:1l-l2 NIV). Eugene Peterson translated it as, “The longer this waiting goes on, the deeper the ache. I so want to be there to deliver God’s gift in person and watch you grow stronger right before my eyes! But don’t think I’m not expecting to get something out of this, too! You have as much to give me as I do to you.” And to the Philippians he even said, “God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:8). Or using the Message translation it reads, “He knows how much I love and miss you these days. Sometimes I think I feel as strongly about you as Christ does!” In Chinese culture, we seldom use strong affectionate words like Paul did, not even to our spouses. So when we deal with the intimate issue of love, we hardly go deep into our thought and meditation. We are afraid to get hurt or stumble others in relationship so we keep a distance. We are afraid to draw close or we don’t know how to draw close in case we are fooled by our own flesh. The affection that God created in us for one another is being blocked or subdue, even in our relation with our Creator Father. For this Satan rejoices. Indeed, we have a long way to go in realizing the love of Christ and to love one another with the affection of Christ.



I agree with Peterson that spiritual formation is the most intensely creative work. When you are being creative, you are not copying, you are not transposing something that works someplace else and making it work here. When you are being creative, most of what you do is wrong. The creative people I know throw away 90% of what they produce. If you have ever tried to write a poem or a song, you know that you do it wrong most of the time, and you work and work and work. Throwing lines away, filling your wastebasket . . . until finally you have got it. Most of what creative people do is wrong. But they don’t give up. Let’s don’t give up trying to find creative ways to express the affection of Christ to one another in a holy and edifying manner.



With the love He designs in us,

Lawrence