Monday, February 9, 2015

Monday, February 9, 2015    

2 Corinthians 5: 6 – 15

Today’s reading begins with “That’s why..” so we really need to read the preceding verses to understand where Paul is coming from.  He reminds us that when we die, our earthly, mortal bodies will be replaced by resurrection bodies suited to the heavenly life and that compared with life here, life after will be, well, heavenly!!  He says we have been given a glimpse of that, so that we long for that future.  Now,  today’s passage begins.

Knowing where we are going makes the road easier – perhaps not physically or even mentally so, but emotionally or spiritually so.  The hardships and pains are real, but worth what awaits us.  For me, I remember the anxiety and pains of childbirth, but also the incredible joy when each daughter was born.  They were worth it!  Paul says that our struggles will be worth it too and enables us to “live with such good cheer…[not] drooping our heads or dragging our feet. (The Message v 6)

But that isn’t his only point.  He says that quite apart from the knowledge of the joy at the end, that it is the desire to “cheerfully please God is the main thing, and that’s what [we] aim to do, regardless of our conditions.” (9)  Good point!

But then, his tone changes.  He reminds us that we all will face God at the end of our lives and be held accountable for our choices.  ”That keeps us vigilant…It’s no light thing to know that we’ll all stand in that place of Judgment.” (11)  I sense a motivation of some fear here, and that does make me stop.  I’m not sure that fear of consequence is what God or Jesus was trying to teach us.  Accountability, yes; fear, no.  Knowing that my bad choices will be forgiven makes me not fearful about consequences, but rather sad about my having failed to make good choices sometimes and also thankful that God loves me so much.

I remember back in university days, when studying psychology, there was the theory that people’s moral choices could develop throughout their loves from fear of pain as a motivation, through a sense of responsibility to others, and finally to doing the right thing for its own sake, regardless of any cost to self.  That to me is the same as obeying God: He only tells me to choose to do what is good.  I really don’t think of God as standing there with a big stick, ready to punish me for bad behavior. (We can all punish ourselves and each other without any extra help!!) I think that, if I am honest with myself, my motivations still range from the fear of pain side to the altruism side.  Recognizing that, and thankful for God’s limitless love, his offer that I can begin again every single time (Jesus’s 70 times 7) does encourage me to want to please Him, to want to be strong enough, courageous enough, and wise enough to consider my choices and to choose to follow His leading.

As Paul concludes: “His love has the first and last word in everything we do.” (15)

Blessings

Ann Kelland

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Sunday, February 8, 2015
John 7:37- 46

"No one has ever spoke as this man has"


In the scripture today Christ says " let any one who is thirst come to me and drink" . The reading goes on to explain that this is a reference to the spirit. The question I have is: how does one approach Christ for this living water? How do I know my plea is heard? How do I know I have the spirit?

"How does one come to Christ," we simply ask. He says "If we ask, we receive," so we simply ask. How do we know our question is answered? So one might say, "is the answer baptism?"

We have all lived through the time of the Pentecostal or charismatic renewal, some of us were or are swept up in the gifts of the spirit. For these people who's very spirituality has been born from such passages the answer is a simple one.

All talk of gifts aside,  how do we know that we have the spirit? Yes, yes it was given to us a baptism, but how do we know now that we have the Spirit dwelling within us? Does it not seem that we should be perfect people? If we are vessels of that God who is perfect, then how is it that sin? Dose that not kill the presents of God in us? Do we need a second baptism or "confession" on a daily basis?

Well I'm sure that confession is good for the soul, but I don't know if going to confession every few hours, because we have sinned, is the answer to help us retain the spirit. On the contrary, I think it may prove to lessen her mental stability. I've come to think in my meditation on this reading that there is but one way to know, and that is hope. We have hope both in Christ and in the spirit. We have faith in their presence. We have faith in Christ's promise and we have faith in the spirit's presence. Does this make us perfect; no. Does this fill us with all kinds of supernatural gifts; maybe, but on the normal everyday life we will come to the fountain of Christ's infinite goodness, have hope. We also have faith, but I say hope, because it is a knowledge of what we have and an anticipation of the fullness of that hope to come.

- John-Paul Markides