To live our lives and not just exist; is to be at risk.

C.S. Lewis wrote,

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully around with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable; impenetrable, irredeemable…The only place outside of Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers of love is Hell.

What a powerful thought! Lewis speaks directly to what many people who come into my office seem to want and that is a guarantee that love and life will be risk free. It is amazing how we humans pursue what we think we want because of the belief that it will fulfill us and we can have what we want on our terms. Sure many of us bargain our way through life, rationalize our choices, deny what we have or are pursing is detrimental to our well being and/or that of others, the list goes on and on.

It is sad that in our pursuit of “having our cake and eating it too” or searching for love; relationship[s] either as family, friends, or a spouse’ success [however we define it] we work ourselves into sure bondage. Lewis depicts this bondage as sure death: “…in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless… “ Wow, he has painted the state of being “safe from risk” clearly as bleak as any thing I can imagine.

When we decide to be involved in our own lives we must face that risk is a part of life. This choice gets right to the heart of the matter and that is to live our lives and not just exist; is to be at risk.

Hallowed be Your name

"And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

"Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

"In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name." Matthew 6:7 - 9

According to the Strong’ Exhaustive Concordance, in the Greek hallowed is: hagiazo [hag-ee-ad-zo]: to make holy; purify or consecrate; (mentally) to venerate. The Vines Expository Dictionary defines hallowed: to make holy; signifies to set a part for God, to make a person or thing the opposite of koinos = common. The American Heritage Dictionary defines hallowed: To make or set apart as holy; to respect or honor greatly; revere. And consecrate as: (verb) to make or declare sacred; set apart.

The literal translation of Matthew 6:9 is: Thus therefore pray ye: Father of us the [one] in the heavens; Let it be hallowed the name; of thee. (Interlinerar Greek-English New Testament- Nestle & Marshall) HOW COOL! I love this.

If I had always read this verse as: Our Father, who art in heaven, set apart is Your name. I may have understood the weight and import of what Jesus is telling us; I cannot say this for sure, but I think it is likely. It strikes me so strongly and has impacted how I think and feel about our heavenly Father, the only true God, my mind and heart can hardly contain and comprehend what little I do grasp.

I am amazed that His name is set apart and it is so holy that we cannot even truly know it. Yet, we can know Him. Our great God, whose name is set apart from all names and is unfathomable, yet He makes it possible for us to know Him. Jesus is that way, He is the One who reconciles us – connects us to His Father, who is our Father.

By the way God Has given Him a name that is also set apart, Philippians 2:9-11 9: Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11: and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

My having a more accurate understanding of the word “hallowed” has deepened my awe and love for God. I know I am just barely beginning to comprehend His love for me and you, but I am not tired of meditating on it. I like to let it roll over and over in my head and as I do, I feel drawn to do so more and more.

One word can make a difference

The choice of one word over another can make a tremendous difference in how we understand, perceive and apply Holy Scripture to our daily lives. I remember the first time I discovered that there was just such an example in one of the most well known passages of scripture for believers and non-believers alike. I am referring to the first of Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

According to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, in the Hebrew the word we read as want is literally lack: חסר (2637 ) - (chacer), (khaw-sare); a primary root; to lack; by implication to fail; want; lessen; be abated; bereave; decrease; cause to fail; have lack; make lower; want. We should read The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not lack. When many modern people read the want we perceive the meaning as desire and/or we will get what we command and/or demand.

The American Dictionary defines these two words as follows:

Want: to feel a need or a desire for; wish for: to want one's dinner; to wish, need, crave, demand, or desire (often followed by an infinitive = I want to see you); to be without or be deficient in: to require or need.

Lack: deficiency or absence of something needed, desirable, or customary: something missing or needed; Verb form: to be without or deficient in: to lack ability; to lack the necessities of life; to fall short in respect of.

If you will stop and think about how many of us communicate our wants, it may bring the picture of someone stamping their foot, arms folded across their chest and a pout or defiant look on their face. Also, think about how you would perceive this verse if you had always thought of it terms of lack instead of want. Many of us have been socialized to believe if we want something then it is or should be ours, as we want it; as opposed to thinking in terms of not lacking. The difference being… Well why don’t you think about how that would be different for you.

I would love to hear how that would change your perception and how you think about God, His love, His care, and/or His provision for you on all levels: psychologically, emotionally, spiritually and behaviorally. If we can gain a more accurate understanding of God then we can begin to gain a truer and clearer understanding of ourselves and of others.

Oh, How He Loves Us!

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? ~ Romans 2:4; NKJV

Don't you realize how kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Or don't you care? Can't you see how kind he has been in giving you time to turn from your sin? ~ Romans 2:4; NLT

Or do you presume upon the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not know that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? ~ Romans 2:4; RSV

No matter what version of this verse we look at, it is clear to me that our God is beyond amazing! It is incredible to me that He has loved us so much and for so long [before the earth was formed] that He pours out His kindness upon us so we can respond to Him - in the first place. Wow!

I imagine it going this way. The Apostle Paul is speaking to the Romans and trying to get them to understand how great the Father’s love for us is. And he says, “Hey you guys! Don’t you know it was the Father’s kindness that drew you to Him- in repentance in the first place?”

It had nothing to do with you – the only part we play in this fact is that we are drawn.

It completely blows me away. I feel humbled and NOT humiliated by His love, mercy and grace. There is a huge difference between feeling humbled and humiliated. Think about it, please.

In my opinion and life experience there is nothing more settling and gratifying than knowing that God wants me. He does not need me…He wants me! He wants you! Jesus came and made our way to the Father. Oh, how He loves us!

Just let this verse roll around in your head, like a wave on the ocean’s shore. As a wave comes in to the land it deposits a few new grains of sand as it crashes on the shore and as it goes back out to the depths of the sea it takes a few grains of the old sand with it. I think in the same way it can work for us when we are trying understand something new. So, as you let this verse and the knowledge that He poured out His kindness on you [and me] keep turning over and over in your head, a bit more of the truth will sink in and a bit more of our old misunderstanding of who God is will fall away.

Christ Our High Priest - Part Two

Application of Hebrews 4:14-16:

In my last entry, I am sure you all noticed that I seemed a little “happy” with the bold feature and certain words [learn and practice for certain and maybe a few other action words]. Good job! It was quite intentional, as it is a main theme with me that we are in a continual, on going process of growing in our intellectual and experiential knowledge of God through Christ and Holy Scripture. It is all about understanding that we will not hit the mark perfectly this side of heaven. Only Jesus could and did do that perfectly, that is why we worship Him and one of the rest of us.

I thought I would give you a little look at how my learning curve has developed. When I first started to practice Contemplative Scripture reading and Contemplative prayer, which is the practice I asked you to begin to try in my last entry, I felt like a complete dork, sometimes a helpless freak and/or like I was just kidding myself.

First of all, if I even remembered to turn to God, I surely had not read the passage accurately because I approached a throne of shame and went expecting a good old lecture, a nice demeaning, debasing, a trip to the proverbial woodshed, some nice messages of shame loaded with anger that would reinforce the shame I already felt. In my head those messages of shame would sound like: if only you had…, you should have…, why didn’t you…, what secret sin have you not confessed? Any of those remarks sound familiar? So, for me the beginning was to acknowledge that I didn’t truly believe that I was able to come to a throne of grace and mercy. I behaved as if I was still before the throne of judgment. It was my behavior that revealed what I truly believed. In my head I said one thing, yet based on my actions I had to acknowledge that I didn’t believe I had the same access to the Father that I knew everyone else did and this is where change had to begin.

Then, as I practiced approaching the throne of mercy to ask for help my visual thought process changed from a picture of me climbing up a large white robe onto a lap to being scooped up by a large, strong yet gentle hand. All I had to do was begin the assent and then I believed I was not only able but welcomed by the Father and it became easier to ask for help.

Finally, as I continue to practice this process I get better at remembering that truth is more than knowledge for my mind to dwell on and think: “Isn’t that cool.” or “If only that could happen for me.” There are many different ways that these types of thoughts can sound, but I believe you get my point. It is only by practicing what God says that we will turn our head knowledge into experiential knowledge therefore we are continually building relationship with Him. It has been my experience so far that this is how we solidifying what we hope to be true into what we are coming to know to be true.

One last thing, help does not always look the way we tell God it should, hope it should or expect it to. Be open to what the Father knows is best for you.