In This World We Live

We have just gone through the wedding of my oldest son and within a day following, my Dad had a stroke. We are full of joy and suffering at the same time. Life is like that. The remembrance of the cross is both joy and sorrow. Joy for it's full salvation and sorrow at the cost of such redemption.

Nothing feebler than a man does the earth raise up, of all the things which breathe and move on the earth, for he believes that he will never suffer evil in the future, as long as the gods give him success and he flourishes in his strength; but when the blessed gods bring sorrows too to pass, even these he bears, against his will, with steadfast spirit, for the thoughts of earthly men are like the day which the father of gods and men brings upon them.
Homer (800 BC - 700 BC), The Odyssey

Homer expresses the past and future reality of both a "Father God" and the limits of humanity. Even these thousands of years later we find man, still feeble in his ability to control life. We are in desperate need of a Father God.

Over the last hours I have found much in the Father God that I truly love and enjoy. His companionship is real, stable and direct. I love the way that He loves me and trust in His goodness and grace, even with my limited human perception. I have found that His abiding within drives life for me. In the darkest moments of life, there is a way within. This inward way is not "my way" but Christ living in me that brings forth expressions of life and hope that cannot be found in me at those moments. It is very much like a child being cared for my their loving parents. It is like being nursed, held. instructed and lead on some great adventure into the wonder and beauty of what is not yet seen or known.

Not all of life is good. But there we stand with God and the un-good can go no further. We and God in used as limiters of the un-good. We are like the barriers of evil, the guardrails of travel. We and God in us establish limits as to how far un-good can go. We do this in the most simple way, of expressing love.

For in the loving of God, others, our selves and all of creation; the un-good of the un-godly is halted. Love never fails. Love does not stand alone against the tide, but it does stand, often the first. Christ in me and I in Christ will not let the un-good of this life run free. In love we will constrain it and in doing so, live life fully.

We transcend our situation, rise above it, when we live in the perspective of Father God. It is in no way a denial of the suffering of this world, but it is an actual "rising above". All those who have been carried through a death of a loved one, endured chronic pain, or walked through seasons of obsessive fear know about this protective abode of the Lord. It is not a place for a few divinely selected ones who God has chosen to favor with His love. No, it is a place available to all. Yet it cost.

The cost of entrance and abiding is submission. We must enter into Him prior to His entrance into us. God fills what He covers, He protects what is hidden in Him. Now the truth. It is not what you say or even the action that you do that "proclaim" your entrance into the abode of Christ, it is your heart! Even your mind must submit to the leading of the heart if you want to truly dwell in the secret place of the Most High. Yield your heart to God, fully, and you will find a doorway open to you. Follow Him as He leads on this pathway.