Take Me Deeper - Feb. Wk 4 - Love Yourself

The final week study in February, with it's theme of love, is Week 4 - Love Yourself.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,

he is a new creation.

The old has passed away;

behold, the new has come.

All this is from God,

who through Christ reconciled  

us to himself

and gave us the ministry

of reconciliation…

~ 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 (ESV)

What impressed me so much in reading this verse is how this is all God's doing - "all this is from God." He reconciled, he didn't count our sins against us, he laid our sins on his Son - so that we could receive his righteousness. God is the one who does it, does it all. 

The book I was altering for the journal had a photo of a cathedral, which put me in mind of St. Teresa of Avila's image of the soul as The Interior Castle. And that's the image I took up, using the deep blues and purples for the depths of my being, and God's light coming into it. Surrounded by the red of the heart. The words are from my journal as I thought about the total gift - that it was all done for me, given to me, I don't have to do anything but receive it.

I loved the image of the Interior Castle, but the picture spoke to me - and as soon as I put it on I knew it was right. I loved that image of myself as a baby in this context, because it looks as if I'm "telling my troubles" as babies do. I sometimes feel that I spend a lot of time "telling my troubles" to God, and I wonder if it's to much, if I spend too much time doing it. But that's not how it is. When children come in their distress - that's interaction time, that's loving time. And in the depths of our hearts, where we're most vulnerable, most hurting - God gives us his attention, and his love, and his care.

The facing page continued the theme of the heart - our heart reaching up to God, and God's heart reaching down to us. I looked up "reconciled" in the Revell Bible Dictionary, and it brought up the pagan view, which is really the natural view. Here, we have to do something to make God look on us with favor. We have to sacrifice so that God will be happy with us. In other words, we have to do something so that God will change in reaction to us.

But now all things are new. Here God is the one who gives, who sacrifices, so that we will change. We are the ones who need to change our viewpoint, to receive the sacrifice, to be reconciled. It seems almost sacrilegious to think that way. But that's what Paul is saying:

So we are ambassadors who represent Christ.

God is negotiating with you through us.

We beg you as Christ's representatives,

"Be reconciled to God!"

God caused the one who didn't know sin

to be sin for our sake

so that through him

we could become the righteousness of God.

~ 2 Corinthians 4:20-21 (CEB)

It's always impressed me, the words used in the different translations: beg, plead, implore, etc. The urgency, the humility, the passion: 

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ,

as though God were pleading through us:

we implore you on Christ's behalf,

be reconciled to God.

~ 2 Corinthians 5:20 (NKJV)

It's so easy to fall back into the old way of thinking - that I have to do something to make God look on me with favor. I have to keep propitiating him so he won't be angry with me. I feel I need to sacrifice so he won't be angry with me.

But God says the sacrifice has already been made. He has already accepted the sacrifice Christ made for me. In his death, that part of me died too. And now he wraps me in Christ's righteousness and anoints me as his representative.

I don't have to do anything. I just need to accept what he has already done for me. And keep my eyes on him, spend time with him, follow him.

What we love we shall grow to resemble.

~ Bernard of Clairvaux

Take Me Deeper - Feb Wk 3 - Love Your Neighbor

Over at His Kingdom Come, continuing with the theme for February, Love, this week it's "Love your neighbor."

A new command I give you:

Love one another.

As I have loved you, 

so must you love one another.

By this everyone will know

that you are my disciples,

if you love one another.

~ John 13:34-35

What really struck me about this verse is the timing of it. This was at the Last Supper. Jesus was speaking to his disciples – the ones he knew very shortly would betray him, deny him, abandon him. "As I have loved you..."

Judas had left by this time, but he was there earlier when Jesus washed the disciples' feet. Which means Jesus washed Judas' feet as well. The man who he knew would betray him. Whose actions would lead to Jesus being beaten, being humiliated, being crucified. "As I have loved you.."

It's easy to love people in the abstract. It's easy to love those you like and get along with. But those who have hurt you, disagreed with you, teased you - that's a lot harder. Sometimes it's not even that – just the ordinary, the unattractive, the ones easily overlooked. I fail there constantly, yet it's amazing how often God brings the lesson home to me. So many times people I haven't thought much about, or who seem to have nothing in common with me, have been people who have helped me, or given me good advice, or become friends. It's such an amazing blessing.

I read the IVP commentary on this passage at BibleGateway, and it talked about Jesus' washing the disciple's feet. It brings up the point that Jesus was aware of his identity as God, and it was because of his identity as God that he washed their feet. He only does what he sees the Father do. 

"This is what God himself is like – he washes feet, even the feet of the one who will betray him! Thus the foot washing is a true sign... for it's a revelation of God."
             ~IVP Commentary

The serving heart of God. And that's where we go if we want to be like him, to do what we see him do. "Love one another. As I have loved you, so must you love one another."

Take Me Deeper 2015 - February Weeks 1 & 2 Love

God's Love For Us; Our Love for God

The theme for February over at His Kingdom Come is Love. Week one's theme is God's Love, week two is Love God. For me, the two weeks went together - Receiving God's love for us, and then responding to that love and loving Him. 

So I felt the journal pages would go together as well.

I was wishing I had taken more photos of the pages as they grew, as it came together bit by bit. All I knew in the beginning was the colors were purple and red. I loved the splashes of white, and the red streaks coming down from above.

Receive His Love

The verse for Week One: God's Love is John 3:16 -

For God so loved the world

that he gave his one and only Son,

that whoever believes in him

shall not perish but have eternal life.

~ John 3:16

A familiar verse. And, as so often happens, reading it in a different translation brings new meaning to this and the following verses. Personalizing it, it was so powerful it blew me away, and I knew that was really all there was to say:

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized me

that He even gave up his only begotten (unique) Son,

so that if I believe in Him

(trust in, cling to, rely on Him)

I shall not perish

(come to destruction, be lost)

but have eternal (everlasting) life.

For God did not send the Son into the world

in order to judge me

(to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on me),

but that I might find salvation

and be made safe and sound

through Him.

If I believe in Him

(cling to, trust in, rely on Him)

I am not judged

[if I trust in Him I never come up for judgement;

for me there is no rejection, no condemnation –

I incur no damnation]…

John 3:16-18a (Amplified), personalized

I love this, I think I need to put it where I can see it always. The amplified version seems to make it so much more real, more concrete. And even though it is "the world" it is each one of us personally as well. For each one of us, God so greatly loved and dearly prized us that He sent His Son to save us, to make us "safe and sound through Him."

"He loves each one of us,

as if there were only one of us."

~ St. Augustine

It's hard to take it in, hard to believe it's true - it seems to wonderful to be true. And so the challenge is always to receive His great love. One that probably will continue for all of our lives and into eternity.

"Believe in Him" can seem rather abstract as well - what does that really mean? To know that I can cling to Him in my darkest hours, the hardest situations. To know that I can rely on His strength in my weakness, His wisdom when I don't know what to do. To trust that He knows, and He understands, and He loves me, and He wants what is best for me - no matter what others think, no  matter what I think. And that it's OK to come to Him, to cling to Him. That we can rely on Him. That He is trustworthy, and always there for us.

Respond to His Love

Thinking about such a great love, how can we help but respond. The verse for Week 2: Love God is Matthew 22:37 -

Love the Lord your God

with all your heart

and with all your soul

and with all your mind.

~Matthew 22:37

I know what I think of when I hear heart and soul and mind, but I was curious about what it would have meant to the people hearing it for the first time, the people Jesus was speaking to. How would they have heard it, have understood it? So I did some research in the Revell Bible Dictionary and Strong's Concordance (there are newer editions, this is the one I had on hand).

Heart (kardia) is defined by The Revell Bible Dictionary as "the true inner self." It goes on to explain: "In Hebrew thought, the heart was the center of each person's being and intellect. It is with the heart that a man feels, perceives, and makes moral choices. It is also with the heart that one seeks and responds to God." The heart is central, it is the essence of who we are.

Soul (psyche) comes from the word meaning "breath," the spirit. According to Revell, the soul is "the essential self, the distinct identity of the person." It can also be used in referring to the individual person - as in a report that a ship was lost with all souls aboard. I'm not really clear on the difference between heart and soul. To me heart seems to the inner being - our thoughts, feelings, values. Soul, perhaps, refers to the person as an individual, including each person's uniqueness in gifts and talents and personality.

Mind (dianoia) is defined by Strong's Concordance as "deep thought, properly the faculty (mind or its disposition), by implication its exercise: - imagination, mind, understanding." Sometimes we read "mind" and think of reason or intellect. It is that, but I love the inclusion of imagination and understanding. 

I loved the idea of responding to His love. So often I try - I try so hard. And there's nothing wrong with trying, but it becomes striving. We strive to make ourselves better, to be perfect - to be what we think He wants us to be. And it's such a burden. 

Maybe it's simpler than that:

"Come to Me,

all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened,

and I will cause you to rest.

[I will ease and  relieve and refresh your souls.]

Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me,

for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart,

and you will find rest

(relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet)

for your souls.

For My yoke is wholesome

(useful, good –not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing,

but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant),

and My burden is light

and easy to be borne."

~Jesus of Nazareth

Matthew 11:28-30 (Amplified)

Ah, now there is a challenge for me. Because I tend to think it should be hard, that I should labor, and I easily become overburdened and overwhelmed. But Jesus paints a different picture. Come to Him, learn of Him, spend time with Him. And He will "cause me to rest" - (and sometimes, I admit, it's against my will!). 

Spend time with Him - in prayer, in praise, in worship. Learn of Him - through the Bible, through teaching, through the experiences of those who have gone before. Rest in Him - spend time in His presence; soak in His light, His love, His forgiveness. Allow Him to transform your mind, renew your spirit.

And Bloom.

Take Me Deeper Week 3 - Transform Submissively

At his-kingdom-come.com they are doing a year-long free study called Take Me Deeper. Each week there is a Bible verse or passage, a teaching, suggestions for further study, and a worship video. And people can post pictures of their response in whatever art form they are working in. The theme for January is Transformation. The study has been wonderful so far, and seeing the images that people have created in response has been great. So many have touched my heart.

The theme for Week 3 is Transform Submissively. The Bible verse is 2 Corinthians 3:18.

"And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

The version that really spoke to me was from The Message, and that is what I used on this spread. 

"Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are - face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him."      ~ 2 Cor. 3:16-18 (MSG)

"We're free of it! All of us!" - how wonderful, how glorious! Keep your eyes fixed on God, look to Him always, and He will remove the veil. That's hard to do when circumstances, and difficulties, and hard times get in the way. But it is His promise. When I read the passage, one of the first things I thought of was a phrase from the Psalms:

"They looked to Him and were radiant"

I looked it up, and the context emphasized the point. The Psalmist isn't talking about people who are living in glory - they are people in the middle of trouble, and danger, and fear.

I sought the Lord, and He heard me,

And delivered me from all my fears.

They looked to Him and were radiant,

And their faces were not ashamed.

This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him,

And saved him out of all his troubles.

The angel of the Lord encamps all around

those who fear Him.

~ Psalm 34:4-7 (NKJV)

Transform submissively - that's the theme this week. And maybe some of that is allowing God to do it in His way, in His time. And if that's not the way we think it's supposed to be - well, then it isn't. And if it isn't as fast as we wish it would be - well, then it's not.  

Nothing between us and God. I thought of the veil of the temple - when we look to Him, He takes it away, He brings us into the Holy of Holies. Our part is to look to Him, to be present to Him, to wait for Him, to trust Him.

Place your mind before the mirror of eternity!

Place your soul in the brilliance of glory!

Place your heart in the figure of divine substance!

And transform your whole being in to the image

of the Godhead through contemplation,

~ Clare of Assisi

My vision is so small! It's so easy to focus on the struggle, on the problems, on the hurt. And God is present in the struggle, and the problems, and the hurts - that's part of the Good News. But transformation comes from sitting at His feet, basking in His presence, in His love. Learning to see with His eyes,  listen with His understanding, care with His heart.

And so, for me, part of this is to look forward to a year of possibilities, of transformation, of freedom.

Image credits: images used from Rucola Designs, Tumble Fish Studio, Jagged Touch Studio, and itKuPiLLi Imaginarium - all from Mischief Circus.