As I contemplate the position of peace in life and the coming Messiah, I wonder if it is more like those darned old school christmas lights than i want to admit. It seems that I can piece together a few moments or maybe even hours of thinking on whatever is pure then I run into a bad one----the whole thing just goes out. Then I go back and reconsider whatever is lovely and has virtue and the thing twinkles again. Father, help me to make longer strings of seeing your face in the midst of my journey and the strugles of others!! Soooo, am I a mad depresive or has this been your experience??
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Think you just like everyone else on this journey of life! Don't forget the Word says that the flesh and spirit are in CONSTANT opposition or at war. So while it often seems that life is 2 steps forward and one backward...God is keeping the books and is working to bring us to perfection in Christ. And don't forget when one string of lights goes out, there is still the LIGHT of the World!! Sounds so simple and FEELS so complicated!
ReplyDeleteYesterday we spent much of the day without electricity at our house. It was a welcome respite from the usual craziness of our lives, and I spent the day reading The Silver Chair, by C.S. Lewis on the couch with my dog.
ReplyDelete(What a great relief it was to simply spend the whole day in a good book!)
In it, C.S. Lewis shows us a scene where the evil queen (who later is revealed to be the serpent) is attempting to convince the main characters that there is no such thing as the sun, or the land above the cave in which they are trapped, or anything like the joy that they have known in the past, or Aslan (who represents Christ). She has cast a spell upon them and all but one have succumbed to her lies. But one character puts his foot into the fire to break the spell, and defends his beliefs to this queen:
"Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things- trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world that licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia. "
To any of us who have had to defend our beliefs against logical, empirical, or philosophical arguments of people we know and love and have loved for much of our lives, this little quote speaks volumes about those doubts that we must all face and overcome. We can still believe even if there is not (apparently) a chance of convincing the person that we love of what we are sure of. We can defend our beliefs in the face of what the enemy tries to convince us is the truth.
While C.S. Lewis is somewhat challenging for me in that he seems to be pretty unhappy about women, I can forgive him for being a man of his time and see past the shallowness of his prejudice against me as female to grasp the deeper message. And, I can live as much as like a Christian even if I haven't met Christ face to face, even if others can't believe, even if I have my doubts on some days about how this all plays out. It is significant that C.S. Lewis compares Christ to all those obvious things in this world that we all "know" exist - sun and stars and trees and grass.
For more encouragement,
I have also found it helpful to find those verses in the Bible that can keep me walking on the right path ("Oh Lord, help my unbelief!") You could check out this website for a few awesome verses and advice :) http://trustinggodministries.org/articlesix.aspx
Hey, just stopped into your blog for a minute. Thanks for the thought...it does seem kind of depressing if I connect my thought life to the absolute frustration of trying to get a string of Christmas lights to work. Anymore I just go buy some more... It does seem to paint an accurate picture of the battle in the mind though.
ReplyDeleteLove you Bro