Faith Venture

My last post talked about the idea that knowledge without experience is not sufficient for us to live a life with-God. But experienced can be pursued and gained in the spiritual life.

Experience as I’m thinking about it goes beyond just living through things. It requires first of all awareness. Many people live unaware of their environment, the people around them, their impact upon others. God can provide all manner of experience opportunities, but if you are not aware of what is happening, they will all pass you by. Be alert–like 007 James Bond who is always observing and evaluating.

I once saw a quote, “Some things must be believed to be seen.” Expectation is a key ingredient. Mary, mother of Jesus, probably prayed the Jewish woman’s prayer about becoming the mother of the Messiah. There was surely a bit of expectation in her life. But also, it had never happened before. So, we can expect God to act in our lives, but we may still be shocked at what He provides for us.

So, the question remains, what can we do to gain experience with God? Here are some tips.

Meditation on the Word. Read the Bible. Then stop and meditate on the passage. Go there in your imagination. Be part of the crowd around Jesus. Be part of a congregation where Paul is preaching. March with Joshua. Meditate with expectation that God will lead you to deeper knowledge.

Worship. Gathering with others in worship is a great way to open yourself to the reality of God.

Celebration. Once again, being with others while singing songs and praising will help you focus on God and lift your spirits making you open to God’s Spirit moving within you.

Confession. Pausing once–or many–times daily to tell God that you have fallen short of the type of life He desires. God will calm you.

Service. Sometimes there are no better ways to experience God in your life than to “be God” in the lives of others. Doing things for other people for God’s sake, not yours, will bring you closer to God.

I’m sure there are more. Open yourself to the possibility that God wants you to live in the fullness of a relationship just like Adam and Eve walked with him before they rebelled.

I just wrote about discontent. That seems to be the psychological condition of our time. Perhaps you suffer from that, too. At least occasionally.

Modern psychologists have researched emotions, conditions and responses. But ancient people had already figured out how we can respond to and conquer discontent. Brain science has merely confirmed what people knew back then – you can change the way you think, you can change the way you feel.

Paul shows us the way. He is always giving thanks. Our pastor used the phrase Sunday, “Gratitude leads to attitude.” As we focus on giving thanks for what we have, we establish in our minds the attitude of thankfulness instead of the attitude of neediness.

This is a great spiritual practice–to begin each day as part of your meditation to focus for a few minutes on all the blessings you have received. Then you’ll be prepared when you continue your day with the daily newspaper that tries to persuade you through editorial and advertising how much you need something else. Or television advertising, or magazines, or billboards, or every other way that marketers try to reach you with the message of discontent–if only you had this, you’d be satisfied.

Stop now and thank God.

The quote from Albert Einstein was too good to pass up:

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the universe.”

Einstein surely lived through an age where human stupidity certainly looked infinite. But today doesn’t look much better. Look at all the fighting and misery occurring in the Middle East right now. It’s not limited to there. There is a lot of hatred in America right now–we just haven’t pulled out all our guns and started shooting each other, yet. Africa is a mess. There are problems throughout Asia.

Among my spiritual disciplines is the discipline to turn off TV news. I scan news from a few trusted sources (which I constantly evaluate to assure that they should be trusted) and then turn it off. It does no good to dwell on all of this. Or the political messes over which I have no influence or control.

Certainly we have known for thousands of years about human stupidity. Check out Proverbs 26.

“Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool.”

“A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools.”

It is like binding a stone in a sling to give honor to a fool.”

Then he hits on lazy people.

Yoda from Star Wars, one of my favorite philosophers, perhaps because he used few words and was straight to the point, said, “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

I think we are witnessing an awful lot of that. Fear and anger. These are emotions we must all conquer within us. How? The answer is simple and hard–just like all of the Scripture teachings. Ground yourself in a life with God. What then is there to fear if you are with God? And God can quiet your anger.

The Spiritual Disciplines exist to help us focus each day on God. That’s why prayer, meditation and study are best done in the early morning. Then when you slip during the day, you can recall your foundation of the day and relax.

There are two types of people–no, wait, I already wrote about that. Actually, last week I was in a conversation with two friends. We got into the question, are people good or bad.

We could talk theology–all people are sinners (bad).

We could talk the wisdom of Carl Sandburg (American poet) who told a story of a farmer standing by his field who was approached by two strangers, one after the other, who asked what kind of people lived in the area. He asked how the people were where they came from. One described evil, contentious people; the other described good, fair, caring people. The farmer told them both, “Well, I suppose the people around here are pretty much like the people where you came from.”

Most of us would agree that in our normal lives most people we meet are good-hearted, kind people. Unless you work on Wall Street, I suppose. There do exist angry, aggressive or otherwise emotionally disturbed people whom you learn to avoid.

Then there is the wisdom found in the book of Proverbs. Today’s readings took me through chapter 26. It talks about fools. About the futility of talking with fools. About avoiding fools.

Then it occurred to me–discernment. 3,000 years ago, humans had already figured out that there are different types of people in the world. Learn to discern the types and then which ones to avoid.

Are people basically good or bad? Yes. You can choose which to foster relationships with.

How do you make decisions? Do you collect information, weigh it, make an informed decision? Do you just go with a fast “hunch?” Do you collect information, then collect more information, then analyze, then collect more information…?

Consider a couple of Proverbs. “Without counsel, plans go wrong, but with many advisors they succeed.” (15:22) “Where there is no guidance, a nation falls, but in an abundance of counselors, there is safety.” (11:14)

While I can make a quick decision when necessary, I prefer not to do that. I absorb information from many sources, some may not even realize they are advising, before doing many thing. Especially in business planning.

It’s important to realize that the Proverb only tells you to get advice–preferably from a number (abundance) of sources. It doesn’t tell you that you can blame them if things go wrong. We are all still responsible for our decisions.

Bill Hybels of the Willow Creek Community Church recently talked about the need for discernment with advice. He referred to Rehoboam, son of Solomon who became the fourth king of Israel. When he became king, the people who had suffered under the hard work and high taxes of David and Solomon while they built the Temple and palaces petitioned him for relief. He sought advice from two sources–the older generation of his father’s advisors and a group contemporary to him. He picked the wrong one (the young ones) and destroyed the work of his father and grandfather. Following a rebellion, the northern 10 tribes split from the southern two leaving him with just a remnant of the former powerful state.

When you are facing a decision, gather advice from a number of trusted sources. Don’t stop there. Also consult God. Then make your decision knowing that you’ll have to live with it.

By the way, I’m in Philadelphia this week. The “city of brotherly love.” Although Philadelphia seems to be more known by the absence of that trait–at least among its sports fans–I pray that after this ridiculously bitter election season Americans can start to exhibit a little more brotherly love if not even agape love. And I am so happy to see my reader and friend from Brazil this week. Safe travels home!

When I was an adolescent, those three words–maturity, responsibility and discipline–were anathema. They spoke of stodgy old people, not to vibrant, young, liberated people. I probably reflected my generation. Probably lots of generations of adolescents.

Even as early as the 60s, sociologists were writing about how American society was prolonging adolescence in its young. I think maybe other societies are doing that today.

The president of the Dayton Region Manufacturers Association, Angelia Erbaugh, told me yesterday at a small regional trade show held just north of Dayton that manufacturers are looking for people to hire. Trouble is they need people that meet two criteria. The first requirement is for the appropriate technical skills. The second relates to maturity–willing to show up for work every day, able to pass a drug test, able to work with others.

This started me thinking about maturity, but the post I had in mind I had already written. However both of those criteria fit my central focus of developing Spiritual Disciplines, or put another way, Spiritual Practices.

First, we have to accept responsibility for ourselves and our actions. We have to make responsible decisions. Getting an appropriate education is our responsibility–not society’s or our parent’s. We must develop the practice of study and learning.

Getting up every day and working is a human need and requirement for survival. It’s a basic step in maturity. Almost everyone can do this. For those few who cannot for reason of disability or otherwise, then we as a society should help them out. Most of us just need to “suck it up” and go do something.

Paul says when he was a child, he acted like a child. When he grew up, he put aside childish ways. We should go and do likewise.