I've just had an epiphany! I am not a clanging gong! This is very important to me.
I've been worrying lately that I do not have enough love in my heart. Its been a bunch of subtle things - stress over the holidays and such - but I've honestly been wondering if I had some sort of love block, preventing me from loving as I should. Well, I just got my answer.
I was reading Elisa's excellent blog where in she wondered whether her friends and family were going to Heaven and whether she was going to Heaven - very guilty Catholic kind of thinking. I wrote her a response and then I went back to work. While I was working on mind numbing number crunching, my mind started to wander. I was especially moved about her question of whether her brother had gone to Heaven. I wanted to just reach out to her, hold her in my arms, and tell her - "Yes, your brother is in Heaven. You can rest easy tonight. God is a great and merciful God and He loves us." And I was angry with her "friends" for telling her that she was going to Hell because she belonged to such and such church. I wanted to tell Elisa, "No, you're not going to hell because you belong to such and such church. God doesn't work like that." But then it occurred to me... I don't know a damn thing about any of that. Who am I to say these things? How the heck should I know any of this?
And that was when the epiphany hit me. I realized that the knowledge I had about these things was coming from my heart - not my head. There was no amount of book reading or blog reading or burning bushes that I could read or hear that could tell me the truth of what was already in my heart. God wrote his new covenant on our hearts. And it was at that moment that I knew I didn't have to be a scholar to say what I was saying because it was coming from my heart and was being said in Love.
I don't remember the actual words from 13 Corinthians and I'm totally hopeless about finding Bible verses on the web, but to paraphrase for my own purposes, "If I speak of Heaven, but have not love, I am nothing but a clanging gong!" I have love. I realize that now. I am not love deficient. I am not love blocked. I am not love intolerant. And I know what I am talking about, because I have love!
WHOOOEEEEE! God is truly great and magnificent! All praise to God!
8 comments:
Tears of joy! For God is truly wonderful! His steadfast love endures forever! Amen!
1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
1 Corinthians 13:1
Will,
I first read some of your insightful musings on Peter Burch's "Sin" Blog. I was so impressed with your writings I wanted to respond but I was at work and couldn't. I lost the URL to Peter's blog but found this one. I have never been so enthralled with a blog; I read the whole thing. I had to laugh when in an earlier notation you said that you shouldn't write about real life things like eating cereal, washing your hands and staring at the computer because it would be too boring--I actually read blogs like that. Didn't get very far though. I am happy to hear you are writing a novel. I would love to read it when it is done.
Anyway, I want to comment on your thoughts about good and evil. I have some ideas that I want to bounce off your head. I will try to put this succinctly because I have written a few pages on the subject and it is difficult to put in a short paragraph but here it goes. I believe we are spiritual beings encased in animal-like bodies with intelligent minds that act as the director.(This model is the reflection of God's image: Mind, Body Soul to Father, Son, Holy Ghost.) Given that our animal bodies and spiritual souls are often in conflict when we are hungry, hurting, tired etc., it is our minds that must often make difficult decisions between good and evil. Whether or not a commandment covers a particular sin, the decision of what is right or wrong still must be made from within our "hearts". We all know that making the right decision is often very difficult and we sin more often than we would like. However, true evil arises when we try to be like God. When we try to impose our will on another by cheating, coercing, fighting, deceiving, manipulating etc. it is the same as trying to be God because God gave us free will and only God may take it away. There is "Man's Law" made by our elected officials and there is "God's Law" written into our hearts.
I have a lot to say about "victimless sins" but have to save that for another blog.
Sue, you have some good points and I agree with most of what you're saying. But you're kind of getting ahead of the class as this is the subject of a later blog (probably next week).
To give you a short answer, as those are all I'm able to give right now anyway, I'd say that there is a reason the two greatest commandments deal with love. I think love may be the key to the whole thing. But I really need to think this through a little more as my brain has only downloaded about half the answer ;)
And now, back to my Novel...
All - for an interesting take on sin and heaven, I highly recomment The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. The story is about a bus ride from hell to heaven, and you, through Lewis' eyes, see the experiences and reactions of those who are saved and those who are unable to be saved, as they struggle with letting go and accepting God's grace.
Sue - you bring up some excellent thoughts. We are absolutely spiritual beings - our consciousness, if you will - and our problems have everything to do with choosing to disobey God. We see it over and over again throughout the Old Testament with the nation of Israel and Judah, as they continue to fail under God's law. With the arrival of Christ, we are set free from the old law, made new under Christ, to follow His two greatest commandments to Love God and Love one another.
With more time, I'm sure I could go on...
Elisa - I hope to meet you before you get to Heaven because you sound like you're one great person to know.
And now, back to contemplating my next blog...
Elisa, I understand - some of those writers can be tough. Start with Donald Miller's book, "Blue Like Jazz". Very conversational in tone, and when you're done, pass it on to your teenage daughter. Miller is the most popular Christian writer with Christians under the age of 30. And while we're both over that age (and so is Miller - he's 34), what he says about his faith journey is pretty potent stuff.
Elisa, I expect you to blog about it!!!!
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