“For the glory of God is a living man; and the life of man consists in the beholding God. For if the manifestation of God which is made by means of the creation, affords life to all living in the earth, much more does that revelation of the Father which comes through the Word, give life to those who see God.”
- St. Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses (Against Heresies), 4. 34. 5-7.
“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.” (2Co 3:18 TNIV)
“The clearer I get on the kingdom, it seems, the less popular I get…boo hoo….Ten years ago — one moment it seems like yesterday, the next like it took place in a different life. It’s all so very very strange. And I wonder what I’ll be saying about the upcoming decade ten years from now. Stay awake to the weirdness and wonder of this quickly passing adventure! Seek first the Kingdom.”
- Greg Boyd, from Blog Post, January 1, 2010
I was intrigued that Greg used the word “weirdness” as “weird” is a word I have been using quite often to describe my life lately and life in general! I remember not long ago when I was describing events in life as “weird,” a friend of mine, Melissa, told me to stop saying “weird” as it’s not weird but rather my reality now. And I suppose that is the truth; the “weirdness or strangeness” of life is the reality of life for all of us! Regardless of what it is, we are to live the life we have been given. Frederick Buechner wrote, “The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn’t have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It’s for you I created the universe. I love you.”
I am thinking that there is more glory brought to God by simply living life, and living it with community! Living it with friends, family and people in the joys and celebrations as well as in the disappointments and pain! Came across something written by Erwin McManus, “Sometimes the limitations you are willing to accept establish the boundaries of your existence.” If hell is anything, it is the opposite of this - being alone and isolated, limiting yourself because of fear, locked in nothingness. Jesus desires fully alive disciples, living on the edge, pushing the limits of what it means to be fully human – knowing, always knowing there is all sufficient grace and whatever the Enemy may intend for evil or harm our Father will turn to good! Evil can never outrun grace, “… where sin increased, grace increased all the more…”or as Anne Lamott has observed, “I realized just then that sin and grace are not opposites, but partners…” Amen! It has occurred to me this is something that the Enemy will never be able to comprehend as he is already to a degree in a state of nothingness and cannot know that he has lost in principle now and will completely loose in reality eventually.
Buechner again, “Grace is something you can never get but only be given. There’s no way to earn it or deserve it or bring it about any more than you can deserve the taste of raspberries and cream or earn good looks or bring about your own birth.
A good sleep is grace and so are good dreams. Most tears are grace. The smell of rain is grace. Somebody loving you is grace. Loving somebody is grace. Have you ever tried to love somebody? A crucial eccentricity of the Christian faith is the assertion that people are saved by grace. There’s nothing you have to do. There’s nothing you have to do. There is nothing you have to do.”
I would also add that a there is grace in a cup of coffee every morning when you awake and drink it and contemplate again the faithfulness, mercy and yes, grace of God that is new each morning of this thing we call life! There is no going back only forward, Jesus replied, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God"
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