THE EMPTIED WILL BE FILLED & THE FILLED EMPTIED

It is the striving after something that is the vanity of vanities that the Preacher in Ecclesiastes talks about; whether the striving after what is good or not so good, wisdom or pleasure; it’s the striving that is like chasing after the wind.  God created everything to simply BE what it was created to BE; nothing more, nothing less.  He created all things good and provided all things with whatever was needed to be and remain good, healthy, and whole.  The fall from grace was and is wanting more than is given and providing it for ourselves.

Jesus’ mission was to return people to God and to restore the relationship they each had with God at creation.  Those who came to him empty, he filled; those who came to him filled came to realize they needed to be empty.

John 4 tells of a woman who came to draw water at Jacob’s well.  She brought her empty water jar.  There she met and encountered Jesus who told her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.  The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jon 4:13,14).  The woman went back to the people in her town, leaving the water jar empty, by the well.

Luke 7 tells of a woman who came into the house of a Pharisee who was dining with Jesus.  “She brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind Jesus at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair on her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment” (Luke 7:36-50).   She left the house filled and whole.

Matthew 4 tells of four fishermen who were busy at their livelihood, mending their nets and casting for fish.  Jesus came and said to them, “Follow me…and immediately they left their nets, their boat, and their father and followed him” (Matthew 4:18-22).

Matthew 19 tells of a rich man who had kept all the commandments and had great wealth and possessions who came to Jesus asking for the key to eternal life.  Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me.  When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (Matthew 19:16-22).  He was full but empty and he knew it; how sad.

Luke 18:9-14 tells us about two men who went to worship God, one man who was full of himself and proud of all his good deeds; the other came as an empty sinner who didn’t even feel worthy enough to lift his eyes to heaven.  The one who was empty received God’s attention and blessing.

In my approach to God I need to be empty of all I am and have, believing that he will fill my emptiness with himself, and that is truly all I will ever need.

ALL I REALLY NEED

“There is nothing better for a person than that she should eat and drink and find enjoyment (make her soul see good) in her toil.”

Ecclesiastes 2:24-26

These verses go on to say that all things, wisdom, knowledge, and joy come from the hand of God for apart from him we have nothing.  I came into this world with nothing; yet somewhere along the time and space of my growing up I was taught to expect a lot of material things as well as soul things.  I learned that I had rights to a long healthy life, to have everyone love me and take care of me, to possess things to keep me amused and entertained, shelter and a means to a comfortable living, and the freedom to pursue anything to make and keep me happy.  If these things weren’t made available to me, I then had the right to fight for them of take them away from others.

Now that I am older and realize that I will leave this earth with the same nothing that I came with, I wonder where all that encouragement to chase and strive after the wind came from.  As I reflect on it more it begins to sound more like the temptation in the wilderness between Jesus and the devil than the covenant that was originally spoken between God and human beings in the garden.

God originally created us, provided food and drink for us, and gave us responsible and enjoyable work to do with our hands.

         

“And God said, Behold I have given you every plant yielding seed that

          is on the face of the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit.  You

          shall have them for food” (Genesis 1:29).  “A river flowed out of Eden

          to water the garden” (2:10).  “The Lord God took the man and put him

          in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (2:15).

All of that changed when the created being chose to disobey the Creator, rejecting God’s gracious way of life and wanting more than what God freely gave.  The original temptation was being like God, knowing what was good and what was evil in his own understanding, which created needs, wants, and expectations that have passed down throughout the generations to this day; self derived needs, wants, and expectations of possessions, position, prestige, and power.  Jesus, in his first act of redemptive ministry, took us back to the point of departure and showed us how those were not legitimate needs, wants, and expectations, how the temptation was to be overcome, and to bring us back to the God who provides us with all we truly need in this life and throughout eternity.

Human history seems to revolve around a consistent pattern; forsaking God and wanting to do our own thing.  It always fails and God continually calls us back to him, where we were created to be.  As I grow older and look back over my own history, I share the sentiments and convictions of the Preacher; vanity of vanities, all is vanity.  When all is said and done and I am exhausted from chasing after the wind of illusionary needs, wants, and expectations, I too submit to the Preacher’s conclusion.

“There is nothing better for a person than that she should eat and drink and find enjoyment in her toil…The end of the matter; all has been heard.  Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of God.”

Ecclesiastes 2:24; 12:13

WHAT IS MISSING THESE DAYS?

Jeremiah 2:13

“For my people have committed two evils;

they have forsaken me,

the fountain of living waters,

and hewed out cisterns for themselves,

broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

I drove past a church whose outdoor sign read, CH  CH…What’s Missing? UR

Of course the question they were asking was where am I on Sunday morning?  But I sense that it’s more than me that is missing from that building on Sunday, and the rest of the week as well.  The church claims to be the Body of Christ, but does it really look like Jesus, saying what he would say, doing what he would do?  Mary Morrison, in her book Jesus: Sketches for a Portrait, says, “Jesus Christ is, for today’s multitudes and even for many of today’s disciples, the missing center of our faith – the Forgotten One of the twentieth century.”

Many folks carry his name, calling themselves Christians, but are like the prodigal son, who took his inheritance and traveled far away from his home, his father, his center of being.  He squandered his inheritance and the gifts given to him by his father, was left hungry and in need.  The people of the place he traveled to gave him nothing.  When individuals and churches leave their center of being and lose their identity, they will follow in the footprints of this prodigal son and will wind up in the same condition.

God, the Father gave Jesus, his Son as our inheritance. (John 1:12)  But what has been done with that inheritance?  If I take my inheritance, leaving the place I am meant to be to go to a far off place of illusion and empty promises, I will end up empty and in need, in a place where no one gives me anything.  The church without its inheritance from God will be empty, in need, and will not be able to give anyone who comes to its doors anything of substance and sustainability.  It will become, as many today are, empty buildings, void of life, love, peace, and joy.

The good news is, God longs for the return of his children.  When individuals and churches realize what they have left, what is missing in their lives and in their ministries, and return to God expecting nothing, his response will be as the father in the story.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him”

(Luke 15:20-23).

This world is in need of Christians and Churches that are reflective of the “Word that became flesh and dwelt among us, the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).  That is Jesus.  Those who claim to be Christians; those who claim to be a church, need to speak, act, and BE like Jesus, the founder and perfecter of their faith.

“Have you seen Jesus my Lord?

He’s here in plain view.

Take a look, open your eyes.

We’ll show him to you.”

ABOVE & BEYOND WHAT IS ACTUALLY THERE

While the form and technique are important and useful, it is the inspiration that I desire.  That requires my participation in the looking at a piece of art or the reading of the words that are written in a book; that is what brings life to that which is.  If a painting is simply a replication of what is there, it may interest me for the moment but will not require me to participate or give it meaning.  It is only reproducing what the artist saw and interacted with; giving meaning to him or her.  Rather than look at the painting I would do better to go and look at the thing myself, and have it come alive to me.  A work of art should inspire something more than is simply there for it to bring forth life.

When I look at my picture, Master Bedroom, by Andrew Wythe, of the dog curled up on the bed, asleep in the middle of the day, I am not looking at and concerned that the technique and detail is perfect, which it is. 

I am inspired to rest and to be at peace.  When I look at my picture of the sea captain by Joni, while the technique and detail of the man dressed in rain gear, lighting his pipe, eyes looking straight ahead is perfect, I am inspired to keep my eyes on the horizon because a storm is brewing.  When I look at my picture by Hook of Jesus as a young carpenter, shaving a piece of wood, while the technique and detail is perfect, I am inspired to simply focus on the piece of work that is right in front of me at the moment, and be faithful in doing just that.

As with art, so it is with writing.  I do not consider myself a good technical writer; adequate but not always accurate to the rules of writing.  But I am told by some that my writing has inspired them to enjoy reading the Bible more and looking more to a devotional understanding of its words and lessons, and that means a lot to me.

Jesus taught in parables and spoke words of wonder and mystery.  He wanted people to think above and beyond what was, because what was would someday not be.  God created forms to reveal himself to us, but those forms will someday not be.  Forms and technique may work as the invisible catalyst, but they must lead to inspiration, to think and see above and beyond what is actually there.  Inspiration is God breathing life into what is void and meaningless.  Inspiration causes us to look above and beyond what is actually there.

ONLY IN GOD IS MY SOUL AT REST

I am enthralled with the simplicity and clarity of the voice of God that I find in silence and nature.  It meets me and ministers to me in the depths of my soul.  It reveals insights and mysteries that make me feel alive and at one with all creation.  It isn’t loud, coercive or demanding; it simply IS and in that IS ness is the treasure that I continually seek.  All else pales to it; the multitude of words used to describe it, or explain it, are empty, meaningless, and shallow.  They are what Solomon declared as “Vanity of vanity; all is vanity.”  I understand Aquinas’ decision to stop writing and considering all that he had written as straw.  Words are inadequate to the mysteries that are revealed in silence and nature, directly to the soul by God.

I have worked hard at getting emotionally and spiritually healthy.  There were a lot of hindrances not of my doing that I had to overcome, as well as those that were of my own doing. A lot of the work I did was so I could fit in with people; be included and liked by others.  Now that the work has been done and I feel healthy and whole, I don’t have the need and desire to fit in with people; to be included and liked by others.  More than ever I desire to be a hermit, and be alone, in the Presence of God.  At first that seems strange but it really isn’t.  I am not choosing that life in order to hide and seclude myself, escaping the messiness of life.  I am choosing that life because it is where I feel most at home, and most loving of the people in my life and in the world.

Some people choose a secluded life to escape and hide; just to be left alone and not have to deal with other people and life’s issues and circumstances.  That is an unhealthy motivation and it is an unsuccessful solution to the problems of life.  Issues and circumstances that are not dealt with don’t go away even if one is locked away and alone.  The other side of the coin is people who enter into groups and communities to hide from being alone with their issues and circumstances.  They look to others to meet their needs and try to escape any of the personal responsibility there is in living this life.  Again, the motivation is unhealthy and it is an unsuccessful solution to the problems of life.  It’s only as each individual deals successfully and maintains their personal responsibility in living their own life that they will become whole and healthy, and will be able to deal with themselves and others in a whole and healthy way.  Emotionally and spiritually healthy individuals constitute healthy happy hermits and healthy happy members of a group or community.

Jesus didn’t come to earth and change things by overthrowing the ruling powers and institutions.  He didn’t come to earth to start a new religion.  He came to remind us from whence we came and to remind us of where we are going.  He came and he healed individuals, body, soul, and spirit.  He demonstrated in his being and in his teachings the image that each person was originally designed to be and how that works out in what we are to do.  As each of us come to that realization, then, and only then, will we become whole, healthy, and happy individuals, able to love one another as God so loves us.

CHILD OF GOD IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Having an identity and a sense of place where that identity is loved and respected as an individual but is also connected with others is important for healthy development. A good gardener is intentional about the seeds to be planted and about the place where the seeds will be planted.

I remember taking an Organic Gardening class several years ago.  I was given habanera pepper seeds to prepare for planting.  I put them on a tray, covered them and waited for the seed case to crack.  Then I put them in a seed tray in good potting soil, and put the tray in a place where the seeds would receive the right amount of sunlight, watering them every day. When the sprouts grew tall, I took these tender shoots with very delicate roots and transferred them into a bigger soil cube and took them out to the green house where the environment was controlled for conditions conductive for growth.  Mean while I worked in the garden, preparing the place where my seeds would be planted; digging, clearing, feeding, and watering the soil.  At certain times of the day I would take my seed tray outside of the green house, hardening them up and getting them acclimated for their final transition to the garden.  Then I planted the seeds in the soil I had prepared, watered them daily, and watched them grow into strong pepper plants that eventually produced beautiful crimson red peppers.  When they were ripe I picked them and watched them be transformed into a delicious hot salsa that I enjoyed eating along with the other bounty from the garden.

I knew the seed I was planting; I knew the conditions that were required for the seed to mature; I prepared the place and the soil where the plant would grow, and I maintained the conditions around the plant that made for good, healthy growth.  It took a lot of time, a lot of attention, and most of all a loving dedication for that seed to reach its full potential; but it was all worth it.

Do I attend and care for myself as much as I attended and cared for that seed?  Do I attend and care for those around me as much as I attended and cared for that seed?

It’s a big world and there are many seeds.  I get overwhelmed and exhausted even thinking about all the attention and care required to make the world a better place to live.  Then I remember something Mother Teresa said.  “Never worry about numbers.  Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest to you.”  If every person attended to and cared about themselves and the people nearest to them, everyone would be attended to and cared for.  There is something about a whole, healthy individual that is empowering and contagious to the individuals around them.  They will produce good fruit that will produce a good community that will produce a good nation that will produce a good world. All it takes is time, attention, and a loving dedication to have each individual reach their full God given potential. “According to Thomas Aquinas the purpose of social life is to foster the common good and to make each participant in civil society a better person, which is to say, more completely ordered to God.” (Robert Barron, Word on Fire, pg 141)

God is the Master Gardener.  He attends and cares, and respects the identity of each individual that will grow and mature into a garden of people, fed, watered, and tended by God himself, each bearing the fruit of the Spirit and attending to and caring for one another.  This to me is what being a child of God in the kingdom of God is all about.

THE VOICE ALONE THAT SATISFIES

“Which of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?”

Matthew 7:9

Actually, there is one who does that.  “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.  And the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread” (Matt 4:1-3).

God has put eternity in my heart and I am always on a Spiritual Quest.  I hunger for things to feed and nourish my soul while I am on this life long journey.  There are a lot of stones I could turn into bread to satisfy that hunger.  There is a cornucopia of books filled with words and thoughts of others who are also on the journey I am on.  There are many teachers professing to hold the spiritual keys to the mysteries and wonders I am searching for.

Throughout my Quest I have read many books and listened to many teachers and I appreciate the information I have received throughout the years.  But something has changed deep inside of me.  It’s not so much the information I want anymore.  I desire the inspiration, that quickening of soul and spirit that comes directly from the voice of God, in his handiwork (Psalm 19:1), and in his Son (Matthew 17:5).  That alone is what truly quenches my hunger and my thirst.

“I am the bread of life;

Whoever comes to me shall not hunger,

 And whoever believes in me shall never thirst”

(John 6:35).

WHAT ARE YOU SEEKING?

When Jesus’ first two disciples began to follow him, he turned to them and said, “What are you seeking?”  It’s a good question to ask myself as I start out on any adventure, enter into a time of discernment, attend worship, or even just interact with other people.  What am I seeking?

Usually I am on a quest for more meaning, more knowledge, answers to questions, for a connection of some kind, or even just something I need at the moment.  It’s good to know what I am truly seeking because then I am aware of what I am really needing, which makes finding it easier.   It also keeps my motives clear and pure.

The two disciples addressed Jesus as Rabbi, so they were probably going to him to be taught, to further their spiritual formation in some way.  John the Baptist had identified Jesus as the one whom he had been talking about, the Lamb of God sent by God to save the world from sin.  So they followed him and spent the day with him.  What they got was more than teaching.  Their short encounter with Jesus gave them a new life; they left everything and followed him the rest of their lives.

Their short encounter face to face with Jesus convinced their minds and changed their lives forever.  What they were seeking they found in him, before the three years of teachings, healings, and ministry.  HE is what they were seeking and they found him.

I was not coerced or convinced into a relationship with God by words, teachings, sermons, or signs.  I received and believed as I come face to face with him.  I was seeking and I found and knew in an instant that he is the fulfillment of all that I was seeking.

LOOKING THROUGH THE WINDOW OF ETERNITY

Looking at life through the window of eternity puts a new and different perspective on things.  It’s like finding the field in golf, looking only at the flag at the hole.  All else vanishes from sight; the crowds, the referees, the sand traps, the distance.  One thing matters; hitting the ball to the hole.

“When the days drew near for him to be taken up,

he set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51).

Jesus walked this earth with purpose; to teach, preach, and prepare people to usher in the kingdom of God, the eternal purpose of God for all of his creation for all eternity.  He endured the cross and despised the shame, the hostility, to show us a different way, THE WAY life was created to be.  He calls us still to return from whence we have fallen, back to the original intention of God, when he created man and woman in his own image, breathed life into his nostrils the breath of life, and then declared that everything that he had made was good, very good.

God breathed the Spirit of life into our beings and he is constantly calling us to live in that life, that authentic life that reveals his image.  We are called to look to Jesus and fix our eyes, our hearts, and our minds on him, the founder and perfector of our faith who is seated at the right hand of the throne of God in the everlasting city in the kingdom of God that is to come.

When this vision of eternity fills our minds, hearts, and souls we will look differently and with a new perspective on this life.

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus; look full in his wonderful face.

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of his glory and grace.”

GOD PUT ETERNITY IN MY HEART

There truly is nothing new under the sun; in the beginning God…in the end God; the Alpha and the Omega.  I find comfort in those parameters.  I feel a great deal of creative freedom in the space in between them.  Knowing the beginning and the end gives me the plumb line that is true that I can build my life upon and have it be pleasing to God and to myself.

For me the “vanity, vanity, all is vanity” that Solomon talks about in Ecclesiastes comes when I try to do things without the vision of eternity clear in my thinking and in my living; the vision that God put in my heart when he created me.  I find parameters and plumb lines helpful rather than being hindrances to my freedom to be me, the best me that is most helpful rather than harmful to others.  The fruit of the Spirit of God is grown within me, but it is produced to give away to others, all others, at all times.

Nature is most true in wilderness, untouched by human intervention, invention, or intrusiveness.  But in that natural wildness there is a natural law and order, pattern, and purpose.  It’s those things that make it seem so free.  Human law and order, pattern and purpose, tends to be restrictive and constrictive, which speaks to control more than freedom.

 People who live close to the land seem to live with a sense of rhythm rather than restriction.  It seems that the more civilized we become, the more we lose that sense of natural rhythm, and then we learn to depend on the artificial restrictions of time and space.  We lose the overall bigger picture of eternity and restrict ourselves to the now.  The over all natural parameters become artificial boundary lines, man made laws, and restrictive rules that put some in control and others under control.  With that comes an artificial illusion of power that humans use in forceful ways against one another.

When we lose the vision of eternity we become narrowly focused in the present and a sense of fear overtakes our sense of freedom.  It seems to me that the responsibility of those who know God is to keep that vision of eternity alive in the hearts of all people.  That is what Jesus did for all those he came in contact with.

There is much more beyond this present moment, beyond these present circumstances, beyond this present world, and beyond this present life.  The kingdom of God is the vision of eternity that God put in our hearts.  It is above and beyond anything we can imagine and it is beautiful, whole, and true.  It is the true power and majesty of a God who is pure love, life, and all that is good.  Without that vision people perish, frantically running around looking for something they know is there within them, but can’t find. It is clearly visible all around us in creation and it is available to all who seek after it. Seek it and you will find it.  Knock for it and it will be opened to you.  Ask for it and it will become known to you.  God has put the vision eternity in our hearts.  It’s already there, waiting for you to see, hear, and know.