It is beautiful to remember God is creator, not man. Man only inhabited the earth and did what it does best: In pursuit of meaning, or purpose, man chose to opt out of the hard search realizing that it takes effort, discipline, and love; instead man went with a dull and numbing pleasurable way of life. More pleasure over contentment, more destruction over painful awareness, more selfishness over selflessness, and more idolatry over perfect love. Created in his image, not as him, but to be like him. God is love. Image of God is love. We are to be love. Don’t take pleasure in being numbed. Take the pain of being real, being free and being love.
Romans 12:2
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is- his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Experience God
I recently listened to a lecture by Donald Miller, who is a very interesting human being. What I started to think about, along with all these other spiritual speakers, is that they try to give you something. They are trying to get you to see something, trying to get you to think or understand something, trying to get you to somehow, with words, experience some sort of love, or existence, or truth. I think an even bigger thing is they are trying to tell you who God is, or what God is like, or how God loves you, or why God loves you. At some point Donald Miller started describing one of his many analogies of how God can be related to us, how God could be understood in our own realities. It was about a romantic relationship, or even a very cherished friendship that encompasses love beyond yourself. I started to wonder why people don’t connect with this. Why don’t more people identify with this? Why isn’t this something that people would want to be true? I ultimately came to the realization that I think and believe that everyone wants this to be true to some degree. Everyone is different, we are all individuals with different ideas, hopes, dreams, realities, and different understandings of love and God. I started to think about how the church sells God; how its come to this building and find truth, come to this service and get healed. Not come meet God and no longer be broken hearted.
I started to think about the experience we go through when we get to know someone, when we get to share in someone’s life. What we go through, all these struggles and hardship. We also go through pure happiness and contentment at times. We only understand relationship as a series of memories or experiences. If we did not remember these experiences we would not know all the intimate things we do about those that are close to us. But how do we do this? How do we become close and know these intimate details? We experience them first hand.
I could go sit by the Mississippi River off of Summit Ave and have a wonderful experience there. I would also have a different experience than anyone else, because I am me. I would have my mind, my imagination, that was created for purpose: to experience these things that are so wonderful to me, the way that I experience them. And it would be different from everyone else’s experience. It would almost make up who I am in existence, since we are living in experience on a moment by moment basis, and time is only record of when something happened. My existence is based only on my experiences. I also started to wonder if the church allows people to experience God the way that they actually want to, or should be able to experience God. Instead our minds, our imaginations are shut off, or shamefully turned off, and we are to follow the guidelines that were set out generations before we existed. Is that beautiful, is that loving, is that truth?
I started to wonder how I would feel if I didn’t actually ever get to experience love, or loving someone, if I didn’t get to choose it? I wondered what it would be like if someone just described why I love someone, why I would choose to marry this person, but I had no experience with them. I wouldn’t actually love them or know them, or have any truth about who they are, because I haven’t experienced them. I haven’t actually lived in reality with them. I have just been told with words what they are like, who they are, why I love them, why I will be faithful to them, why I should trust them, why I should believe they are real. As a human being designed to live in experience, designed to not just be told I am excited, or I am joyful, or I am sad, or I am in love. I was designed with the ability to experience this first hand, in whatever way possible. I am designed with this imagination to understand what is real, how I experience it.
I think we can experience that we are freed by Gods love for us, and we can’t experience that the same as everyone else, with the same words being repeated to us; we have to experience that separately, as individuals. We have to be able to understand ourselves as God made us, instead of listening to everyone around us tell us that its wrong, this is how you experience God. It would be like going to an art museum that you are so excited about, and there are so many different styles of art, and it can all be beautiful. But when you get there, you learn that there is only going to be one artist being displayed, and it isn’t the one you identify with, or like at all, but you have to say its beautiful in order to go into the art museum. I think many of us would just leave, or might go in and experience something less than we expected, or experience something the opposite of beautiful.
I wonder how arranged marriages, or any marriage if you don’t know the person, really work. I mean, you know nothing of this person, you have no joy or happiness experienced with this person, you have no interaction, and you don’t know if they love you exactly how you are, but you don’t experience that, so ultimately you don’t really know it, or enough to trust it. Love becomes a concept, or mechanism. You can describe it with words, what it should be, or what it should look like, but you don’t actually experience love. You have to come and say all of these vows that are so intimate and passionate, but could you possibly mean it if you have never experienced this person.
I wonder if a lot of people run from the image they have of God because they are told they are awful, disgusting, bad, and not saved, unless they say these certain words, and have this very specific belief, that is said to right all of humanity’s wrongs, if and only if you believe it this way (our way). I wonder if people had their own individual experience with God who is love, they might experience someone saying I love you, you are loveable just as your are, I know you passionately, I know you intimately, I have been in all of your experiences, and I love you still. I am your friend, your lover and I adore you; will you love me? God’s resounding voice. I think we would all have different experiences, but I don’t think I would see as many people running from God. I would hope to see more people experiencing God in a very personal way, that no one knows but God. You can keep that locked inside your own heart, where God says he interacts with you. Own and identify your experiences. Don’t let other people create your experiences for you.
I started to think about the experience we go through when we get to know someone, when we get to share in someone’s life. What we go through, all these struggles and hardship. We also go through pure happiness and contentment at times. We only understand relationship as a series of memories or experiences. If we did not remember these experiences we would not know all the intimate things we do about those that are close to us. But how do we do this? How do we become close and know these intimate details? We experience them first hand.
I could go sit by the Mississippi River off of Summit Ave and have a wonderful experience there. I would also have a different experience than anyone else, because I am me. I would have my mind, my imagination, that was created for purpose: to experience these things that are so wonderful to me, the way that I experience them. And it would be different from everyone else’s experience. It would almost make up who I am in existence, since we are living in experience on a moment by moment basis, and time is only record of when something happened. My existence is based only on my experiences. I also started to wonder if the church allows people to experience God the way that they actually want to, or should be able to experience God. Instead our minds, our imaginations are shut off, or shamefully turned off, and we are to follow the guidelines that were set out generations before we existed. Is that beautiful, is that loving, is that truth?
I started to wonder how I would feel if I didn’t actually ever get to experience love, or loving someone, if I didn’t get to choose it? I wondered what it would be like if someone just described why I love someone, why I would choose to marry this person, but I had no experience with them. I wouldn’t actually love them or know them, or have any truth about who they are, because I haven’t experienced them. I haven’t actually lived in reality with them. I have just been told with words what they are like, who they are, why I love them, why I will be faithful to them, why I should trust them, why I should believe they are real. As a human being designed to live in experience, designed to not just be told I am excited, or I am joyful, or I am sad, or I am in love. I was designed with the ability to experience this first hand, in whatever way possible. I am designed with this imagination to understand what is real, how I experience it.
I think we can experience that we are freed by Gods love for us, and we can’t experience that the same as everyone else, with the same words being repeated to us; we have to experience that separately, as individuals. We have to be able to understand ourselves as God made us, instead of listening to everyone around us tell us that its wrong, this is how you experience God. It would be like going to an art museum that you are so excited about, and there are so many different styles of art, and it can all be beautiful. But when you get there, you learn that there is only going to be one artist being displayed, and it isn’t the one you identify with, or like at all, but you have to say its beautiful in order to go into the art museum. I think many of us would just leave, or might go in and experience something less than we expected, or experience something the opposite of beautiful.
I wonder how arranged marriages, or any marriage if you don’t know the person, really work. I mean, you know nothing of this person, you have no joy or happiness experienced with this person, you have no interaction, and you don’t know if they love you exactly how you are, but you don’t experience that, so ultimately you don’t really know it, or enough to trust it. Love becomes a concept, or mechanism. You can describe it with words, what it should be, or what it should look like, but you don’t actually experience love. You have to come and say all of these vows that are so intimate and passionate, but could you possibly mean it if you have never experienced this person.
I wonder if a lot of people run from the image they have of God because they are told they are awful, disgusting, bad, and not saved, unless they say these certain words, and have this very specific belief, that is said to right all of humanity’s wrongs, if and only if you believe it this way (our way). I wonder if people had their own individual experience with God who is love, they might experience someone saying I love you, you are loveable just as your are, I know you passionately, I know you intimately, I have been in all of your experiences, and I love you still. I am your friend, your lover and I adore you; will you love me? God’s resounding voice. I think we would all have different experiences, but I don’t think I would see as many people running from God. I would hope to see more people experiencing God in a very personal way, that no one knows but God. You can keep that locked inside your own heart, where God says he interacts with you. Own and identify your experiences. Don’t let other people create your experiences for you.
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