Thoughts – Page 4 – Not Just a Corner

brennan Last Friday a dear mentor-author (who I never met) passed away. Brennan Manning, author of The Ragamuffin Gospel and The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus, often captured the simplest truths of God in ways that often helped me murder my unhealthy opinions of myself and my God and discover what it meant to be loved by the persistent and captivating love of my Abba-Father. Today, we bring you some of his words, in hopes that you too will discover childlike faith and be loved. Simply loved.

There is a wondrous open-mindedness about children and an insatiable desire to learn from life. An open attitude is like an open door – a welcome disposition toward the fellow travelers who knock on our door during the middle of the day, the middle of the week, or the middle of a lifetime. Some are dirtballs, grungy, disheveled, and bedraggled. The sophisticated adult within me shudders and is reluctant to offer them hospitality. They may be carrying the precious gifts under their shabby rags, but I still prefer clean-shaven Christians who are neatly attired, properly pedigreed, and who affirm my vision, echo my thoughts, stroke me, and make me feel good. Yet my inner child protests, “I want new friends, not old mirrors.”

When our inner child is not nurtured and nourished, our minds gradually close to new ideas, unprofitable commitments, and the surprises of the Spirit. Evangelical faith is bartered for cozy, comfortable piety. A failure of nerve and an unwillingness to risk distorts God into a Bookkeeper and the gospel of grace is swapped for the security of religious bondage.

“Unless you become as little children …”

Heaven will be filled with five-year-olds.

– Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel.

To learn more about Brennan’s legacy, read this terrific article.

I got this new phone. It’s one of them “smart phones”. It has everything I want and more; all sorts of great gadgets and apps. (And all I really wanted was a wireless calendar app.) According to my cell provider, I have 30 days to check it out. 30 days to know for sure whether I want to commit to a 24-month relationship with this phone. After 30 days, that’s it. No take backs. No start over. I’m locked in.

I’ve been asking myself, can I commit? I’m pretty sure, but I have my doubts. In fact I’m the type of guy who leaves the plastic protector on the screen, just in case. I even forked out additional money for a hard plastic “shell” to keep my new baby safe…just in case I decide to send it back. Sure, my lack of commitment will keep my phone pristine and virtually new (or new looking) but at some point—probably on day 31—I’ve got to take the plunge.

The metaphor is true too of our spiritual lives (and emotional, physical, mental). What are the things of commitment in your life that you’re struggling to commit to? Is it study habits, plans for study abroad, a degree change, a relationship? Or even more important, is it finally yielding to a trust in our great God? And in that trust, find an assuring peace in a “life in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16-26).

^22-23But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. —The Apostle Paul, Galatians 5:22-23

Not that we have to give God “permission” to infiltrate our minds and draw us in to his plans, but at some point we have to give in. We have to settle our hearts in God’s heart. We have to trust that when we peel off that from-the-factory screen seal, that everything will be safely in his hands. This, I suppose is “life according to the Spirit” – when we find ourselves taking a plunge into the things of God and remaining there with Him.