Hanging On or Letting Go?

I am re-reading Perelandra, by C. S. Lewis, one of my favorite ways of beginning the new year.


This is what I am looking at now: God sends His goodness to us in packages, or in waves, that just keep coming and keep coming.  But if we try to cling to one too long or too hard, we might miss the next one coming our way.

The idea is too plunge ourselves into the wave of blessings He sends. To plunge in with our whole hearts and souls and minds. And then open our hands and hearts for the next one... It will be even better.

Here is part of that thought in the Lady's words:

"I thought," she said, "that I was carried in the will of Him I love, but now I see that I walk with it.   I thought that the good things He sent me drew me into them as the waves lift the islands; but now I see that it is I who plunge into them with my own legs and arms, as when we go swimming...It is a delight with terror in it! One's own self to be walking from one good to another, walking beside Him as Himself may walk...I thought we went along paths--but it seems there are no paths. The going itself is the path."

The conversation goes further and she speaks about grasping or clinging to one wave and when she does that she can't meet the next wave and then misses it.

It reminds me that so much of life is learning to take God's gifts with a light hold - grab them and treasure them, and then let them go as He gives us new gifts. Perhaps pass them on, but not to grasp and hoard them.

So much of life is letting go....releasing our hold on people, pets, homes, dreams.....just learning to let go and take the next gift, because there will always be another coming at us.

Sometimes we can't take hold of a new dream unless we let go of the one we are attached - like a balloon -- let it rise and float away -- treasure its memory and watch it leave our hands - then grab the next -

We have lost a number of precious people in our church this year. But God has brought others in for us to love and cherish. We don't ever forget the ones who are no longer with us. We just learn to live
with their memory and thank God with grateful hearts for their time with us --  and then reach out to embrace new ones He brings us.

We must learn to hold God's gifts, not tightly and tenaciously, but with open hands.

Open your heart for the gift I am bringing says the song.

2 Kings 2 gives us the story of Elijah getting ready to leave Elisha, and, in fact, to leave his ministry and this earth. Elisha knows what is going to happen, but he refuses to leave Elijah.

Elijah tells him to "Stay here." Elisha says, "as surely as you live and the LORD lives, I will not leave you."

When Elisha is told, "Do you know that the LORD is going to take your master from you today?" he replies, "Yes, I know. But do not speak of it."

"As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.....and Elisha saw him no more."

"...separated the two of them...."

Elisha tried to hold on to Elijah. When he couldn't, he tore his clothes and then picked up Elijah's cloak that had fallen.

He went to the bank of the Jordan, took the cloak and struck the water with it. "Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.

The company watching said, "The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha."

But even they would not let go. The verses tell us they decided to go looking for Elijah. Elisha told them not to go. But they went anyway. Fifty men spent 3 days searching for Elijah.

When they returned without finding Elijah, Elisha said, "Didn't I tell you not to go?"

Elisha had finally learned that it was time to let go. 

(I just love those words, "Didn't I tell you..?" They remind me of my father so many times telling me something, I argued, went my own way, failed, and then he said "Glorya, didn't I tell you...?" As I remember it, it was always spoken in love, maybe some exasperation, but always in love.)

Much of life, I am finding out, is learning to let go.

Back to Genesis - What did Abraham Do?

"Abraham is our father," they answered.

"If you were Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did."

   -- John 8:39


So what did Abraham do?

That's easy. Look back to his story recorded in the Old Testament in the book of Genesis.

     Abram believed the LORD, and he credited to him as

          righteousness.  Genesis 15:6

Abram believed God. That faith made him righteous in the eyes of God.


Then over in the New Testament, 2000 years later, Paul reminds us: Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. (Romans 4:3)


Abraham was given the free gift of righteousness because of his faith.

And Paul tells us in is letter to the church at Ephesus:

 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8

So how was Abraham saved? Through faith (trust) in God's promises.

[By faith Noah...by faith Moses...by faith Jacob...by faith Joseph...by faith Rahab....read about all of these people of faith in Hebrews 11, in the New Testament.]

And how was Paul and the Ephesians saved? By faith in God's promises.

And how are we saved?

The same way -- through trust in God -- faith that He will keep His promises.

The Bible is all one story - from Genesis to Revelation - man comes back, restored to a relationship with God, through faith.

One story, and every page whispers the story of divine grace.

Every page whispers the miracle of Jesus!

No matter when we live our lives in this epic of mankind's history, we are still saved through faith.

Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ...and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world.

But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

For He Himself is our peace...

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household.

Ephesians 2:12-19

Who Did Jesus come to Save? Kenneth Bailey

Some thoughts from Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes, by Kenneth Bailey ~~~


In Matthew 1:20-21 Joseph is told,

"Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

In Hebrew or Aramaic these words provide a word play that is lost in Greek and English. "Jesus" in Hebrew is Yesua and the verb "to save" is yasa.

If Hebrew and English are combined in a single sentence, it can be translated, "His name will be called Yesua for he will yasa his people."

[He will be called Savior, because he will save his people.]

During Jesus' time the Jewish community in the Holy Land was occupied and oppressed by the Romans. Before the Romans, the country had been ruled by the Greeks, and before that by the Persians.

At the time of Jesus much of the land was owned by foreigners who controlled large estates. Local farmers were obliged to rent land and were often treated unfairly.

In a situation of political and economic oppression people naturally want salvation, but from what? The salvation they seek is deliverance from their oppressors.

...In a situation of oppression it takes enormous courage to tell the oppressed community that all are sinners and all must repent, for everyone is in need of grace for salvation.

The angel affirms this theology to Joseph before Jesus is born by announcing, "and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins" (Their primary problem is their sin -- the Roman occupation is an important concern, but it is secondary.)




In Zechariah's prayer praising God for the promised birth of John the Baptizer, he says  (Luke 1:68-77)


     Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
     for he has visited and redeemed his people...
     that we should be saved from our enemies,
     and from the hand of all who hate us...

     For you will go before the Lord to prepare his
     way, to give knowledge of salvation to his
     people in the forgiveness of sins.


Suddenly the tables are turned. Now the community's problem is not merely "those who hate us," but that they are declared to be in need of deliverance from their own sins.

The oppressed are also sinners! A Savior for sinners is a Savior for all, because all are sinners.

This perspective is present as early as Ecclesiastes 4:1 which reads:


     Again I saw all the oppressions that are practiced
     under the sun. And behold, the tears of the
     oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them!
     On the side of their oppressors there was power,
     and there was no one to comfort them.


In such a text both the oppressors and the oppressed are trapped in prisons from which they cannot escape.

Each needs grace from outside the prison.

The text in Luke speaks of salvation from "our enemies" and of the bigger problem -- the internal problem of "our sins."

It Doesn't Seem Possible!

 

Thoughts from C S Lewis about our meeting the Sovereign God of the Universe:

   "In the end that Face which is the delight or the terror of the universe, must be turned upon  each of us either with one expression or with the other, either conferring glory or inflicting shame that can never be cured or disguised. 

   It is written that we shall 'stand before' Him, shall appear, shall be inspected...almost incredible that any of us who really chooses shall actually survive that examination, shall find approval, shall  please God.

   To please God...to be a real ingredient in the Divine Happiness, to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work, or as a parent in his child - it seems impossible...our thoughts can hardly sustain it...but so it is."   -- From The Weight of Glory

To please God - to make Him happy - can we actually do that?

To be an 'ingredient in the Divine Happiness'....?

No, it doesn't seem possible......

BUT....Here we read....

"The LORD delights in those who fear Him, who put their trust in His unfailing love." (Psalm 147:11)

"Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise -- the fruit of lips that openly profess His name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such  sacrifices God is pleased." (Hebrews 13:15-16)

"We ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way..........." (Col 1:10)

For I am being poured out like a drink offering, and the time of my departure is near.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award me on that day -- and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing." (2 Tim 4:6-8)

Looks like we can, in fact, please Him!

Am I My Brother's Keeper -- Chuck Colson

Stories that come out of Chuck Colson's Prison Fellowship Ministry fill me with quiet, awe-ful joy.



This incident, whether you have heard it before or not, will do the same for you.

Colson relates it this way: He had been conducting a seminar in the Indiana State Prison just a few weeks after a man had been electrocuted. As soon as the seminar was finished, Colson, impatient to get away to keep a commitment to meet with the governor, urged his party of volunteers to hurry and join him on the plane that was waiting on the runway to take him to his important appointment.

One volunteer lingered, speaking to a prisoner who had, as Colson knew, just become a Christian recently.

"Let's go," Colson urged. "It is late."

The volunteer said, "Just a minute, please."

"No," Colson answered in an impatient tone, "Time's up. We must get going."

The volunteer replied, "Please, please, this is very important. You see, I am Judge Clement. I sentenced this man to die. But now he is born again. He is my brother, and we want a minute to pray together."


Colson tells now how he stood frozen in place. Before him stood two men -- one black and one white. One powerful and one powerless. One condemned to die and the other the judge who pronounced that sentence. Yet they stood next to each other, grasping a Bible together, united in prayer as one Christian brother with another.


Is there any force in the world more powerful than the ministry of the Holy Spirit?