Chesterton, Orthodoxy - - Memory

From Orthodoxy, by G. K. Chesterton, Chapter 4 ~~~~


     We have all read in scientific books, and indeed in romances, the story of the man who has forgotten his name.

     This man walks about the streets and can see and appreciate everything, only he cannot remember who he is.

     Well, every man is that man in the story. Every man has forgotten who he is.

      Man can understand the cosmos, but never the ego; the self is more distant than any star. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, but thou shalt not know thyself.

     We are all under the same mental calamity; we have all forgotten our names. We have all forgotten who we really are.

     All that we call common sense and rationality and practicality and positivism only means that for certain dead levels of our life, we forget that we have forgotten.

     All that we call spirit and art and ecstasy only means that for one awful moment we remember that we forgot.

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I get re-reading those last two paragraphs....is there a more perfect description of our life in the 21st century?

C. S. Lewis wrote a lot about this same topic (It was Chesterton's writing that was so instrumental in bringing him to Christ -- actually sometimes it seems to me that they traveled on very similar roads in their spiritual journey -- ). Lewis often referred to that "yearning" and "longing" we all feel that something is missing -- that we are not really at home in the world, because, Lewis, recalls, we were not created or intended for this world! Blaise Pascal calls that emptiness inside a "God-shaped vacuum" that only He can fill. St. Augustine talked about our emptiness and restlessness that only ceases when we find our rest in Him.

At another time Chesterton wrote: We are homesick, even when we are at home.

It happens to us spontaneously...the cry of a bird, egrets circling in the sunlight, a great poem, a fine piece of porcelain, Bach's music, a rainbow, kittens tumbling in the garden, Puccini arias, sunset in the Texas sky  -- all kinds of experiences that awaken within our hearts that intense desire for more (we know deep down that this is not all there is!) -- for an encore -- and even then knowing it is just a glimpse of what we are missing...and what is yet to come!  An intense yearning to have everything put back to its proper place...

Even so come quickly, Lord Jesus!

My Own Coincidence Story!

A few weeks ago I was driving down our street and noticed a man standing in his driveway.  I had seen him a few times and we exchanged waves.

I was thinking I should go back and talk to him about Jesus, but was in somewhat of a hurry and dismissed the thought. After a couple of blocks I felt compelled to go back and talk to him! To not do so would be disobedience to the promptings of God's Spirit, so I turned around and went back.

He was still there. I drove in the driveway and opened the car window. He handed me his phone -- I saw on the screen the name and address of a local doctor and wondered if he needed a ride -- I asked him, but he didn't speak English! I questioned God -- "Why did You direct me here? Why did You bring me to someone I can't talk to?"

At that moment the front door opened and a young woman ran out and came toward me, "Are you Uber?" she asked. I said, "No." She asked, "Then why are you here?"

I didn't know what to say, but I have learned that when I don't know what to way, just telling the truth is a good idea. So I said "God sent me."

By this time she was just a few inches away -- her eyes brimmed bright with tears. She began sobbing. "Oh, I need to get back to God! I need to get back to God! He sent you here to help me! I need to get back to God!"

There was a sound behind me. Uber had arrived and the man got in that car.

She got in my car. We were both sobbing, and then laughing! I grabbed my Bible (and tissues) and talked to her about Jesus! She knew some things and now she is my sister in Christ and she has come back to God!

A coincidence? Or a God-appointment?

The dictionary defines coincidence as "A remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection."

What about never using that word ever again and just saying "God appointment" instead?

We All Need Grace

 .......We All Need Grace

I'm reading again what we call "The Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 5-7). It still mystifies me. It seems so unyielding and so unchangeable.  There is comfort, too, but the main message seems to be about our failures.

But these words from Philip Yancey in "The Jesus I Never Knew" have really helped:

     "Thunderously, unarguably, The Sermon on the Mount proves that  before God we all stand on level ground: murderers and temper-throwers,  adulterers and lusters, thieves and coveters.

     We are all desperate, and that is in fact the only state appropriate to a human being who wants to know God.

     Having fallen from the absolute ideal, we have nowhere to land  but in the safety net  of divine grace."

The "safety net of Divine Grace" --  that's where we must land --

"Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and 

grace my fear relieved".....

and that's the grace that 'will bring us home'!

The bad news  is that nothing can save us but God's grace, and the good news is that God has given us His grace!

I remember an old saying about Home: Home is where when you go there they have to take you in.

We stand before God clothed in Christs' righteousness....and so heaven will take us in! The Gatekeeper will recognize us!

Coincidences?

Ever ask your friends to pray with you about something really specific and the prayer was answered, but one of your friends declared, "I think it was just a coincidence!"

Well, that has happened to me.  And I think, 'Well, he just doesn't know God my Father who loves me and listens to me! After all, He is my Father!'

Here's how Corrie ten Boom responded once: "All I know is when I pray, coincidences happen! When I don't pray, they don't happen"

Good answer!

Bible scholars tell me that the Hebrew language has no such word for "coincidence." That concept is not imaginable to them! There is no such word as a coincidence -- because there is no such event! They call this occasion, "God appointments" or "divine appointments."

I like that!

In Acts 8 w read about a God-appointment for Philip the evangelist. He is preaching to crowds in Samaria. Then an angel appeared and instructed him to leave and travel south to the desert road. Then the angel directed him to a chariot, where an important Ethiopian government official was sitting, reading the scroll of Isaiah. He needed some help understanding what he was reading. Philip obeyed God's appointment and showed him what it meant and how it related to Jesus  -- it was not a coincidence that he appeared,  and neither was the water they passed when the man asked if he could be baptized!

And in John 4 we read about Jesus leaving Judea and returning to Galilee. He  decided to go the short route through Samaria -- a really strange route for a Jew! Why did He  go that way? Because He had a God-appointment there at Jacob's well with a woman at noon...maybe she thought His being there was just a coincidence!

God is at work in your life right now preparing people for you to talk to, and preparing you to deliver His gospel message!  Bringing you together is not a coincidence -- it is a divine appointment! A God-appointment!

Be alert! Pay attention! Pray each morning for open eyes!

Peter understood. He tells us in 1 Peter 3:15 -- "In your heart revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope you have."

Always be ready to explain the miracle that happened in your heart - with gentleness, respect and humility!

Always be ready for those "coincidences!"

In the Presence of God - C S Lewis

Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good--above all, that we are better than someone else--I think we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil.

The real test of being in the presence of God is that you either forget about yourself altogether, or see yourself as a small, dirty object.

It is better to forget about yourself altogether.



C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity