I made coffee on my desk this morning. “So what?” you may ask. No, no, no. You misunderstand. I made coffee ON my desk this morning. On the desk, and all over the desk, running off the edges of the desk, down the front, thoroughly soaking the carpet. In my morning stupor, I mindlessly performed all the habitual tasks I do every morning when I arrive at the office. Dump the used filter and coffee grounds from the previous day, drop a new filter in the basket, six scoops of coffee, fill the back-end with water, shut the lid, and hit the power button.
A short time later, as I worked through the tedious tasks on my task list, I heard the distinct sound of little spashes behind me as the coffee filled and overflowed the basket, since there was no pot underneath to allow the water to flow out the basket’s bottom. This morning ritual has been performed flawlessly for years, so much so that I perform it as though on auto-pilot. But this morning’s robotic coffee making task included the fatal flaw of not putting the pot under the basket. As I soaked up the liquid from my desktop and brushed the soggy coffee grounds into the wastebasket, I pondered how easy it is to put our walk with Christ on auto-pilot, mindlessly engaging each day as it rolls toward us.
When asked what the greatest commandment is, Jesus responded that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Loving God with my mind is an intensely active exercise. The Bereans in Acts 17 were commended because while receiving the Word of God eagerly, they also searched the Scriptures daily to confirm the truth of the things they were being told. Far from passive acceptance, the Bereans actively engaged their faith through a thorough search of the Word of God.
If your faith auto-pilot is engaged, turn that beast off and actively pursue God with your mind. You’ll never fully wrap your mind around God, but the pursuit, and the attempt to do so can be powerfully rewarding!
Victoriously in Christ!
– damon
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This is wonderful!
What can you do? Step back & step by step clean it up and start over.
I read this reflection on Faith this evening and thought I would post it here – would be curious to hear your thoughts on it if you care to share
“Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.” (Rom 10:17)
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“You must see it to believe it.” So the saying goes. Saint Paul had a different idea: “Faith comes from what is heard.” Faith is in the ears, not the eyes; it is best had at second-hand, not by personal witnesses. The Fourth Gospel says that, upon entering the empty tomb, the Beloved Disciple at once “saw and believed” – but the risen Lord also says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
The nature of faith explains this. “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen” (Heb 11:1). What do we ultimately believe in? Things not seen. John found faith in the evidence of his unseen hope, a hint of Jesus’ still hidden Resurrection. What did Thomas himself believe as he put his finger in the wounds? Not the flesh he touched. He accepted Jesus’ unseen divinity: “My Lord and my God.”
God is spirit. He dwells in unapproachable light. Hearing excels all senses because it comes nearest to the nature of God. Words are the wavelength of the mind, of intelligence and speech, and the greatest depth of self-disclosure. Christ came in 3-D Technicolor, but his true flesh talks to the soul. Faith is supernatural hearing, for it attunes us to the eternal Word who visibly speaks his Father’s glory.
Thank you for sharing that Julie. I have a chapter in the upcoming book titled Faith Comes by Hearing, based on Paul’s statement to the Romans.
I remember years ago listening to a missionary to the Soviet Union talk about his work. Someone in the audience asked him how you do outreach to a society that doesn’t believe in the Bible as the Word of God. He said, “It’s simple. You preach the Word.” The querist objected saying, “No, no, you misunderstood me. I’m talking about those people who don’t belieeeeeeeeeve the Bible.” He held his ground and said, “No, I understood perfectly, and you preach the Word.”
That’s what we have to do!! We all too often get caught up in the mental gymnastics of Christian apologetics as though we have to defend, and respond to every petty attack, and get caught up in this cause or that cause. People, we need to preach the WORD!!
That’s simple.
I now yield the soapbox to whomever wishes to mount it.