Skip to main content

The Lord Is...

             Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. (Philippians 4:4)

In today’s reading of The Diving Conspiracy, one of the things that Prof. Willard points out is the availability of Jesus during His ministry on Earth. In fact, that was one of the things that irritated people most about Him. He was often so thronged with people that He and His disciples exhausted themselves. They had to find out of the way places to go to rest. People tore roofs off houses to get to Him and He didn’t object. He ministered to tax collectors, prostitutes, other sinners, and non-Jews. He spoke to women – and Samaritan women at that! He healed on the Sabbath.  

People joke about children and pets not being willing to let them go to the bathroom in peace. But when Jesus was dying, He was accessible to a thief who was dying with Him, and He made sure that His mother would be cared for. I mean, really!

But as I read about Jesus being accessible, my instant reaction was negative. As an introvert, the idea of being that accessible is a nightmare. I want to be in control of my accessibility and by extension, I think, I project my own dislike of accessibility onto Jesus. He couldn’t possibly want to be that accessible, and it would be rude of me to take advantage of His accessibility. It’s hard to imagine Him smiling at me as I walk up with my third request, complaint, or question in the last two minutes.

But on the other hand, I find it hard to imagine His being patient enough for me to spend days, or even years to come to Him about something. I can imagine Him looking at His watch and announcing that I’m two years, 35 days, and 14.5 hours late, or just shaking His head without telling me how late I am. Sometimes, I can imagine Him looking at what’s going on in the world and wondering how it is that I can’t see that He has more important things to do than listen to me whine. That’s how I feel about my situations, after all.

There’s the other side of the coin, too. The Lord is near? Near? Now? I’m not ready. The house is a mess. I need to find tiny screws and nuts to fasten my garden dividers together with. And worst of all, my attitude isn’t at its best! Can I turn off the lights and maybe He’ll come back when things aren’t quite so unready?  Except, we both know that things will never be ready.

At the same time, it’s not as though I never speak to God about anything. I pray about lots of things at random moments through the day but I think I picture it as an e-mail or text – something sent off to God that He’ll get to when He has time.

It’s something I need to work on. It’s a Battle Bible verse, reminding me that my projections are wrong. He is near. He is accessible. I need to learn to be the same. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more