Midweek Meditations…penned after a brief hiatus by Joseph B. Ostrander
“The fawning etiquette of unctuous prayer (attempting to charm or convince somebody in an unpleasantly suave, smug, or smooth way) is utterly foreign to the Bible. Biblical prayer is impertinent, persistent, shameless, indecorous. It is more like haggling in an oriental bazaar than the polite monologues of the churches.” ~Fresno Pacific Seminary Professor
At the most recent nitty-gritty Sandbox session on Friday, May 26th, Chris encouraged the participants to ‘dig deeper’ into the concept of Living Loved...
But what does that look like for the average Coastlands saint, myself included? Do we actually feel ‘loved’ by this God that is portrayed in the ‘love’ epistle of the New Testament, First John, and act like we actually believe it?
It’s easy to express a jaunty bit of confidence in the theoretical theological notion of the incredibly expansive and expressive element of divine love when the circumstances of our lives seem to be, well, ‘rosy’…
And I must confess, I’m at a very good place…
Not a perfect place by any stretch of the imagination; not a life devoid of entropy, limitations, financial challenges, relational challenges, etc., but a good place nonetheless…
I’m employed fulltime now in a vocational field that I’m very passionate about: the wine industry. I just celebrated my eldest son’s engagement party (I was the bartender), where the pending bride and groom brought together their divorced family members from both sides, as well as other friends. Yeah. I feel there was some spiritual mojo at work during the event where evidence, however slight, of healing and blessing were detectable (I was included in this phenomena).
There are other blessings I’ve enjoyed that add to that proverbial ‘rosy’ outlook sometimes attributed to the brilliant garnet hue of a fine Rhone style GSM blend, but all kidding aside, life for me is good. And this goodness (blessedness) is not something that I’ve earned, or even deserved. I do feel, however, that it is a way God lavishes this elusive element of divine love upon His saints simply because we are truly loved…
{sigh}
During the Sandbox discussions, I somewhat ‘boldly’ exclaimed that God wants to bestow upon us the blessings of the ‘whole enchilada’ pertaining to life and godliness. Yeah. God wants to slather us (1John 3:1) in divine verde or roja sauce simply because He loves us deeply. But I think my reference to the whole enchilada was limited: He also wants to serve up all the sides; rice and beans; chips and salsa; flan for dessert; and also toss in a few cervezas too! Heck, it could be there is a divine Mexican smorgasbord provided for us here during our earthly sojourn that we only get a whiff of now-and-then, but the enticing aromas stimulate the senses and get us salivating for the Wedding Supper of the Lamb (1Peter 2:2-3 and Revelation 19:9). What a divine bacchanalia that will be!
And so dear saints I will leave you with this encouragement from the Apostle Paul in his letter to the church of Ephesus: “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” ~Ephesians 3:17-19
Think about it…
Amen.