Question: Do you experience Jesus most closely through the physical world or in spite of it?
This is a question I’m pondering a lot these days.
This quarter at church, my husband and I are sitting in an elective class taught by Merle Herr, on business and finance and so much more. Merle believes that God gave us the physical world as a link to Himself (a reminder of Himself, a magnet toward Himself), much in the same way that a man sends his sweetheart flowers, cards, and chocolates in his absence.
So I wonder if this rings true for you. Do you experience Jesus in physical stuff?
I really have found this to be true in my life.
I agree with Merle. And then so often we get hooked on the flowers, the cards, the chocolates… and forget the Lover. Oh Lord.
I experience Jesus through His Word and answers to prayer. But I probably experience Him all the MORE when I am wrestling with Him in unanswered prayers, passages of Scripture that remain unclear and difficult to discern what He meant, when I am wrestling with His timing (which contrasts too often exceedingly much with mine!). Through these kinds of time, I end up experiencing Him in a deeper way, trusting Him in spite of the lack of insight! ~Roxanne
That’s great. But I also think you experience Jesus as you sit around a table sharing coffee and pastries with friends. What would Coffee Talks be without coffee?
I think that’s how God meant it to be when he created the world. But the world is a fallen, wicked, sick place. So while God has given me gifts here to enjoy–often I experience Him as He sustains me through a bad situation, and then as I see how He can redeem situations. So while this world offers things that I cannot and should not enjoy, I still experience God through the things that remain pure and good, and those things He redeems.
Question: Do you experience a friend/lover more closely thru the gifts they give you or thru their presence? God is not distant. You do not need to experience God THRU anything. You can experience God thru God Himself: The Holy Spirit.
Thank God for the incredible blessings he provides, but never use them as a crutch to love Him. They can be ripped from beneath you in an instant, leaving you crippled. Put your faith and trust in the presence of God.
And God forbid that you use Christ as a crutch to love your riches.
@ The Boss: “What would Coffee Talks be without the coffee?” What is the parallel question? What would God be without his creation?
Thanks for the caution, Davey. I hear your concern. But, no, the parallel question is, what would Christ be without the Incarnation?
I too thank you, Davey.
Just for the sake of clarity, I’d like to note that I’m not talking yet about “our riches.” I’m talking about His… the earthy things He gives lavishly to all, that no one can ever completely take away, even from the Helen Kellers and Corrie ten Booms of the world.
Seems to me that if we carry God Himself around inside us, then we taste His savor not in nothing physical, but in everything – just as experiencing a sunset with a lover is 100x better than experiencing it alone.
All the worlds that we see
Are only shadows of reality
Like a painting without art
Or a lover with no heart
Eyes are clouded for a time
Senses bound below their prime
By the compromise of man
Numb to life by his own hand
Soon the sky will fall apart
Colors pour from heaven’s heart
Flood the deserts of the earth
To the sound of Yahweh’s mirth