Most people have intermittent experiences where they drop down to the heart level. For many, these are primarily triggered by some external event, such as a song, a movie, some personal encounter with someone, or an unusual sunset. Problem is that these are typically experienced as few and far between. We spend most of our time in our heads and too distracted to get down to the level of the heart. God’s spirit can be “talking” but there is no one there to listen. Thus many opportunities to experience life to the fullest and to obey God are missed.
I call this the “waiting for Grace to rain down” approach. We stand there in church with our hands raised singing for this to happen. This is a passive approach. From what I read and have experienced first hand in my own life and watching others in the church, I think there is an underlying philosophy at work that may be flawed. The philosophy goes something like this:
We can do nothing on our own. You cannot earn grace. It is entirely from God.
The best you can do is ask God for grace and wait for Him to decide when he will
“rain it down” on you.
What is wrong with this approach? It sounds right! We hear it most every week from our evangelical pulpits. Aren’t we depraved and God good! We can even come up with bible verses to support this approach.
The problem I have experienced and see all around me in the evangelical church is that this approach doesn’t work very well. After some time, we end up feeling like our spiritual life is dry, have nothing in the tank, and wonder why God is not “showing up.”
There is another approach. This approach, too, has biblical support, as well as support of some of the spiritual giants from across history. It goes something like this:
To perform appropriately in the moment when you're "on the spot" you must be
preparing when you're "off the spot." (quote from Dallas Willard)
This approach is not a passive one. It sees grace as opposed to earning, but not to effort. Effort is action. Earning is attitude. Check out 1 Cor 15:10, from Paul the prophet of grace.
I would contend that without intentionally practicing dropping down into the heart, we will experience heart encounters only infrequently and unpredictably. Not quite living life from the overflow. Not quite rivers of living water flowing from our bellies. Not quite the full and complete joyful life that Jesus told us we could have. Not quite life in the kingdom of heaven now.
When I have MUG times where I practice dropping down into the heart using disciplines such as solitude, silence, prayer, and meditation, I slowly learn how to drop down into the heart. Although hard at first, over time “dropping in” becomes easier and quicker. If I cannot get into the heart at those times, I have little chance of being able to in my every life. Once I start having some success in my intentional MUG times, I find that I am more aware of the stirrings deep in the heart as I move through life. This awareness affects how I experience the moment and, ultimately, what I choose to do.
Get any of this? I think there is an intimate relationship between intentional practice and everyday life. Apparently, so did Jesus. He was as busy as anybody, yet he said that he did and said only what the Father told him to. How was he able to obey the Father “on-the-spot”? Note that periodically, he would go away from the crowds to a solitary place. He was practicing!!! Go find a few of those times in the gospels. How would you describe those times? Give me some specifics.
In what you have written on this blog, it looks like you have been taking the “waiting for Grace to rain down” approach. That is why I asked, in so many words: How is that working for you? If it is; then, hey, “good luck with that.” (a line from the movie Fight Club :) )
If you ask me, I would say, trash that approach and listen to others that have tried the other; look at the gospels and see what Jesus did. Check out Paul, and see what he did. But don’t just take my word for it, ask some other people that you respect what they think. Make up your own mind. Better yet, drop down into your heart and see what you find.
3 comments:
Make no mistake about it, both approaches rely on grace. In one, we are passive, in the other we act, not to do it on our own, but to put ourself in a position for God's grace to do its thing.
Of course, there is also busyness, laziness, and selfishness that can account for our lack of purposeful practicing and doing.
Some want it both ways.
Can you think of someone from the gospels that wanted it both ways, but Jesus set straight? (Hint: See Mat 19:16)
Apparently, we can't having to both ways. Alanis Morissette has a song (Thank You) that hits my heart everytime. One line, I think, captures a truth:
"the moment I let go of it/was the moment I got more than I could handle/the moment I jumped off of it/was the moment I touched down"
Kind of like when Jesus said in Mat 16:25.
We want to hang on to our life AND we want to follow Jesus and experience life in the kingdom now. Can't happen. It is scary to let go, so we hang on. Jesus says: Trust me, let go, life will be better, you will see.
Have you ever read The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis? It is a metaphor about the journey to heaven. In that story, many turn back from the journey because it is initially too painful. You cannot take any part of hell into heaven, so you have to give it all up. This requires a level of trust in the guides that God sends us to accompany us on our journey. They tell us: Come, it will get easier as you go, you will soon forget the pain those things you had to give up.
You thinking about all this, Kurtzy? You know enough about those parts of you that you need to give up?
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