We…plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. —2 Corinthians 6:1
The grace you had yesterday will not be sufficient for today. Grace is the overflowing favor of God, and you can always count on it being available to draw upon as needed. “…in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses”— that is where our patience is tested (2 Corinthians 6:4). Are you failing to rely on the grace of God there? Are you saying to yourself, “Oh well, I won’t count this time”? It is not a question of praying and asking God to help you— it is taking the grace of God now. We tend to make prayer the preparation for our service, yet it is never that in the Bible. Prayer is the practice of drawing on the grace of God. Don’t say, “I will endure this until I can get away and pray.” Pray now — draw on the grace of God in your moment of need. Prayer is the most normal and useful thing; it is not simply a reflex action of your devotion to God. We are very slow to learn to draw on God’s grace through prayer.
“…in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors…” (2 Corinthians 6:5)— in all these things, display in your life a drawing on the grace of God, which will show evidence to yourself and to others that you are a miracle of His. Draw on His grace now, not later. The primary word in the spiritual vocabulary is now. Let circumstances take you where they will, but keep drawing on the grace of God in whatever condition you may find yourself. One of the greatest proofs that you are drawing on the grace of God is that you can be totally humiliated before others without displaying even the slightest trace of anything but His grace.
“…having nothing….” Never hold anything in reserve. Pour yourself out, giving the best that you have, and always be poor. Never be diplomatic and careful with the treasure God gives you. “…and yet possessing all things”— this is poverty triumphant (2 Corinthians 6:10).
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Journal DJR
Good morning Lord, I’ve been traveling for the last few weeks and have missed many days here with you and JD. I’m almost home and look forward to getting more regular in our times together. One thing that JD and I have discussed often and more regularly over the last year is our regular differences with the daily selection from Oswald Chambers. Usually the selection is a mixed bag…. some of it we agree with, some of it we take issue with, and see differently. It’s been good for us to think about what you are saying to us and what we really believe for ourselves. This year, we have also each day looked at Richard Rohr’s daily meditation. The juxtaposition of the two writers has been interesting and an exercise in “iron sharpening iron.” The last line in Chambers’ devotional today, for example, fits with Rohr’s Franciscan theology like a hand in a glove. Other points, not so much.
One of the things that we have been learning is not to polarize, but rather to look for truth in all perspectives and suspect that a “third path” will open up somewhere different than at the polarized ends of any spectrum. How great would it be if our politicians could learn this! In my travels, I met with some old friends who reminded me how we had worked together to free people from addiction by identifying and helping them dismantle one of the root causes…. “Imperative Thinking” This all or nothing, black and white, right or wrong, approach is what keeps addicts coming back to their addiction… as well as what keeps our politics so divisive. Over the years, Imperative Thinking is one of the things you have been removing from JD’s and my lives… and that’s still a work in process. Which brings me to today’s thinking on what to include in our CO2MannaToday output. Chambers ALWAYS has some nuggets of truth … but also, we are seeing so much Imperative Thinking, with “Guilt Hooks” and Sin Management, that I no longer want to put it out without comment or “counterpoint” Today, I’m including both devotionals. Perhaps that’s too much, too long. Or maybe our readers will enjoy seeing them both and joining us in the “iron sharpening iron” that we experience by daily comparing the voices… and finding our own that you are speaking to us.
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So here is today’s devotional from Richard Rohr. and here is a link which takes you to his site. The 8 minute introductory video is helpful. If you like it, feel free to sign up to have his daily devotionals come in your email. http://email.cac.org/t/d-l-kiudft-ulluljtiy-i/
Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation Monday, June 26, 2017
The words action and contemplation have become classic Christian terminology for the two dancing polarities of our lives. Thomas Aquinas and many others stated that the highest form of spiritual maturity is not action or contemplation, but the ability to integrate the two into one life stance—to be service-oriented contemplatives or contemplative activists. By temperament we all tend to come at it from one side or the other.
This full integration doesn’t happen without a lot of mistakes and practice and prayer. And invariably, as you go through life, you swing on a pendulum back and forth between the two. During one period you may be more active or more contemplative than at another time.
I have commonly noticed a tendency to call any kind of inner work contemplation, and this concerns me. Inner work might lead you to a contemplative stance, but not necessarily. We shouldn’t confuse various kinds of inner work, insight-gathering, or introspection with contemplative spirituality. Contemplation is about letting go of the false much more than just collecting the new, the therapeutic, or the helpful. In other words, if you and your personal growth are still the focus, I do not think you are yet a contemplative—which demands that you shed yourself as the central reference point. Jesus said, “Unless the single grain of wheat dies, it remains just a single grain,” and it will not bear much fruit (John 12:24).
We must guard against our “innerness” becoming disguised narcissism, navel-gazing, and overly self-serving. I am afraid this is not uncommon in the religious world. An exalted self-image of “I am a spiritual person” is far too appealing to the ego. Thomas Merton warned against confusing an introverted personality with being a contemplative. They are two different things.
Having said that, I’ll point out the other side of the problem. Too much activism without enough inner work, insight, or examination of conscience inevitably leads to violence—to the self, to the project at hand, and invariably to others. If too much inner focus risks narcissism and individualism, I guess too much outer focus risks superficiality, negativity passing for love of justice, and various Messiah complexes. You can lack love on the Right and you can lack love on the Left—they just wear two different disguises.
We need both inner communion and outer service to be “Jesus” in the world! The job of religion is to help people act effectively and compassionately from an inner centeredness and connection with God.
Gateway to Silence:
Be still and still moving.
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