{"id":16337,"date":"2018-01-05T09:32:01","date_gmt":"2018-01-05T14:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=16337"},"modified":"2018-01-05T09:55:38","modified_gmt":"2018-01-05T14:55:38","slug":"where-is-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=16337","title":{"rendered":"Where Is God?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Introduction: Image and Likeness<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cac.org\/where-is-god-2018-01-05\/\"><strong>Where Is God?<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Friday, January 5, 2018<\/strong><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XFT0zoKQWaM\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nWhen I was on retreat at Thomas Merton\u2019s hermitage at Gethsemani Abbey in 1985, I had a chance encounter that has stayed with me all these years. I was walking down a little trail when I recognized a recluse, what you might call a hermit\u2019s hermit, coming toward me. Not wanting to intrude on his deep silence, I bowed my head and moved to the side of the path, intending to walk past him. But as we neared each other, he said, \u201cRichard!\u201d That surprised me. He was supposed to be silent. How did he know who I was? \u201cRichard, you get chances to preach and I don\u2019t. Tell the people one thing.\u201d Pointing to the sky, he said,\u00a0\u201c<em>God is not \u2018out there\u2019!<\/em>\u201d Then he said, \u201cGod bless you,\u201d and abruptly continued down the path.<\/p>\n<p>The belief that God is \u201cout there\u201d is the basic dualism that is tearing us all apart. Our view of God as separate and distant has harmed our relationships with sexuality, food, possessions, money, animals, nature, politics, and our own incarnate selves. This loss explains why we live such distraught and divided lives. Jesus came to put it all together for us and in us. He was saying, in effect, \u201cTo be human is good! The material and the physical can be trusted and enjoyed. This physical world is the hiding place of God and the revelation place of God!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Far too much of religion has been about defining where God is and where God isn\u2019t, picking and choosing who and what has God\u2019s image and who and what doesn\u2019t. In reality, it\u2019s not up to us. We have no choice in the matter. All are beloved. Everyone\u2014Catholic and Protestant, Christian and Muslim, black and white, gay and straight, able-bodied and disabled, male and female, Republican and Democrat\u2014all are children of God. We are all members of the Body of Christ, made in God\u2019s image, indwelled by the Holy Spirit, whether or not we are aware of this gift.<\/p>\n<p>Can you see the image of Christ in the <em>least <\/em>of your brothers and sisters? This is Jesus\u2019 only description of the final judgment (Matthew 25). But some say, \u201cThey smell. They\u2019re a nuisance. They\u2019re on welfare. They are a drain on our tax money.\u201d Can we see Christ in all people, even the so-called \u201cnobodies\u201d who can\u2019t or won\u2019t play our game of success? When we can see the image of God where we don\u2019t want to see the image of God, then we see with eyes not our own.<\/p>\n<p>Jesus says we have to love and recognize the divine image even in our enemies. <em>Either we see the divine image in all created things, or we don\u2019t see it at all.<\/em> Once we see God\u2019s image in one place, the circle keeps widening. It doesn\u2019t stop with human beings and enemies and the least of our brothers and sisters. It moves to frogs and pansies and weeds. <em>Everything<\/em> becomes enchanting with true sight. We cannot <em>not<\/em> live in the presence of God. We are totally surrounded and infused by God. All we can do is allow, trust, and finally rest in it, which is indeed why we are \u201csaved\u201d by faith\u2014faith that this could be true.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gateway to Presence:<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>If you want to go deeper with today\u2019s meditation, take note of what word or phrase stands out to you.\u00a0Come back to that word or phrase\u00a0throughout the day, being present to its impact and invitation.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>_____________________________________________<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Life of Power to Follow<\/strong><br \/>\nBy Oswald Chambers<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jesus answered him, &#8220;Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward.&#8221; \u2014John 13:36<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd when He had spoken this, He said to him, \u2018Follow Me\u2019 \u201d (John 21:19). Three years earlier Jesus had said, \u201cFollow Me\u201d (Matthew 4:19), and Peter followed with no hesitation. The irresistible attraction of Jesus was upon him and he did not need the Holy Spirit to help him do it. Later he came to the place where he denied Jesus, and his heart broke. Then he received the Holy Spirit and Jesus said again, \u201cFollow Me\u201d (John 21:19). Now no one is in front of Peter except the Lord Jesus Christ. The first \u201cFollow Me\u201d was nothing mysterious; it was an external following. Jesus is now asking for an internal sacrifice and yielding (see John 21:18).<br \/>\nBetween these two times Peter denied Jesus with oaths and curses (see Matthew 26:69-75). But then he came completely to the end of himself and all of his self-sufficiency. There was no part of himself he would ever rely on again. In his state of destitution, he was finally ready to receive all that the risen Lord had for him. \u201c\u2026He breathed on them, and said to them, \u2018Receive the Holy Spirit\u2019 \u201d (John 20:22). No matter what changes God has performed in you, never rely on them. Build only on a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the Spirit He gives.<br \/>\nAll our promises and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to accomplish them. When we come to the end of ourselves, not just mentally but completely, we are able to \u201creceive the Holy Spirit.\u201d \u201cReceive the Holy Spirit\u201d \u2014 the idea is that of invasion. There is now only One who directs the course of your life, the Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction: Image and Likeness Where Is God? Friday, January 5, 2018 When I was on retreat at Thomas Merton\u2019s hermitage at Gethsemani Abbey in 1985, I had a chance encounter that has stayed with me all these years. I was walking down a little trail when I recognized a recluse, what you might call a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16337"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16337"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16341,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16337\/revisions\/16341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}