{"id":16322,"date":"2017-12-29T10:00:33","date_gmt":"2017-12-29T15:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=16322"},"modified":"2017-12-29T10:04:47","modified_gmt":"2017-12-29T15:04:47","slug":"when-things-fall-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=16322","title":{"rendered":"When Things Fall Apart"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IfWaMVh4dZM\" frameborder=\"0\" gesture=\"media\" allow=\"encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\nFriday, December 29, 2017<\/p>\n<p>The word change normally refers to new beginnings. But transformation more often happens not when something new begins but when something old falls apart. The pain of something old falling apart\u2014disruption and chaos\u2014invites the soul to listen at a deeper level. It invites and sometimes forces the soul to go to a new place because the old place is not working anymore. The mystics use many words to describe this chaos: fire, darkness, death, emptiness, abandonment, trial, the Evil One. Whatever it is, it does not feel good and it does not feel like God. We will do anything to keep the old thing from falling apart.<br \/>\nThis is when we need patience, guidance, and the freedom to let go instead of tightening our controls and certitudes. Perhaps Jesus is describing this phenomenon when he says, \u201cIt is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it\u201d (Matthew 7:14). Not accidentally, he mentions this narrow road right after teaching the Golden Rule. Jesus knows how much letting go it takes to \u201ctreat others as you would like them to treat you\u201d (7:12).<br \/>\nTransformation usually includes a disconcerting reorientation. Change can either help people to find a new meaning, or it can cause people to close down and turn bitter. The difference is determined by the quality of our inner life, or what we call \u201cspirituality.\u201d Change of itself just happens; spiritual transformation is an active process of letting go, living in the confusing dark space for a while, and allowing yourself to be spit up on a new and unexpected shore. You can see why Jonah in the belly of the whale is such an important symbol for many Jews and Christians.<br \/>\nIn the moments of insecurity and crisis, \u201cshoulds\u201d and \u201coughts\u201d don\u2019t really help; they just increase the shame, guilt, pressure, and likelihood of backsliding. It\u2019s the deep \u201cyeses\u201d that carry you through. Focusing on something you absolutely believe in, that you\u2019re committed to, will help you wait it out.<br \/>\nLove wins over guilt any day. It is sad that we settle for the short-run effectiveness of shaming people instead of the long-term life benefits of grace-filled transformation. But we are a culture of progress and efficiency, impatient with gradual growth. God\u2019s way of restoring things interiorly is much more patient\u2014and finally more effective. God lets Jonah run in the wrong direction, until this reluctant prophet finds a long, painful, circuitous path to get back where he needs to be\u2014in spite of himself! Looking in your own \u201crear-view mirror\u201d can fill you with gratitude for God\u2019s work in your life.<\/p>\n<p>Gateway to Silence:<\/p>\n<p>You make all things new.<\/p>\n<p>Deserter or Disciple?<\/p>\n<p>By Oswald Chambers<\/p>\n<p>From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. \u2014John 6:66<\/p>\n<p>When God, by His Spirit through His Word, gives you a clear vision of His will, you must \u201cwalk in the light\u201d of that vision (1 John 1:7). Even though your mind and soul may be thrilled by it, if you don\u2019t \u201cwalk in the light\u201d of it you will sink to a level of bondage never envisioned by our Lord. Mentally disobeying the \u201cheavenly vision\u201d (Acts 26:19) will make you a slave to ideas and views that are completely foreign to Jesus Christ. Don\u2019t look at someone else and say, \u201cWell, if he can have those views and prosper, why can\u2019t I?\u201d You have to \u201cwalk in the light\u201d of the vision that has been given to you. Don\u2019t compare yourself with others or judge them\u2014 that is between God and them. When you find that one of your favorite and strongly held views clashes with the \u201cheavenly vision,\u201d do not begin to debate it. If you do, a sense of property and personal right will emerge in you\u2014 things on which Jesus placed no value. He was against these things as being the root of everything foreign to Himself\u2014 \u201c\u2026for one\u2019s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses\u201d (Luke 12:15). If we don\u2019t see and understand this, it is because we are ignoring the underlying principles of our Lord\u2019s teaching.<br \/>\nOur tendency is to lie back and bask in the memory of the wonderful experience we had when God revealed His will to us. But if a New Testament standard is revealed to us by the light of God, and we don\u2019t try to measure up, or even feel inclined to do so, then we begin to backslide. It means your conscience does not respond to the truth. You can never be the same after the unveiling of a truth. That moment marks you as one who either continues on with even more devotion as a disciple of Jesus Christ, or as one who turns to go back as a deserter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Friday, December 29, 2017 The word change normally refers to new beginnings. But transformation more often happens not when something new begins but when something old falls apart. The pain of something old falling apart\u2014disruption and chaos\u2014invites the soul to listen at a deeper level. It invites and sometimes forces the soul to go to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16322"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16322"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16323,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16322\/revisions\/16323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}