Relearning yet again: Lessons on Faith

I've posted this in Jun 2007 one year ago; and I've realized that I'm still learning to live by faith, so I've reproduced this below again.


I realized that there on some things on the way of Christ that you'll relearn again and again. It is the doing again of the simple things that characterize faith and builds into your character. I've quoted Buechner again below on his poetic definition of Faith.

"Faith is homesickness. Faith is a lump in the throat. Faith is less a position on than a movement towards, less a sure thing than a hunch. Faith is waiting. Faith is journeying through space and time.

So if someone (and this frequently happens) were to come up and ask me to talk about my faith, it's exactly that journey through space and time I'd have to talk about. The ups and downs of the years, the dreams, the odd moment, the intuitions. I'd have to talk about the occasional sense I have that life isn't just a series of events causing other events as haphazardly as a break shot in pool causes billard balls to go off in many directions, but that life has a plot the way a novel has a plot - that events are somehow leading somewhere.

- Frederick Buechner, Going on Faith"

Lord grant me the grace and strength for each new day, as I, in the face of my many weaknesses, respond once again to follow hard after you on this journey through time and space. Help me to believe that events are somehow leading somewhere.

Ollie
Jul 2008

Seeing and Savouring Jesus Christ

"Seeing and Savouring Jesus Christ. When we see Jesus for who he really is, we savour him. That is, we delight in him as true and beautiful and satisfying. That is my goal, because two things flow from such an experience of Jesus Christ: He is honoured, and we are freed by joy to walk the narrow way of love. Christ is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. And when we are satisfied in him, we are crucified to the world. In this way, seeing and savouring Jesus will multiply the mirrors of his presence in the world. As the apostle Paul said, "We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." 2 Corinthians 3:18 (RSV). Beholding is becoming. Seeing Christ saves and sanctifies." - John Piper in "Seeing and Savouring Jesus Christ"


John Piper says it so well - beholding is becoming; seeing Christ saves and sanctifies. In our process of growth, it appears from 2 Corinthians 3:18, that the key is to behold Jesus - knowing Jesus for who he really is. And to do this, we need to look and gaze at God's Word - the bible which is God's special revelation. The Old Testament points to the promise of Christ; the Gospels gives the account of Christ; the Epistles and Letters explains Christ; and Revelation shows Christ victorious. All of scripture testifies of Jesus. We can behold Jesus primarily from the bible. So that by beholding we are becoming like Christ; and seeing Christ we are saved and are continuously being sanctified.


Ollie
Jul 2008