For months I've had this thought running around my brain, and I've been waiting for some cute and poetic way to say it...but I'll just ramble a bit to help myself find a succinct way to communicate in the future...
Why do we so frequently separate any emphasis on knowing that we are loved by our Creator and finding our value and security in Jesus from any emphasis on integrating our beliefs with daily life, or apprenticeship to Jesus? It's like we always think we can only have one or the other, so we pick one and roll with it and become suspicious of the other. Is it because most of us only read Jesus or Paul, one or the other, and even then focus on one aspect of the teaching? Is it because we are always reacting to our past and the ineptitude of our previous teachers and leaders to adequately focus on a holistic Gospel message? Does it have something to do with our personality types, our family backgrounds, etc.?
Perhaps I'm feeling it today because of all the people I intimately know who desperately need to feel that they are loved and cared for and special in the eyes of God, no matter what their previous mistakes. These same people also desperately need to find way to integrate their spiritual beliefs into a way of life. The more I ponder it I believe this applies to all of us.
Shouldn't the one drive the other? Knowing we are loved driving our daily practices? When does this break down?
It does seem that one major avenue of intersection is silence and solitude. When we pause to hear the voice of God and rest in the embrace of the Father, we are following the example of Jesus, and we at least give ourselves a chance of hearing the loving voice of God.
So, if an angel would just appear at the house today and watch the kids for the next few days, I'd love to take a silent retreat with my wife...
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