Monday, May 23, 2016
497 - Known Commodity
Spirituality Column No. 497
May 24, 2016
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
“Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.” – Will Rogers
When I think back to my early adulthood and remember some of the truly moronic things I did and believed, it becomes obvious the opportunities for maturity and personal growth were overwhelming.
Without elaborating about various behaviors, please forgive me and just understand that these days I mainly prefer to look forward. Christianity affords all of us with that gracious option, promise and hope. As for random dopey things I believed, I suppose the best that can be said is that they help me today to empathize with those still reluctant to accept the many Godly eternal gifts awaiting our simple acceptance.
But the fact is I have grown and learned, and now possess an extensive “before and after” narrative regarding life outside of faith and new life burgeoning with faith. Yes, I repented and was baptized, but I notice the repentance part never really ends.
It was in my late 40s that Jesus Christ became a personal reality to me. Concurrently, the Bible began to make sense. Church, Bible study and theological understanding became central spiritual and intellectual cravings. A parade of Godly men and women suddenly, unexpectedly, graciously, appeared in my life. Many of you reading this knew or know Russ Blowers, Dave Faust, George Bebawi, John Samples, Jackie Long and of course my wife Pam, whom I met at Russ’s funeral in 2007. Several life-long friends “outed” themselves saying they had been praying for me all along.
Some friends didn’t get it, don’t want it, wish I’d quit talking about it.
We are all familiar with the annoying zeal of an ex-smoker eager to preach the evils of tobacco – confusing overbearance with love, mistaking intrusion with compassion, and very likely infusing new accomplishment with old pride. Similarly, it is a fool’s errand to try to argue faith into an unwilling soul. Love defies logic, Jesus is a mysterious truth, and God’s glory sadly too often remains hidden to blinded eyes.
This all is just a long way to say that God, despite His cosmic enormity and my own decades-long ignorance, has revealed Himself to be a very knowable commodity. Jesus Christ is God’s divine light and truth, and the Holy Spirit animates our souls to embrace that light and truth. Logically but perhaps counterintuitively, part of that truth is that we are free to reject God’s love because love can’t be coerced.
But none of us has to remain ignorant about it.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com), an ex-smoker, prays for light and truth and in his younger days read collections of Will Rogers’ 1920s and 30s newspaper columns. Rogers famously quipped, “I never met a man I didn’t like.”
May 24, 2016
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
Known Commodity
By Bob Walters“Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.” – Will Rogers
When I think back to my early adulthood and remember some of the truly moronic things I did and believed, it becomes obvious the opportunities for maturity and personal growth were overwhelming.
Without elaborating about various behaviors, please forgive me and just understand that these days I mainly prefer to look forward. Christianity affords all of us with that gracious option, promise and hope. As for random dopey things I believed, I suppose the best that can be said is that they help me today to empathize with those still reluctant to accept the many Godly eternal gifts awaiting our simple acceptance.
But the fact is I have grown and learned, and now possess an extensive “before and after” narrative regarding life outside of faith and new life burgeoning with faith. Yes, I repented and was baptized, but I notice the repentance part never really ends.
It was in my late 40s that Jesus Christ became a personal reality to me. Concurrently, the Bible began to make sense. Church, Bible study and theological understanding became central spiritual and intellectual cravings. A parade of Godly men and women suddenly, unexpectedly, graciously, appeared in my life. Many of you reading this knew or know Russ Blowers, Dave Faust, George Bebawi, John Samples, Jackie Long and of course my wife Pam, whom I met at Russ’s funeral in 2007. Several life-long friends “outed” themselves saying they had been praying for me all along.
Some friends didn’t get it, don’t want it, wish I’d quit talking about it.
We are all familiar with the annoying zeal of an ex-smoker eager to preach the evils of tobacco – confusing overbearance with love, mistaking intrusion with compassion, and very likely infusing new accomplishment with old pride. Similarly, it is a fool’s errand to try to argue faith into an unwilling soul. Love defies logic, Jesus is a mysterious truth, and God’s glory sadly too often remains hidden to blinded eyes.
This all is just a long way to say that God, despite His cosmic enormity and my own decades-long ignorance, has revealed Himself to be a very knowable commodity. Jesus Christ is God’s divine light and truth, and the Holy Spirit animates our souls to embrace that light and truth. Logically but perhaps counterintuitively, part of that truth is that we are free to reject God’s love because love can’t be coerced.
But none of us has to remain ignorant about it.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com), an ex-smoker, prays for light and truth and in his younger days read collections of Will Rogers’ 1920s and 30s newspaper columns. Rogers famously quipped, “I never met a man I didn’t like.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment