When God Kissed My Soul

July 31, 2018

When God Kissed My Soul

“For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.”

Philippians 1:21 (NRSV)

Brennan Manning, contemplating he was near to the end of his life and paraphrasing Thoreau, once noted that he would be appalled to discover that he had died without having lived. What does it mean to live? Do I need to update my bucket list and become more proactive in reaching the sunset of my life with everything scratched off? While I find that somewhat appealing, I believe there is for me an even better indicator that having lived; I am ready to die. That indicator to me was when God kissed my soul.

Our soul is our mind, our will and our emotions. It is the very essence of who we are. When God’s spirit comes within us, when we are born again, our souls become alive to God, and we begin our journey of transformation to become as Christ. When I envision God kissing my soul, I see a father bending down to tenderly kiss his child on their forehead. There is within such a moment of intimacy a complete knowing and acceptance flowing from the father to the child. The kiss can be eternally transformative for the child, if only the child’s soul is laid bare to receive the kiss.

My Takeaway: To be laid bare is to be fully aware of yourself and to know that God fully knows you and loves you, just as you are. My image of God kissing a soul is Rembrandt’s painting of the father kissing his returning prodigal son. The son knows he’s been in a pigpen, the father knows his son has been in a pigpen, and the son knows the father knows. The prodigal’s soul is laid bare, and his father kisses him. That’s being alive.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

A Passion That Never Gives Up

July 30, 2018

A Passion That Never Gives Up

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

John 10:27-30

The passion of God for His children is revealed throughout the Bible. In Isaiah, God describes his passion as that of a husband, “For your Creator will be your husband; the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is his name! He is your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of all the earth” (Isaiah 54:5). God takes this metaphor even deeper through the life of the prophet Hosea. Through the life of Hosea, we see God’s unfailing love; we see God’s passion never wavering, even though Israel’s betrayals were frequent.

Hosea is a difficult book to read because Hosea is so far removed from our experience. It is incomprehensible for us to put ourselves in his place. It is only when we step back, and grasp the truth that Hosea’s story is not about a man loving his serially unfaithful wife. It is the story of our Creator God’s unfailing love for his unfaithful children. God’s longing, His passion for His children make it impossible for Him to give up on us. It is His compassion, His passion that enables Jesus to give us eternal life, and empowered Saint Paul to boldly proclaim, “No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).

My Takeaway: It is so very easy for us to look at our faults, our failures and the countless times we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We certainly want to have an awareness of our sin. We certainly want to repent, to turn from our fallen lives and turn toward God as He reaches for His prodigals. However, I am convinced that the freedom Christ so desperately wants for me will come when my focus rests more on God’s passion for me than my faults and foibles.

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Beyond Being Just a Little Miffed

July 27, 2018

Beyond Being Just a Little Miffed

“Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables.”

John 2:15

Interestingly, in the Gospel of John, the story of Jesus clearing the Temple immediately follows Jesus celebrating the wedding in Cana. The position of these two incidents in John’s Gospel reveals that Jesus possessed the full range of human emotions, and he was quite able to express his emotions. I marvel at that.

The nature of my upbringing left me pretty much out of touch with my feelings, and quite challenged when it comes to expressing my emotions, especially anger. The episode in John 2 makes it abundantly clear that Jesus was well beyond being just a little miffed; he was expressing his burning, raging anger with the people.

Jesus is the absolute, and fully complete, embodiment of God the Father Almighty. As such, he reveals the full range of emotions that are present within God. If it is God’s nature to celebrate a wine toast at a wedding, so then I can also. If it is God’s nature to express anger, so then I can also because I am created in His image, and I live my life by faith in His son who loved me and gave his life for me.

My Takeaway: I can’t help but laugh a little as I write this because I know it is far easier to acknowledge that it is OK for me to express anger than it is for me actually let it rip, which is why anger frightens me. I’ve held so much in, for so long, I’m concerned that when the anger breaks forth, it may be disproportionate to the circumstance at hand. It is this tension that makes the possibility of Chesterton’s observation about the Christian ideal being difficult and left untried, looming on my horizon. I hope not; I hope I take the road less traveled.

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

An Heir and Successor

July 26, 2018

An Heir and Successor

“So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.”

Luke 15:20

Henri Nouwen does a masterful job of taking us deep into the meaning of Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son: "What I am called to make true is that whether I am the younger or elder son, I am the son of my compassionate Father. I am an heir. As son and heir, I am to become successor. I am destined to step into my Father's place and offer to others the same compassion that he has offered me. The return to the Father is ultimately the challenge to become the Father.” (The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming, Henri J. M. Nouwen, Continuum Intl Pub Group. January 1996)

However, for me, I didn’t begin to plumb the true depth of this parable until I began to understand the depth of Jesus’ compassion. The Greek word translated as compassion has its origins in a noun that refers to intestines, bowels or entrails. Jesus doesn’t just feel pity, sympathy or empathy for us. “His heart was torn, his gut wrenched, the most vulnerable part of his being laid bare.” (Brennan Manning)

This incomprehensible depth of God’s compassion is the driving force for the comfort of God affirmed by Saint Paul in 2 Corinthians 1: 3, “God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort.” Nouwen noted that “I am destined to step into my Father's place and offer to others the same compassion that he has offered me.” Saint Paul writes, “(God) comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others” (2 Corinthians 1:4a).

My Takeaway: There have been times when my heart was torn, my gut wrenched, and the most vulnerable part of my being laid bare. But I have been very careful about when, or for whom, I have experienced such depths of compassion. I wonder what would happen if I would let my guard down, and begin to experience the Godly compassion that comes with being an heir and a successor destined to step into my Father's place.

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.