Romans 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Have you ever read a book that you didn't want to let get far away from you, besides the Bible? I just read a little novel Lying Awake by Mark Salzman that was just that kind of book. It's about a cloistered nun who so loves God that she turns every day events into opportunities to remember that her role is to love God. For instance, as she sees deer outside the garden walls, she thinks: As the deer longs for running streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.
While she waits for a CT scan, she thinks/prays I will not struggle against You, no matter where you lead me....and later as she lay in that noisy cylinder, Perfect affirmation, perfect understanding, perfect silence: Your love, dear God, in full voice.
The book is full of these silent asides or prayers where you get a glimpse of her response to not just change, but the routine in her life. Her goal is to practice the presence of God, to acknowledge Him in everything she does.
As a reader, you watch her wrestle with a decision that could rob her of the joyous intimacies she shares with God at the cost of distracting those around her. The bottom line, it's always all about self. How many of the choices that we make are almost made for us because we let the self rule as a default mechanism. We are so used to doing what pleases ourselves, what is easiest or most comfortable without ever considering how our choice might either affect others or speak to God.
The cover says this is a novel, but it is one of the most challenging novels personally and spiritually that I have read in a while. Perhaps it won't strike you that way. I have learned that what God uses in my life He may not use in yours, but just maybe He will allow you to have your thinking challenged here.
No comments:
Post a Comment