As some of you know, this fall has been a ‘winter’ season for me in the parlance of In My Father’s Vineyard . God sent me into a season of rest so that he could prune away on things in my life and in how I live it with him. It has not all been easy and there are still many challenges to overcome, but obedience to him always leads to incredible fruit and I am so grateful for what he has done and will continue to do.
In the language of The Matrix and Alice in Wonderland I find myself today looking down a rabbit hole wondering just how deep this goes. I find his love more present than I could have ever dreamed. I find his involvement in the details of my life amazing, even though he doesn’t do anything like I think he should. And I find every response to him opens up new vistas into his nature and character that are breathtaking. These are not the exaggerations of a wordsmith; this has become my reality with him in ever-increasing measure.
In recent days I’ve been feasting in Colossians. The last bit of the first chapter and the first bit of the second say it as simply as it can be said. Here are some excerpts:
I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else…
My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him… Now do what you have been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it! (The bold emphasis mine.) And let your living spill over in thanksgiving!”
Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!
God’s life is not something you can study endlessly; it is something you live! If you don’t know how to live deeply in Christ, by all means find out! But don’t think you have to have it all figured out before you can live it. In fact you won’t figure it out until you do live it. Then you too can be awed by just how deep this rabbit hole goes. There are depths of love and heights of joy we have not even begun to explore in his incredible grace. I want so much for you to learn to live this way too and I find no greater joy in this age than helping folks do exactly that.
