I’ve read many reports and themes suggesting that even after a person has exerted many years of external service in the church, many of us are still full of ourselves. It seems we have launched into faith by trying to obtain greatness by doing things. How is it our lives can move so far into the church (chronologically) and yet fail to leap into its depth (theologically)? Maybe another way of approaching this concept is to ask, “How does one make contact with the deep heart of Jesus to the point we actually begin to mature in/with/through him?”
Michael Molinos wrote The Spiritual Guide in 1675. Some guesstimate he did more to reform the Catholic church than any man in history. While this manuscript became so popular it was translated into every language in Western Europe within six years of its release, Michael himself was sealed in a dungeon and his book condemned. It is no wonder that such a man may be one who leads us to the fertile land of potential maturity when he wrote: God loves not the believer who does the most, nor who feels the most, nor who thinks the most cleverly and best, nor even that one who shows the greatest love, but He loves him who suffers the most.
Suffering is the key-fob to the most delightful and fruitful of kingdom works. It unlocks the most amazing doors of hope and opportunity. Shrink not from disappointment or abuse. Don’t hop the carriage of “Why me?” and “How come I never get a break?” and expect to find life. Such revelations only come from God’s secret chambers whispered by the spiritual giants; the sufferers. Suffering is the way of the cross to bring freedom to all imprisoned.
Suffering some lately? Don’t fret. Don’t sweat. Don’t run. Learn.
1 comment:
Suffering scares us. It scares me! But our deepest and closest connections to God come through our suffering. Sometimes it's only through suffering that we will fully depend on Him.
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