September 8, 2009 Disconnection and a Cyclical Life of Amazing Grace

I was reading in the Voice of Luke by Bryan McLaren last night. An awesome look at the scriptures in a modern day conversation. After all, the scriptures are timeless and we live in the Living Word, Now.

The Pharisees, the self righteous lay people, they/'we' are blind to Grace. I say 'we' because we are blinded by our circumstances and pain when we lose 'sight' of the Promise. It is in the surrender that we are able to allow our spiritual minds to be renewed, this comes within the surrender of our carnal mind to God. Life is cyclical. We experience our carnal mind within our judgement, in hatred, in bitterness, in resentment and destruction of our inner man/woman from unreleased pain. It is in the release of our pain that we experience the Beauty and Grace of His Unending Love.

The definition of sin is 'being disconnected from God' in any manner. In every form of disconnection from God there is a putrid, rotting of the inner man/woman so much so that the effects of even our silence can destroy us from within and all who are with us, both family and friends.

In the case of the Pharisees they were disconnected from God and each other. They did not know or understand Jesus and because of this they did not understand who they were, where they came from and what they had become.

We must surrender all and die to this world in order that we may fully live. Disconnection then brings us to the place of Grace that we may be reconnected. What control do we have over our future? The cycle is continuous. The place where we began is the place where we end. We must fall apart in order to be restored.

All the universe exists in and because of His love. We have been given a great gift; when we freely receive His Love then we freely give His Love. It is in this place of surrender that we can find Faith, Hope, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self Control. This is not our carnal nature, it is the nature of the Holy Spirit and there is an unending battle in the carnal mind to produce this Fruit. When we allow our 'self' to be emptied there is a perpetual refilling of abundant overflow of God's Amazing Grace. The investment and return is exponential.

What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from.…

T.S. Eliot

We use to say 'take out the trash'. Looks like my boxes of carefully concealed trash and Grace is right there in the middle of it all blowing it up to smithereens!



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