Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Life Deep--Living Deeply
"Fearless warriors in a picket fence, reckless abandon wrapped in common sense, "Deep water faith in the shallow end and we are caught in the middle"…Somewhere In the Middle, Casting Crowns
“Mind deep not life deep,” Tozer is talking about intellectuals that know Biblical details but do not know God personally. Once we know God personally how does that translate to “life deep?”
Sunday found us intently listening to the life stories of a married couple that are serving as missionaries. Their passion for people found them serving others that life had placed in serious straits. We saw the same commitment in our trip to visit missionaries in Guatemala this summer. Theirs is a pouring out of energy and self 24/7. That face-to-face talk fanned my wife’s desire to life “life on life” with others. I wrestle with it.
At my deepest I desire to live life-deep. I don’t always live at my deepest. I get home from eight hours dealing with the public and want to curl up with my wife—or a good book. Weeks (or months) like this one I find I just want to ‘kick-it’ at home. Which is what most of us Americans do; most American Christians as well.
I know that living on cruise-control and the American dream would suck the soul right out of me. So I struggle. The blessing is that the root story of every missionary we know is a circumstance where God showed Himself evident and directed them where He wanted them to go. God moves, speaks and orchestrates events. That is the simple blessing of a personal relationship with God. The deepening only quickens the hearing and the responding.
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2 comments:
In every life style there is a way to live deeply and affect others deeply. Not everyone has the same energy or the same gift, so don't go feeling inadequate when you hear from those people who amaze you, because you have an equal opportunity to amaze them and others with YOUR style and YOUR gifts. Don't feel bad about needing time to recharge-- that's just what you need to do. Just find the way to do good work with your own style and energy and gift.
Glenn
Glenn, Good admonition to maintain perspective. The question is always whether or not I am using my gifts and talents the way God would have me use them. It's that balance of contentment but not resting on my laurels--but you are right not to beat myself up. Part of what you hear too, as you know, is that I process via the blog in hopes it will help others process as well...
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