God Cogs - proof of alien life

I have two friends who have told me about their experiences growing up in Catholicism. Now, I love to go to mass even though I am not Catholic. The language and ritual fascinate me and I find it to be beautiful and engaging, even though I can never figure out when to sit, stand or kneel.

One thing that my friends have told me is that they never read the Bible growing up. Their homes had the family show Bible on the shelf, but it was not a book that was opened. My family opened our Bibles, but far too often the evangelical church emphasized an adherence to rules, not an embracing of life.

Through the ages, Christians have labored their way through spiritual formation, almost as if becoming like Christ was a mysterious or hard to grasp process - one that was so above our heads that we either abandoned the notion or we made our way through with great difficulty - almost as if life was like constantly solving a puzzle that was too hard for us. Spiritual formation, the process of becoming like Jesus, is not random or magically conferred upon us in the midst of rituals AND it is not an adherence to rules.

So, why does it seem so hard and/or mysterious? Did God make it that way? Do we?

The kingdom life that we talked about in our last God Cog is possible, but when we read the New Testament, the kingdom life that we find there is so unlike our own experience. One of the biggest obstacles is our understanding of how to enter in - we just don‘t get it. In other words, I want to cooperate, but how? There is one particular Bible verse that I repeat inside my mind and heart a lot. It quotes Jesus and says:

“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 10:39

What feels like life, leads to death and what feels like death leads to life. Understanding this to be true, opens up a huge avenue to spiritual formation for us! For instance, when I have been intentionally hurt by someone, my gut reaction is to defend myself or lash out in anger, isn’t it? I want to discredit the person and tell others why his/her behavior is so bad so that I will not be misunderstood. It just feels right. It feels like the way to solve the problem. Jesus is saying to us that what feels right, the things that are our gut reactions, the logical courses of action that we embrace as human beings are distorted because of sin. Spend a day observing your children, your coworkers, your neighbors, your local news and tell me that it’s not true.

The completely non-mysterious, yet radical remedy, is believing that what initially feels like death, leads to real life. When I choose to LOVE the person who has harmed me, when I try to understand the hurt in his/her heart that has resulted in bad behavior, and when I forgive freely and without request - THAT IS SOME CRAZY AGAINST MY NATURE STUFF ("man, this is killing me")- but it leads me to real life and transformation. It leads me to the kingdom - peace, mutual love, joy. It also explains why the Apostle Peter said we were aliens and strangers in the world. To live like this is sort of paranormal.

Seem impossible? Next God Cog we will talk about the often quoted, but so untrue, cliché, “Where there’s a will there’s a way.” Absolutely false. Until then, ask God to show you His ways, the kingdom ways, that are contrary to your impulses. Life will be different today - almost like living in a flying saucer.