God is Life...
/God is Life.
This could be the reason many have lost interest in God or should I say we have gained interest in so many things this life has to offer us. When life seems scarce and it does for many now—but always has for many more (i.e. the things we want are not readily available or to be had at all) a strange nervousness begins to pulse within and we begin frantically looking for some-thing to convince us we are alive. For the affluent among us (which I am too), this most often sets in as boredom and how many of us are bored right now in the midst of this pandemic, which has erased many of our life-defining activities (travel, entertainment, things, food, etc.). That these are problems not associated with the Gospel will be left to another who is more committed to Christ than I to explore.
In these times of lack it is easy to seek the things that have constituted our daily lives in new ways. We look for more ways to entertain ourselves. I do too. We look for other things to give us a clear sense of meaning in life. I do too. We look for opportunities to serve others for a deeper sense of significance. Anything will do that helps us to feel alive, to feel life within.
The trouble is in such moments of frantically searching for life all around us we miss the Unconditional Life within and that is unconditionally derived from God alone who is Life and that nothing—NOTHING—in the world can give to us. St. Augustine said it well in his Confessions:
“Late have I loved you, beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved you! And see, you were within, and I was in the external world and sought you there, and in my unlovely state I plunged into those lovely things which you made. You were with me, and I was not with you. The lovely things kept me far from you, though if they did not have their existence in you they had no existence at all.”
How often is this the case for most of us? We spend most of our lives, living for so many things, thinking therein that we will know some significance, some meaning, a sense of life and the problem may just be that we find just enough significance, meaning and life that we miss The Life God is in, with and through us with others. But, lest we be discouraged, the things of this life as with all things will run out for they are all—including us—temporal. And, it is precisely in the God who is Life—Eternally—that in his persistence, we can be as assured as a prodigal, that when we come to the end of things, and hopefully ourselves, God will continue to call…shout…flash…shine…until we know his very presence breathing in us. Consider the closing part of St. Augustine’s quote above. He finishes by re-minding us of this eternally persistent God…
You called, and shouted and, burst my deafness. You flashed, shone, and scattered my blindness. You were fragrant, and I drew my breath and now pant after you. I tasted you, and I feel hunger and thirst for you. You touched me, and I burned for Your Peace” (Confessions: Book X, Chapter XXVII, 38)
All God has to offer us is Life because that’s who God is. In this season of Lent, may we know God’s calling to us, shining all around us, literally breathing within us as we yet pant after the things of this life. And, then let us take that big deep breath—that God The Holy Spirit is—within and know ourselves alive—maybe for the firs time—maybe again—and worship the one true God and Jesus whom He has sent (c.f. John 17:3), who said, “I am The Way, The Truth and The Life.” (c.f. John 14:6).
May the song below help bring this blog to life, in your life, by worshipping The One who is Life…enjoy…