covered in dust: March 2014

Into The Open Sea

I believe in all that has never yet been spoken.
I want to free what waits within me
so that what no one has dared to wish for
may for once spring clear
without my contriving.

If this is arrogant, God, forgive me,
but this is what I need to say.
May what I do flow from me like a river,
no forcing and no holding back,
the way it is with children.

Then in these swelling and ebbing currents,
these deepening tides moving out, returning,
I will sing You as no one ever has,
streaming through widening channels
into the open sea.

Rainer Maria Rilke
from Rilke's Book of Hours
The Book Of Monastic Life I, 12

| composed by dave |

False Humility

Self-deprecation and self-loathing have no place in the Gospel.

I get it. We know ourselves and our Shadow all too well. We Sabotage our best efforts constantly and prostitute our hearts to the newest, flashiest thing; adulterous, our hearts can be.

But that does not condone our self-berating religiosity.

Sure, when we compare our self-worth to that of the magnificent work of the cross, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, we feel insignificant and dirty; unsubstantial and stained.

But that's not how Jesus sees us.

Scripture calls those who are "in Christ"...

- Worth more than many sparrows/birds (Luke 12:7 & 24)

- Clean-- pure, blameless, innocent (John 13:10, 15:3)

- Jesus' friends (John 15:14)

- Heirs to the Kingdom (Acts 3:25, Gal 3:29, Gal 4:7)

- Right with God (1 Cor 1:30)

- Pure (1 Cor 1:30)

- Holy (1 Cor 1:30, 1 Pt 2:9, Eph 1:4)

- Free from Sin (1 Cor 1:30)

- God's temple (1 Cor 3:16)

- Known by God (1 Cor 8:3, Gal 4:9)

- The Body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27)

- Saved (1 Cor 15:2)

- New creation (2 Cor 5:17)

- Children of God (Gal 3:26, 4:7)

- God's sons (Gal 4:6)

- Free (Gal 4:7)

- Blameless (Eph 1:4)

- Masterpiece (Eph 2:10)

- Citizens of Heaven (Eph 2:19)

- Members of God's household (Eph 2:19)

- Light (Eph 5:8)

- Loved (1 Thess 1:4)

- Chosen (1 Pt 2:9)

- Royal priests (1 Pt 2:9)

- God’s special possession (1 Pt 2:9)

- People of God (1 Pt 2:10)

- Blessed (1 Pt 3:14, 4:14)

I know. I know. We ARE called to be humble. And I love how C.S. Lewis brilliantly defined humility: "True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less."

The Gospel renews us.

It reconciles us.

It redeems us.

This includes our pretentious self-deprecation and arrogant self-loathing that feigns humility with all the stench of religiosity.

Next time we're tempted to undervalue our worth, we have choices:
- We can go on calling Jesus a liar and pretending that our self-deprecation and self-loathing is spiritual and holy.
- Or perhaps we can agree with how Jesus sees us.

After all, Jesus is God... and maybe He sees us more clearly than we see ourselves.

| composed by dave |

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