As proof that you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then also an heir....(Gal. 4).
According to the Babylonian creation myths, the gods created humans as slaves, to do the tedious work of caring for the world, work the gods had no interest in doing. In the books of Romans and Galatians, however, St. Paul makes it clear that God the Creator is not interested in slaves but rather in sons and daughters. He sent Jesus, His only begotten Son, that in Him we might have full rights as children of God.
No matter how obedient and observant we are to the Law, we are not "sons" (and daughters) of God until His own Spirit resides in our hearts. God would have us share in his being and nature---strong wherein he cares for strength; tender and gracious as he is tender and gracious; angry where and as he is angry.*
Without knowing the heart of the Father from whence comes the law, we always risk making the law unto our own interests. When we come to think with him, when the mind of the child is the mind of the Father, then we will act as the Father would act. Jesus said, "My words are not my own; they belong to the One Who sent me." And, "If you knew Me, then you would know my Father also." (Jn. 5).
If we as Christians could say the same, we could change the world. But there is such a gulf between us and the Father that we could never know the Father's heart and mind except for the Son, who sends His own Spirit into us. Paul says, "If anyone has not the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ." And "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God."
There is but one spirit, the Spirit of Truth. We are the sons and daughters of God the minute we lift up our hearts, the moment we begin to cry Father. But it takes a long time to redeem all of our thoughts and ways -- to finish this new creation/ this new birth of the Holy Spirit. As long as there remains in us the least taint of distrust, the least lingering of hate or fear, we have not yet completed our apprenticeship as sons and daughters -- we are just getting ready one day to creep from our chrysalids and spread the great heavenly wings of the psyche of God.*
Then we shall be sons (and daughters) in full manifestation. Our bodies will then fully reflect our souls. " For all of creation awaits the outshining / revealing of the sons of God" (Romans) . Then the earth and all its creatures will shout for joy because we are no longer slaves to sin but finally ready to tend to the creatures and to the earth itself. Then shall the wolf dwell with the lamb, and the leopard lie down with the kid and calf, and a little child shall lead them. When we are no longer slaves, but sons, with the Spirit of God dwelling in us!
* words taken from George McDonald's Unspoken Sermons
Just Brilliant! I wish you would publish slim tracts to be picked up at the Church, & carried home. So delightful. I would want them to be beautifully designed, and have an image.
ReplyDeleteThe appearance of a text on paper is like the voice which is reading aloud. A glorious passage becomes painful, or muffled, if badly read. I don't think most folks are conscious of graphic design- but it does have an effect.
ReplyDeleteThat is, to overcome inherent inertia, presentation has to please. As in the readings in Church, a poor lector makes the reading dull, or even painful, while a great one unfurls a banner, so to speak.
ReplyDelete