Sup guys,
I found it interesting that jesus defined eternal life not in terms of quantity (duration) but quality (level of awesome) in John 17:3 "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." In other words, heaven begins with knowing God. It is not only the destination, but also the journey. I think this means heaven has begun already and, if i haven't reached it yet, I should've at the very least crossed the start line.
which brings us to the next point, how do we know God? I'd say the overwhelming majority of the people on this list, and certainly the ones who're persistent enuff to actually read these emails, are christians who've HAD "God experiences" - perhaps several. We go to retreats, conferences, yosemite, etc to have these divine encounters. Yet despite all that, we still struggle daily with our faith (or at least edward does, dunno about hte rest of you). Moses was probably one of the closest person to God in history, yet i find this verse in Exodus 33:13 "If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so that I may know you and continue to find favour with you." WHAT?! dude actually TALKED to God, like, verbally. He's had God's literal presence pass by him. For pete's sake, there was even a talking bush! Moses, despite all of these God encounters, still felt like he needed to know God. He draws a connection between knowing God's ways and knowing God Himself. Nothing spectacular, no fireworks or trumpets, simply knowing the ways of God. In fact, even the word "ways" is translated from the hebrew word for "rut" which must be one of the dullest words in the english language. what i think this means is that the way to know God is the boring, monotonous, tireless discipline of putting sin to death and practicing holiness. "Rut" implies endless, mindnumbing repetition and ironically, is exactly what we sometimes need in order to be passionate for God.
I think that we have come to be over reliant upon mountaintop experiences. In spiritually dry seasons we would try conferences, retreats, new churches/social circles/spiritual practices - any quick fix to get us back to God ASAP, anything to avoid rolling up our sleeves and take up our daily cross. It didn't work for Moses, why should it work for us? God encounters are important milestones in our spiritual journeys; but there are no short cuts, only a well worn path that leads through the narrow gates.
Encouragement for the week, to get rid of this addiction to spiritual highs and to have determined hearts that refuses to stray from the rutted course God's charted for us. I think the promise is that we get to meet God when we do this, sounds exciting.
Have a happy wednesday!
Edward
P.S. hahaha NBA's rendition of jurassic park
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAPABJd4xos&feature=topvideos
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