“Not with doubting, but with assured consciousness do I love you, Lord. You have stricken my heart with your Word, and I loved You. Yes also heaven, and earth, and all that is therein, behold on every side you ask me to love You; nor cease to say to everyone, that they may be without excuse. But more deeply will You have mercy on whom You will have mercy and will have compassion on whom You have had compassion: else in deaf ears do the heaven and the earth speak Your praises. But what do I love, when I love You? Not beauty of bodies, nor the fair harmony of time, nor the brightness of the light so gladsome to our eyes, nor sweet melodies of varied songs, nor the fragrant smell of flowers, and ointments, and spices, not manna and honey, not limbs acceptable to embrace the flesh. None of these I love, when I love my God; and yet I love a kind of light, and melody, and fragrance, and meat, and embrace when I love my God, the light melody, fragrance, meat, embrace of my inner man; where there shines into my soul what space cannot contain, and there sounds what time bears not away, and there smells what breathing does not disperse, and there tastes what eating does not diminish, and there clings what fullness does not divorce. This is it which I love when I love my God.” (Confessions, Augustine of Hippo 354-430 a.d.)
When I read the writings of some of the important spiritual figures in history, I feel ashamed to compare my relationship with God to theirs. I think to myself “These guys spent all their waking hours in praise and in communion with God. I don’t have time for that.” But, that’s not really valid. Brother Lawrence, a French monk known for his deep relationship with our Lord, was a dishwasher at a monastery. Yet he was sought by Europe’s nobles and paupers for spiritual counsel. Where did he find time to build his relationship with God? He spent all of his time in relationship with God.
Augustine was a simple monk but forgiven of much. He was a womanizer and drunk before God got a hold of him. He didn’t have computer Bible study software. He didn’t have the great libraries available to us to help us grow in our knowledge of our God. He sat in a garden and contemplated God’s beauty. He experienced the taste of a good meal and thought of God, he felt a loving embrace and thought of God. He knew life with God could be so much more. We can do that.
The French monk, Brother Lawrence, saw everything he did as an act of worship, praise, and communion with God. Cooking and cleaning were things he did to God’s glory and talked with God while doing so. We can do that, but somehow bad drivers, unpleasant customers, loud neighbors draw us away from that. Brother Lawrence, if he rode with me, shopped with me, or lived with me, would praise God for those folks and pray for them. He would love them. Again, we can do that.
Maybe we could slow down a bit and appreciate the things around us God has supplied for us. Our attitude can be changed by our gratitude for what God has done, to seek to understand God’s plan for us and for the world.
God has provided much for us both now and in the future. By recognizing what God has done, we can recognize God Himself more easily. His plan has been accomplished for all who wish to join us in His glorious realm. We tend to take that for granted, though. We now hear “Jesus loves you and died for you” much less gratefully than we did when we first heard it.
Ephesians chapter 1 gives us a good idea of what we should be grateful for and what we can look forward to. God has given much in order to gain our presence in heaven. Read all of Ephesians today if you can. Here is just a taste:
Ephesians 1:3-5 (ESV) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will[1]
Why is this important?
We are His children through a wonderful but also terrible plan that included the death of the Father’s most beloved Son. Our love for God should be a simple reaction to the grand plan He executed to gain us.
“Men invent means and methods of coming at God’s love, they learn rules and set up devices to remind them of that love, and it seems like a world of trouble to bring oneself into the consciousness of God’s presence. Yet it might be so simple. Is it not quicker and easier just to do our common business wholly for the love of him?” (The Practice of the Presence of God – Brother Lawrence 1614-1691 a.d.)
Believers Armed and Dangerous 