I want to preach a sermon series one day about the lost words of the current Christian dictionary. The words and concepts that riddle the scriptures yet are decidedly absent from the majority of believers today. My time has not yet come to do that but one thing has been on my heart for a long time now and was brought back to the fore by two things.
The first was when Mark Driscoll made reference to this lack in his first main session at the Newfrontiers Brighton Conference and the second was today when I began reading Imitation of Christ by Thomas A. Kempis again.
The concept that I am alluding to is Contemplation. Driscoll noted that far too many charismatics particularly do not have this as an element of their faith and Kempis, well he just writes in a way about the art of contemplating the wonder and person of Christ in all His manifold majestic perfection that it is obvious from my conversations and even my own life that current Christianity is experiencing a tragic dearth of this discipline.
There is far too much talk, action and noise which pass as the marks of ‘deep’ ‘passionate’ faith.
Deep meaningful talk and action, that which will make a difference to our relationships and our communities needs to stem out of a life marked with this discipline.
Why?
Well only when we look deep into the nature and person of Christ will we in any way begin to reflect Him.
Simon
1 comment:
I think part of this "issue" comes from a human desire to speak about the things of God from a base of understanding Him rather than from experiencing God. There's a need to acknowledge that it would be more benfecial to try and understand our experiences rather than to experience the marvel of our own understandings. As Tozer says, "We cover our deep ignorance with words, but we are ashamed to wonder, we are afriad to whisper "mystery." First step may be to wondrously contemplate our King.
Post a Comment