I have come to enjoy the simple lessons of the brothers at the monastery. Brother Rob shared a simple truth about the parables, in that some parables are meant to show us the incomprehensible grace of Christ, and others are meant to explain the reality of life. We always have to ask what it tells us about the gospel.
In the parable of the virgins who forget to keep the oil in their lamps and miss out on the wedding. I have often read the parable and thought of how mean it is to not allow someone into a party because they were unprepared. Why didn't anyone help them. The tough reality of life is that we can either live life in apathy and frustration of the realities of life or stay awake in hope of God and his perfect will. No one can stay awake for us. It will not work. At some point we have to come to God on our own.
I struggle with this here when dealing with the issues of entitlement. Often the morale of people is so low and fatalistic, that many people just expect the work to be done for them, or find excuses why the work cannot be done. Through the example of my father, I am learning, that living in hope is a day to day effort. Day to day we have to stay open to the the call and presence of God. It comes only with practice. Our faith should be invested just as much in our daily effort to know Christ and live a life worthy of his name as it is in the end goal of a life eternal. Living a life of faith comes only with practice. The corresponding reading was from the book of wisdom in the old testament which said (Matt Kellen paraphrased), if we look for wisdom, she will not be hard to find. So true..... if we leave our hearts exposed to God and hands willing to be used, by God's grace he will direct us.
Sorry about the sermon. The words of Brother Rob rang so true to me and I wanted to share the blessing of solid preaching.
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2 comments:
Thanks for sharing. Loved the insight.
Hope you're doing well. It's good to read one of your posts. We haven't heard from you in a while. We miss you.
Yeah. All relationships are two-way streets, aren't they? Staying awake in hope of God and his perfect will - that's good stuff.
Romans 5:5 says, "And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."
I can get embittered by the Bible's tough passages, especially where there's indication that some people will or do miss out. But our hope in God will not disappoint us ultimately. Somehow He's gonna work it out. Somehow.
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