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Recognizing Christ

June 20, 2010 by Fritz

[Mary] “turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus … Thinking he was the gardener …” – John 20:14, 15b

Jesus is not always recognizable1; we see gardeners, plumbers, doctors, our parents, our children but not Jesus.

C.S.Lewis put is this way:

You may say `I’ve never had the sense of being helped by an invisible Christ, but I often have been helped by other human beings.’ That is rather like the woman in the first war who said that if there were a bread shortage it would not bother her house because they always ate toast. If there is no bread there will be no toast. If there were no help from Christ, there would be no help from other human beings… At first it is natural for a baby to take its mother’s milk without knowing its mother. It is equally natural for us to see the man who helps us without seeing Christ behind him. But we must not remain babies. We must go on to recognise the real Giver. It is madness not to.
– C.S. Lewis2

Today, with God’s help I shall recognize Christ through the gracious deeds of others.

-fritz
1 – Related Post: God Opens Eyes
2 – C.S.Lewis Mere Christianity Chapter 29

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>Put down the cell phone and talk!

June 19, 2010 by Fritz

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“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” – Hebrews 10:25 (NIV)1

Perhaps a strange quote combination, Garrison Keillor and Hebrews, but there is a correlation here.

too many young American men suffer from a desperate lack of social skills … just the simple art of extending yourself in a friendly manner to someone you don’t know, which is crucial in any job in which you brush up against the great unwashed public. (Or in politics, or spreading the gospel, or simply living a rich life in multivarious America.) Over and over and over, you run into young men with the personalities of warehouse security guards.2

Garrison blames our electronics, cell phones, e-mail, text messaging, etc. Here’s his advice:

We can talk L8R about bad spelling and whassup with the acronyms — my concern is that electronics, which seem to open up new vistas in the world, may be shutting us down. Put down that cell phone, good sir, and look me in the eye and tell me something. How are you? Good. I like those tattoos. And the big safety pin in your ear. You from here? No? You’re from Oklahoma? Really? Where the waving wheat can sure smell sweet when the wind comes right behind the rain? Cool. Awesome. Totally.2

Life is more than information exchange. Social skills are developed ONLY through personal interaction.

Almost like it was planned that way, real Church fellowship gives believers a future spiritual and social advantage; don’t neglect it!

– fritz

1 – Hebrews 10:25 (NIV)
2 – The Silent Brotherhood, Prairie Home Companion, April 20, 2010

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>Taping Fruit onto a Tree

June 18, 2010 by Fritz

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“Pursue Love…”1

Trying to be loving doesn’t work!

We are taught that to be a good Christian we must act like Christ but when we try we find it difficult indeed! I am never so angry, selfish, and miserable as when I try to not get mad, put others first, and be happy.

Dallas Willard tells of a different approach. Referring to the Beatitudes and 1st Corinthians 13, the Bible’s “Love” chapter, he wrote:

People… are taught to read it, as telling them to be patient, kind, free of jealousy, and so on…But Paul is plainly saying — look at his words — that it is love that does these things, not us, and that what we are to do is to “pursue love” (1 Cor. 14:1). As we “catch” love, we then find that these things are after all actually being done by us.”2

Trying to not get angry, to put others first, or to be happy is like trying to produce fruit by taping it onto a tree. Fruit is produced by making sure the tree the kind wanted and that it is healthy – good fruit is the byproduct.

As we pursue Love, Himself3, our nature changes and we act accordingly.

– fritz

1 – 1st Corinthians 14:1a (New King James)
2 – The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard, published by HarperCollins, copyright 1998, pg.187
3 – 1st John 4:16

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