"Tight lines" is a blessing fishermen offer each other, a wish for lines taut with the weight of good fish. May God grant that the lines written here be taut with His blessings.
Tuesday, 20 January 2009 | |||
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Nothing like hard economic times to help us really believe
what the Bible says about this world and our situation in it. In a
climate where many good, hard-working people are losing homes, businesses
and other possessions,
1 Corinthians 7:29-31 has a particular ring of relevance and
truth. For all the warnings the Lord gives us, we still mostly fail to develop the attitude Paul calls for here. I know I, at least, constantly feel and behave as if material possessions were of ultimate importance. Yet Paul also calls for this spiritual outlook of eternity even on relationships and emotions. Not only is the loss of a house not the end of one's life in God, not even the loss of a loved one is finally disastrous. It seems that just about *every* facet of our lives is included in the present form of this world said to be passing away, according to verse 31. In Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing, Kierkegaard expounds on Paul's theme, arguing that true purity is to let all other desires and aims submit to "the Eternal." I can't merely let God have a place in my life, because that is to set Him (the Eternal, the Good, in Kierkegaard's language) as just one more thing alongside the other things of my life. I might suppose that I can give time to my family here, time to my job there, time to keeping up my house here, and time to God there. To which Kierkegaard says: "But the Eternal is that which is set over all. The Eternal will not have its time, but will fashion time to its own desire, and then give its consent that the temporal world should also be given its time." It's only after I have seen my life and all the people and things in it in the light of God's eternity that I can truly possess them in any good and true way. May you and I avail ourselves of the present opportunity to look at this world through the Eternal's lense. | |||
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Profile |
I am the pastor of Valley Covenant Church in Eugene, Oregon. I love to flyfish and hike along the beautiful rivers in our area. I welcome your comments as I share sermon work in progress and occasional other thoughts.
Thank you for visiting this blog. I invite you also to visit my web page.
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