No pressure

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"In essence, there is only one thing God asks of us - that we be men and women of prayer, people who live close to God, people for whom God is everything and for whom God is enough.  That is the root of peace," writes Brennan Manning in The Ragamuffin Gospel.  When I read "God is enough", I realised that I was guilty of not thinking so.  That God is everything to a person is more understandable to me because it reveals a devotion to something so large and powerful, but sometimes my mind wanders beyond God, when God is actually all I need because He is the Provider. 

In another passage he writes, "Several times in my ministry people have expressed the fear that self-acceptance will abort the ongoing conversion process and lead to a life of spiritual laziness and moral laxity.  Nothing could be more untrue.  The acceptance of self does not mean to be resigned to the status quo.  On the contrary, the more fully we accept ourselves, the more successfully we begin to grow.  Love is far better stimulus than threat or pressure. 

'One saint used to say that she was the type of woman who advances more rapidly when she is drawn by love than when driven by fear.'" (p. 49)  How to put this principle into practice is not clear to me, because acceptance seems vague to me.  When someone knocks at my door, I can either accept them or send them away, but when it comes to self, there is no door in between. 

The first move, Manning writes, is to recognise our weaknesses, like having a short temper, impatience, selfishness, envy, pettiness, etc.  He states, "When we accept ourselves for what we are, we decrease our hunger for power or the acceptance of others because our self-intimacy reinforces our inner sense of security."  I found this interesting.  

God is enough to bring me inner peace about who I am regardless of what I can be like.   

Comments

John said…
Nice thoughts. Thinking on the door idea. ...maybe there is no door in "self" because self was not supposed to exist on its own? Only in relation to Christ and what he thinks of you. When I think of self, turn inwards, I get depressed. When I consider what Jesus thinks of me and desires to dwell within me I am lifted up and loose desire for the sinful self.

The believer's door is sometimes shut because they don't realise there is promised intimacy.
Rev 3:20 "Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and he with Me"

Heavens doors are open to the believer.
Rev 4:1 "After this I looked, and there in heaven was an open door.. "
March 24, 2010 at 1:36 PM
Inktaps said…
Yes, I like that. Once we have opened the door to Jesus, He dwells within us, and there is no more space for the sinful self, only the new creation.
March 25, 2010 at 1:43 PM
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