For the blog today, I am going to share how I worked through the passage in Lectio Divina style.
Read - I start out by quietly sitting in my office chair and trying to "still" my mind. I like to turn on my fan because the ambient noise drowns out the other office noise around me. I close my eyes and focus on emptying my mind. Today there are thoughts about what I need to do later bouncing around in my head, and I mentally chase them down and get rid of them. "I will deal with you later," I say to each thing that pops into my mind, "This is my time with God." When there are particularly annoying things that keep coming into mind, I start to say the name of "Jesus" over and over...I call on the help of God and ask Him to fill my mind so that nothing else can intrude. Once I get to a place of peace and quiet internally, I slowly read through the passage out loud a few times. It is actually more difficult for me to read out loud and still comprehend the passage, so I also read through it silently a few times. There is one phrase from the passage that I cannot get out of my head. Each time I read through it, "Be devoted to one another in love" jumps off the page at me. I know that God really wants me to hear these words today.
Meditate - Because I will be contemplating this passage all week, instead of meditating on the entire passage, I spend time meditating on the simple phrase that jumped out at me before - "Be devoted to one another in love." I think about this very short verse from every angle that I can. What does it mean to be devoted? It means - committed, faithful, loyal, dedicated. What does it mean to devote yourself to something? It means that you are willing to sacrifice other things so that you can focus on the one thing that you are going to devote yourself to. To devote yourself to another person is to make sacrifices to ensure that the relationships grows in a healthy way. What does "one another" mean? Specifically in this passage I believe it means fellow Christians. Paul is not just saying that we can commit ourselves to our spouses (We should be doing that anyway!) or people who are just like us - we are supposed to be committed to fellow Christians. I spend some time thinking about whether or not I live a life devoted to fellow Christians. I think that I often devote myself to the work of ministry, but not necessarily other Christians. That doesn't sit well with me. What is love? The Greek word for love used in this passage is the world "philadelphia," which means brotherly love. This is a love that Christians should have for one another. This is a love that causes us to live our lives like Christ. This is a servant love. This is a sacrificial love. Love is about commitment and not affection. It is about dedication and not about warm fuzzy feelings. This is a love that says, I am going to put your needs ahead of my own.
Pray - After meditating on the passage, I spend some time in prayer. I pray that God will really drive the message of this passage into my heart and out through my life. I pray that I will be a better and more dedicated friend. I pray for the strength to open up to people outside of my family and to love more deeply. I also spend some time praying for the rest of the day, but I will not list those prayers here.
Contemplate - To close out the Lectio Divina, I once again sit quietly. I ask God to take everything I have read/thought about this morning and give me a direct challenge. I want to become more Christ-like on a daily basis, and to do so I must be in-tune with what God is calling me to be. I need to listen for His voice...focus on the way He is moving and shaping my heart. I ask Him to meet me and to speak to me, and His truth comes through with great clarity...
I have got to be a better friend. I fill my life with so much ministry work...so many extracurricular family activities...so much "veg" time in front of some sort of technological device...that I am not devoted myself to my Christian brothers as I should (I'll leave the devoting to Christian sisters to my wife...it's less awkward that way!). There are so many times when I have been unwilling to make sacrifices in my life, so that I could pour into another person's life. My comfort...my laziness...my whatever...get in the way and keep me from being a Christ-like friend. God is calling me to truly care about what is going on in the lives of my friends. To truly care, I have to spend time with them. To truly care, I have to listen...really listen, not just wait for my turn to talk about my stuff. I have to care more about what is going on in their lives, then what is going on in my life...and that is so hard for me. God is calling me once again to be a living sacrifice. To sacrifice my time, my selfishness, my comfort...so that I can be a true friend.
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