Scripture: Song of Solomon 2:8-13 Has anyone other than me ever wondered what a romance novel is doing in the bible? Seriously the content of this on book if it were to be made into a movie would be rate R if not X. Yet here it is in scripture and here you are reading it. There are some that will spiritualize the book and say all the intimacy is symbolic of our relationship with God. Bernard of Clairvaux has a very great work in this area one I personally fell in love with. The thing is Bernard was a monk so I can understand why he refered every form of intimacy to his relationship with God. On the flip side there are some that will basically take the book as it is written. Which is a love story between Solomon and one of his 400 odd wives. I can understand this as well. Their are seveal great teachers that use this book to teach other about love and marriage. The thing is life is physical and spiritual. I believe that both ways of looking at may be benifital. I think we miss out of the totality of this book because we look at it in one of these two ways. It is no wonder that our ideas of sexuality and marriage are so messed up. You see a love story is in the bible that should tell us that there is more to marriage than the physical. There is a spiritual side to it as well. One that reflects and reminds us of God the creator and lover of creation. Marriage is a reenactment of creation in some way. The love and passion God had in creating the world is reflected in the love and passion between the couple. The issue is marriage has become cheap. Too many people enter an exit too easily and many fail to even reflect on what is behind this most sacred of mysteries. It is sacred because it is the part of human relations that we can participate in the ongoing creation of the world around us. It is not for everyone. It is an act of worship. Without God it is merely a biological expression. Without the physical it is a pointless contract with shared assets. It has meaning only through and in God, we cannot make it anything it is not. It is a sacred act of worship honoring creation, the intimacy and dedication God has for humanity, and honoring to humanity. Have we ever really honestly looked at marriage? We are getting worked up about it but why? I know we have various ideas, but what are our ideas based ourselves or God? I am going to guess that most of us have a personal agenda of some sort, and along with that I am sure each of us have a very messed up understanding of marriage and human sexuality. “Arise, my love, my fair one and come away” God is calling us to a relationship with him. Before we do too much with marriage maybe we need to learn a bit about love first. Today as you pray I encourage you all to consider your relationships and how they encourage both the body and spirit.
Scripture: Psalm 34:15-22 How many of us have scars? I have a few. The great thing about scars are the stories that are attached to them. These are stories of triumph, bravery, humor, and stupidity but I love to hear the stories about the scars. I do not have any triumphant scars but I have a few that would be attached to the stupidity or humor realm. I have one large scar on my fore head that came from a fall. The fall happened because as a child I observed my dog eating rocks so I thought I needed to too. Of course rocks are no good to eat and in the process of getting sick I tripped and knocked my head against a foot scrapper on our porch. Blood was everywhere and I thought I was going to die, of course I a bit dramatic. These scars tell a story about our lives. Sometimes they bring us pride while sometimes the tales are attached to painful memories. God know the stories of your scars. The psalmist says that God hears the cries of the rightious and his face is aganst the evil doers. This means that God is there which us as we gain the scars that tell the story of our lives. I know that many of these scars are very painful, some of the unseen scars are deep and still hurt years after they were first gained. To say that God was with us when we got the scars does not give us much comfort. In fact it can cause us to look to God as a participant of the evil. But that is not the case. God allows us to live freely, He does not often put Himself in the way of human choices. He allows millions of people to choose to smoke even though the are causing their death. He allows an abuser to abuse even though the pain inflicted on another is great. He allowed millions of people to die in horrific ways through out history. Why? I sit and wonder. I say it would be better if God would save us from all trouble. But then what would we be without our scars. The scar of the cancer survivor gives hope to the person that just received a diagnosis. The scar of the soldier gives pride to the nations. The scar of the child allows us to laugh with them as we remember the first bike ride. The pain often times give us strength. The scars often give greater hope. Yet God remembers. I love the tv show Bones. I love it because it shows that even when all else is gone and the only thing that remains is the foundation of our base structure, they can still find the truth. The bones still tell the story that our scars left behind. God keeps our bone He protects our inner most being. He will not allow us to be totally boken. He knows our story deeply because He is with us all the time. I do not know if that gives anyone comfort but it does me. He knows the pressure my job is causing my body and how that affects my spine, feet, and legs. He knows because He walks with me, and He is trying to lead me in a way that will bring hope to others that have burdens on their shoulders. Cry out to God, seek Him in the times of trouble. It is like putting on the armor of God. When we seek Him we receive the strength to endure. It may not take us out of the situation, but we can have the hope that He will keep the evil doers from breaking our bones. Because the bones remain, our story remains, our place in history and how we live remains and can give hope to others even centuries beyond our lifespan. I want my bones to tell the story of love and grace!
Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-20 If you want something in life to obtain it you actually have to do something. If you want to be a medical doctor you go to the university studying premed, then you apply to various medical schools. After that you spend several years training and gaining knowledge in the field of medicine. You saturate your life in medicine; eating, drinking, and living a life where you are surounded by the medical disipline. Medicine is not the only career that you do this with. How many of us take our cars to a mechanic that spends no time with cars? Or how many of us hope for protection from police officers that have given little time to learn the skill of law enforcement? Do we hire IT specialists that spend all their time in at the printing press? Our lives and our careers are dictated by what we invest our time and energy into. We invest our energy into the areas we are passionate about, we saturate our lives in these areas, and if we are wise our careers are in these areas. We d not assume that our future in a career will magically bestow itself upon us without any personal investment. What about our spiritual lives? How many of us assume that we will get close to God by spending one hour each week worshiping on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday? And to top it off spending that hour just sitting in a chair or pew while others perform in front of you? Do we really expect that this will foster growth spiritually and/or protect us from evil influences? Throughout my life I have read these verses as just putting on protective gear, but today I realize that the heart of it is the “putting on” part. Our spiritual lives are to be active, we must put and participate in our spiritual growth. Just as a doctor must participate in the growth of medical knowledge. There are different aspects of spiritual disipline that affect different aspects of our spiritual life. Shoe, breastplates, halmets, and belts all have different purposes. It is like physical fitness, we do pushups to strengthen certain muscles, sit ups for other muscles. No one would honestly expect sit ups to stregthen their legs, but their abs. (I speak of this as if I know anything of personal training while I contemplate eating at McDonalds before or after watching a movie.) But the point is that to physically stregthen the body we must actively engage our bodies, training each muscle group in their own way to get the desired results. How well do we do engaging rightousness, truth, salvation, peace, and the Word? Do we put them on actively or expect them to magically appear? How do we actively participate in our spiritual growth while still engaging in the passions of our careers? It is possible. Just today I watched a program exploring the human genome and the ability of the human body to ward off HIV. It was facinating and as I engaged my mind in scientific exploration I also praised God in the quest of truth. Put on the armor, clothe yourself in the spiritual. Actively participate in you journey to and with God, and enjoy the results.