September 22, 2009
Glass Slipper
I’m not much one for all the bling in today’s fashions, but the other day I found a pair of glitter encrusted silver shoes on sale so I bought them for my four year-old granddaughter. Lydia was thrilled with all the sparkles and had a hard time admiring her shoes and walking at the same time. She told her momma, “I think these are my new glass slippers. Now my tennis shoes will just be my white shoes.” I love that fairy godmother feeling. “If you then…know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matt 7:11 ESV) God knows that feeling too…
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Gail;
-----When my new life began in my late-teens, I was sure God was the slave-driver. He must be, because we are His slaves, or bond-servants, as is often preached. So I tried to live that attitude, but encountered great conflict, because like everyone else, there were things in life I wanted. Surely I must be sinning, I thought, because I had certain, well defined desires I worked to satisfy while Paul is telling us to be content with our circumstances. Then there is Jesus telling us God gives better gifts than even our parents. Yet I was convinced everything He wanted for my life was other than what I wanted, simply because my will was to be resigned to His. So, much of my life was lived in mental and emotional turmoil.
-----It took me a lot of years to realize that God is who He asks us to be. He asks us to consider the feelings and circumstances of others, not merely honoring them, but even pleasing them. He asks us to be kindly disposed towards those who lack when we have more than what is sufficient for ourselves, and to meet their needs in as much as we can. I began to realize that to God I am an other, and He wants to treat me that way as well.
-----Several years of pondering Paul’s concise description of the kingdom of heaven finally sank into me the understanding of how God wants us to be pleased in our lives. “For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit; he who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.” (Rom 14:17-18 RSV) Doing things and having things is not about the kingdom. And since this statement is made in Paul’s discussion of individual conscience, neither is not doing things and not having things about the kingdom. Doing and having are merely about the condition of our present lives: we must do and have things to survive, and we can do and have things to be happy while surviving. His kingdom is about doing and having things right, maintaining the equitable and considerate stance among men and God that makes for peace, and enjoying the resulting circumstances.
-----Without underestimating the importance of righteousness and peace, joy is very important to His kingdom. I have been through very deep depressions in my life. These emotional states take you by the neck and suck the life out of your lungs and the intelligence out of your mind. With these go your imagination, your motivation, and your strength, both emotional and physical. But God needs strong servants for doing whatever He has fashioned each to do. So He needs joyful servants. And in as much as the faith that each of us has is measured to us by God (Rom 12:3), the mix of whatever worldly goods are right and peaceable for each to have for either the sparking or inspiration of joy in the soul is also measured to us by God. Some may feel that all joy must come from the relationship with and knowledge of God alone, and they have taken vows of poverty so their righteousness, peace, and joy might be in the Holy Spirit, literally. Others seem to have the Midas’ touch and can not avoid the sprouting of wealth from every action they make, being rightly generous with their stuff, peacefully equitable with everyone in their dealings, and greatly enjoying both their possessions and the holy attitude of the Spirit towards others. The rest of us lie somewhere in between, each relating to God as He has developed his heart, each needing whatever form of joy in her present circumstances God has prepared.
-----Now I look back over my confusing life and see many gifts God tried to give me that I did not recognize. But the greatest gift I have received is the understanding that even though He is my Master, He is not my slave-driver. Rahter, He has called me into a relationship of reciprocal joy giving. For the indissoluble joy of the kingdom happens from the Spirit led attitudes of both giving and receiving, because each of us are servants as well as others.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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