10/20/11 was the first time I opened this note, and I purposed to write a short thesis that would encapsulate both the theme of this blog of mine and of the Farniks' mission work in the Czech Republic that, for the past two summers, God sent me to help. It turned into this.
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Pastor Mueller prepared several devotions for the team of 2011 to remember the purpose of ministry based on several chapters of II Corinthians. On one such morning, before we packed the van to drive up the mountain of the second week, he shared this verse with the team, to encourage our motivation: For the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again. (II Corinthians 5:14-15)
This resonated with me more deeply than the other devotions, for I had named this blog from the previous year after the very concept that I am not the driving force of my insistence and enthusiasm and argument and sheer joy, but rather that the love of Christ compels me. Some of my dorm-mates from last year used to jokingly exorcise the demons of laziness from our midterm-riddled minds with the command "The power of Christ compels you!" I don't know where they stood in regard to Christ.
I could write for hours for each of these verses, which will hopefully, one day, be a good thing. I won't today. But I will draw from Psalm 63:3 the fact that David was motivated by the lovingkindness, the "hesed," of Christ. And so I also draw my motivation for praise and joy and vocation and song and poetry and justice and integrity and excellence from the fact that Jesus's love is better than life. The bride of the Song of Songs declares her husband's love to be "better than wine" (Song of Songs 1:2, 4), but the psalmist goes even further to say that being loved by God is better than life itself, much more than the many joys He gives us in life!
God is the ruler and rider of the rainclouds that precipitate and empower stony hearts to preach and hold fast to the Rock of the desert, the fountain "whose waters do not fail" (Isaiah 58:11).
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Pastor Mueller prepared several devotions for the team of 2011 to remember the purpose of ministry based on several chapters of II Corinthians. On one such morning, before we packed the van to drive up the mountain of the second week, he shared this verse with the team, to encourage our motivation: For the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again. (II Corinthians 5:14-15)
This resonated with me more deeply than the other devotions, for I had named this blog from the previous year after the very concept that I am not the driving force of my insistence and enthusiasm and argument and sheer joy, but rather that the love of Christ compels me. Some of my dorm-mates from last year used to jokingly exorcise the demons of laziness from our midterm-riddled minds with the command "The power of Christ compels you!" I don't know where they stood in regard to Christ.
Pastor Mueller also elaborated to us that the word translated "constrain" in verse 14 paints the picture of a fierce river's current being held and twisted and guided by the rocks on the banks. The love of Christ thus directs the flow of our ministry and pushes us onward, to purge death and, by our saltiness, to rinse the salty seas of their saltiness! (Ezekiel 47:1-12 ) The Greek word is συνεχει, which my Greek Bible Reader says means "control." This is a comforting thought, as are the other verses demonstrating God's powerful hand, for we know that He's working through us, and we need not feel guilty that we are wasting our time in ministry.
And yet the picture of a river is so vivid in my mind, for I am annually reminded about the brevity of my land's water supply. California is a desert, and I love the desert. Yet the desert is a place with no water, where rainfall is truly a blessing from God, and water does not come freely through filtered taps on porcelain sinks. This I would do good to remember. Water, living water especially, [that is, water that flows from natural springs / brooks; the only acceptable source of water for the ceremonial bathtubs of cleansing at the temple, the mikvehyim], was pretty uncommon for the past few thousands of years. Irrigation is one thing; building canals to get specific mountain-born, living and flowing, "virgin" sources of water from one place to another is a much more difficult task. Thus, water was a precious commodity not only for its unique hydrating usefulness, but more importantly for its cleansing properties: how dare you come before the LORD without obeying His command to be pure for him, to be ye holy? So the Israelites built canals across mountains to get the water of the Jordan to Jerusalem.
And yet I've skipped over the most obvious use of water-- we only survive a few days without it! The human dependence on water is as close to oxygen as we can find in the material world to quench our daily thirst. Be cut off from your water supply? Perish a thirsty death with a parched tongue.
And yet I've skipped over the most obvious use of water-- we only survive a few days without it! The human dependence on water is as close to oxygen as we can find in the material world to quench our daily thirst. Be cut off from your water supply? Perish a thirsty death with a parched tongue.
The Psalmist-King David knows this too fully, having spent much of his life in the Judean wilderness, shepherding his father's flocks before His father commissioned him into the hard labours of shepherding His unruly flocks that trembled at giants and chose giants and banished David, their "beloved" king, into the land of the giants. The psalmist writes:
As the deer pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after You, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?
-Psalm 42:1-2
He leads me beside quiet waters.
-Psalm 23:2b
O God, You are my God; early will I seek You:
my soul thirsts for You, my flesh faints for You
in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
to see Your power and Your glory, so as I have seen You in the sanctuary.
Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You.
-Psalm 63:1-3
I could write for hours for each of these verses, which will hopefully, one day, be a good thing. I won't today. But I will draw from Psalm 63:3 the fact that David was motivated by the lovingkindness, the "hesed," of Christ. And so I also draw my motivation for praise and joy and vocation and song and poetry and justice and integrity and excellence from the fact that Jesus's love is better than life. The bride of the Song of Songs declares her husband's love to be "better than wine" (Song of Songs 1:2, 4), but the psalmist goes even further to say that being loved by God is better than life itself, much more than the many joys He gives us in life!
God is the ruler and rider of the rainclouds that precipitate and empower stony hearts to preach and hold fast to the Rock of the desert, the fountain "whose waters do not fail" (Isaiah 58:11).
Write part 2! It's so good!
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