'Practice of the Presence of God' by Brother Lawrence

'Practice of the Presence of God' is a short and insightful work about walking closer with God written in a series of conversations and collected letters from Brother Lawrence, it serves to be both convicting and, at times, questionable. Lawrence's convictions are powerful and frequently humbling, and there is much to admire and emulate in seeking the constant, abiding communication with God (“a heart resolutely determined to apply itself to nothing but Him, or for His sake, and to love Him only.”) Lawrences passion of that communion is noble and something to strive to emulate. What I did find lacking, however, was a Christocentric approach to his description of communion with God, to the degree that at times reading this the communication described felt almost like a modalistic/unitarian exercise, and I found myself longing to hear Christ referenced just a little bit more anywhere (for instance, at one point Lawrence says “we know also that we can do all things...” and I was hoping he was going to lead into “...through Christ who strengthens us”, but instead he capped the thought as “...with the grace of GOD”, which is true, but the trinitiaran aspect of Lawrence's theology just seemed lacking in this work. I wanted more of the work and inter-mediation of Christ, and I wanted more of the powerful work of Holy Spirit's sanctification. As it stands, I believe Christ was mentioned twice and the Holy Spirit once. In any case, this is a short and lively read and what I'd describe as take what you can from it but tread carefully.

I Corinthians 15:22

Our trip to the children's doctor last week brought to mind some ideas for this post.  We had a long discussion with the doctor about the vaccine/autism controversy, and our doctor, while very cautious in the administration of vaccines to small kids, mentioned that in her own research, the rapid rise of autism shouldn't be blamed entirely on vaccines, but instead that there are a number of environmental factors that play a part: toxins in food, water, the air, our clothing, etc.
As we discussed this, it really brought home to me the reminder that we do live in a fallen world, and as, part of the punishment and curse of sin is the effects we experience from the fallen world.

“For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22)

There can be a temptation in our lives to think that, if we feel good, we have things and stuff and have no problems, that we are in a way indestructible. But the reality is that we are under the taint and curse of Adam, and as such, the world that we live in is equally fallen, leaving us prone to sickness and illness from our environment and other factors. No matter how clean we scrub the earth and sky, and how well we take care of our bodies, all of us are under sin's curse, of which the outcome for all of us is death.

But praise God for the gift of Jesus Christ, and his free gift of grace, shared for us on the cross of Calvary! While our mortal bodies are still prone to the ravages of sin and death, we have hope in the resurrection of our Savior!

Now while we live by faith and know that there is life everlasting beyond our mortal bodies, at the same time, this assurance of grace and salvation should not make us cynical to the responsibility to be good stewards of our health and the planet. The body...

“...is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God” (I Cor. 1:19)

and the earth...

“...is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1)

We have a responsibility to care for both, not under legalistic obligation, but rather doing so to give God the glory and honor. We should be mindful of caring for the bodies he's given to us, and also do what we can to take care of the earth, while being cautious not to fall into the trap of worshiping self or the earth.

We have remarkable designed bodies, and the world around us is beautiful and wonderfully made. We should continuously give praise and glory to the God who gives us our lives and a world to love Him in, all the while looking forward to the return of our Savior and the new life to come.

Romans 6:1

Some notes on Romans 6:1, and the concept of continuing to sin for grace.  Not sure where these notes came from (I think it was a message from a Dallas Reformed Seminary mp3.)

Perfectionism is not taught in the Bible, and yet on the flip side is the attitude that sin is not all that serious.  The writer of Hebrews instructed to "pursue holiness".  Its important to understand the idea being that sanctification is just as important as justification.  Hebrews speaks especially about being set apart for God.

Sanctification of God, taken from Ezekiel, speaks about God being set apart from false gods.
Sanctification of man, in the Old Testament, was illustrated in separating from what was unclean.
Sanctification of the redeemer we see in the example of how Jesus sanctified self (John 17).

Sanctification is ultimately about the believer being set apart more and more for God.  This is a continuing process solely through the indwelling and working of the Holy Spirit.