Category: Interior Life

When it comes to the relationship between God’s will and human will we are diving into a profound mystery that cannot be fully understood. The question cannot be completely answered because it is not clearly answered in Scripture. In order to answer this question we would have to understand how God’s will operates inside the depths of God which we cannot do because God’s nature is so far beyond our nature. We would also have to understand the details of how God relates to time and the nature of time itself. We cannot do this either. Even human will is a mystery to us. Considering how much we don’t know is it really possible to make assertions on this matter that are not clearly stated in Scripture? If we venture beyond Scripture, then we will find ourselves clinging to shaky speculations. What we can do is embrace what God has Continue Reading →

Contemplation may be defined as quiet receptivity. Contemplation allows the object of our contemplation to impact us. As we focus on Christ we receive his influence. He envelopes us and infuses his peace into us. Teresa of Avila (d. 1582) defined contemplation as loving attentiveness, which is also a helpful definition, though we do not need to feel love for God when we do contemplation. Contemplation teaches us to listen. If God was waiting for you to be still long enough to communicate something important to you, how long would he have to wait? Many of us have busy lives or at least busy minds. God can shout to us if he wants, but he prefers a quieter, deeper connection with us. Contemplation is essentially extended surrendering and listening. A daily habit of several minutes of contemplation will train us to listen to, and receive from, God. Below is a Continue Reading →

Motivation is a monumental issue in our spiritual lives. We will be constantly tempted to embrace motives that damage our spiritual growth. Many of them are disguised. The supreme motive for everything in our life should be our desire for the community of love with God and his followers. It may sound simple to consistently choose this motivation, but it is not. In fact, we will be learning to choose this for our whole lives. When we are young in Christformation we learn to recognize obvious impure motives such as sensual gratification, materialism, retaliation and preoccupation with our image. But after you overcome these there is a whole other set of hidden motives waiting to torpedo your spiritual life. If you are willing to pursue self-knowledge with God (so that you can “put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature” (Col. 3:5, NIV)) then you will discover deeply Continue Reading →