The opposite of “being” is seeking to impress.
Being is authentic. Impressing is fake.
Being reflects depth of character. Impressing reflects superficiality. Being is true. Impressing is a lie.
Anyone can impress.
But to “be” we need to “find ourselves” beyond ourselves.
Just like a tree can only produce fruit if it is well-rooted and connected to its stem, so we can only bear the fruit of the Spirit if we are well-rooted and connected to the Vine. Fruit flows naturally not from a state of doing, but from a state of being in Christ.
(إن كنا نعيش بالروح، فلنسلك أيضًا بحسب الروح.” (غلاطية ٥: ٢٥”
:كلمة “فلنسلك” في الأصل اليوناني
( στοιχέω stoicheó ) تعني ان نسير على خطى شخص بطريقة تتماشى بدقة شديدة مع إيقاع خطواته. كيف ستختلف حياتنا إذ ضبطنا إيقاع كل خطواتنا على إيقاع روح الله؟!
Overthinking places you in an endless egocentric loop; ascribing more value than necessary to the object of your thinking and clouding over your connectivity to God’s heart and mind towards a desperate world.
Hundreds of thousands of books have been written about the cross by some of the most brilliant scholars across the ages. I will certainly not come anywhere close to presenting teaching on the cross that is on par with these scholars, and a blog post is certainly not the place to even attempt such a massive task. All I’ll do here is offer personal reflections that I have gleaned thus far on my humble journey towards the Truth. If you’re interested in further reading on the cross, I recommend John Stott’s book, The Cross of Christ. It’s a brilliant book that offers a great framework for studying the Cross.
Those who say that the cross was not necessary, or cringe at how a loving God would sacrifice His son to satisfy His wrath, are, I believe missing out on a few crucial realities that I will attempt to briefly point out through four concepts.
1. The Reality of Sin & Redemption
Those who claim that the cross was not really necessary, make light of sin. “I’m not that bad after all,” one might exclaim. “I mean I haven’t murdered anyone or done anything bad enough that God would have to send His son to die such an atrocious death! Seeing Jesus die such a death is really painful. Why all that? My sins aren’t that bad!”
It was in a garden that Adam and humankind fell in sin and death, in a garden that our Lord sweated drops of blood in agony while bearing our sins, and in a garden where the Second Adam triumphantly rose, forever defeating sin and death.
Christ is Risen! Happy Easter!
(Part 2 of 2) Part 1 available here: https://nancyaziz.net/2018/11/05/in-the-beginning/
Yet God would not give up. For at the moment of the Fall, while pronouncing the verdict for man’s sin, He offered a glorious, unfathomable promise. The eternal Logos had a plan that He Himself would execute, but this time not through speech.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
Yes the Logos became flesh to execute the plan that He foreknew before the existence of the world and to fulfill the promise that He made to Adam and Eve. He would humble Himself to the extent of becoming a man to restore the mess that man had brought upon himself.
I was sitting quietly at home one day when suddenly a bright light shone into my room. And I heard a voice say, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”
“What? Who? Who are you? Who’s the favored one?” I thought to myself while trying to figure out whether or not I was dreaming…
It was an angel! I had heard of angels appearing to people in the Torah. This angel said his name was Gabriel. Gabriel? Gabriel was the angel who appeared to our prophet Daniel! Oh how could I now be seeing him? And why would he appear to a poor young girl like me?
Anyone who has been around children for any significant period of time will notice how absolutely enamored they are with stories. Bedtime stories, naptime stories, during the day stories. They just love stories! And the more excitement a story bears, the more intrigued they are with their childlike anticipation and the glistening in their eyes.
But have you ever tried telling a child a story where he or she was actually a part of the story? Now you definitely have their undivided attention!
Now think back to your own childhood. Do you remember any stories you were told as a child? Take a few moments to reflect back. Any favorites pop up in memory? Any where you were the hero or heroine of the story?
You may have heard the expression, “living letters of Christ.” But what does it mean to be a living letter?
Let’s think of what a letter (or email if-you-will) is. A letter has an author and a recipient and bears information. It is written or typed and delivered either physically or electronically. In most cases, when the recipient receives and reads the letter or email, he/she replies back.
So what does the Apostle Paul mean when he writes to the believers in Corinth, “you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2Cor. 3:3)?