Irresistible Invitation by Maxie Dunham - Day 3
Irresistible Invitation
Day 3: A Gracious God
“I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” (John 10:10)
I’ve been known to feel that way during the seemingly simplest of tasks; heading to the grocery store to pick up one or two items for my wife. Let’s just say that the grocery is not exactly familiar (or comfortable) territory for me, and I get there only when a state of emergency is declared at home.
But there have been other times far more serious. I remember in particular, when I was called to join the staff of The Upper Room, charged with directing a ministry, calling people to a life of prayer, providing direction and resources for growth in that area, and giving structure to a united expression of prayer by people around the world. Feeling very much the novice, I recall telling Dr. Wilson Weldon then the editor of The Upper Room, that the search committee – and the church as a whole – must be in desperate straits to consider me for the job, I was such a novice in the area of prayer life and its development.
Looking back, though, I have to admit something; God met me there in a profound way. The responsibility forced me to be even more deliberate and disciplined in my own life of prayer. But it also introduced me to a wider dimension of spirituality than I had ever known.
I became intensely interested in the great devotional classics. The Upper Room had published a collection of little booklets –selections from some of the greatest spiritual teachers of the ages, whose names I barely knew and to whose writings I was a stranger; Julian of Norwich, William Law, Francois Fenelon, Francis of Assisi, Evelyn Underhill, Brother Lawrence and an array of others, I began a deliberate practice of “keeping company with the saints,” seeking to immerse myself in their writings which have endured through the centuries.
I have continued this practice for more than thirty years now. As I have kept company with the saints, I have observed some characteristics they have in common.
v They passionately sought the Lord.
v They discovered a gracious God.
v They experienced a living Jesus.
v They practiced discipline, at the heart of which was prayer.
v They were convinced that obedience was essential to their life and growth
v They didn’t seek ecstasy, but surrender of their will to the Lord
v They were thirsty for holiness.
v They lived not for themselves but for God and for others.
v They knew joy and peace transcending all circumstances.
The first two lessons are connected. The saints passionately sought and discovered a gracious God. That is what this forty-day study is about…the irresistible invitation that flows from God’s extravagant love.
The God of All Comfort
In the Bible, Paul opens his second letter to the Corinthian church by offering the grace and peace of “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Cor 1:2) He continues:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” (2 Cor 1:3-4)
Paul crowns his greeting to the believers in Corinth with this illuminating, encouraging, and challenging word. He emphasizes the primary nature of God in order to keep the truth of God’s compassion alive before the people; “the God of all comfort” comforts us.
James Atkinson shares this thought from the great reformer Martin Luther in his daily readings series:
“All the many countless blessings which God gives us here on earth are merely those gifts which last for a time. But his grace and loving regard are the inheritance which endures through eternity…In giving us such gifts here on earth he is giving us only those things that are his own, but in his grace and love toward us he gives us his very self. In receiving his gifts we touch but his hand; but in his gracious regard we receive his heart, his spirit, his mind, his will.”
What does it mean that God gives his very self? That’s really what this study is about. God so graciously offers us not just divine assistance, but also infinite wisdom, love, guidance, and purpose.
During this journey – especially in the first couple weeks – we’ll have the chance to immerse ourselves in the goodness and generosity of God and the expression of his extravagant love in Jesus Christ. The hope of it all is that Jesus, who is our Savior, will truly become our Lord, and that we will understand what it means to live our lives in response and witness to the grace that has been given freely to us.
We have to remember, however, that immersion takes both time and effort. It lies in the face of the instantaneous world in which we live. Just as God has done throughout the ages, he invites us to “Be still and know that I am God,” (Ps. 46:10) When we are willing to do that, we find the depths of all God is.
Yes God is gracious enough to give us new hope and new life, but the idea that all we have to do is turn toward God and everything will be just fine points to the fallacy of the “instant-fix” mindset. The reality is that God loves us enough to allow us to walk into new life one step at a time, always by our side. It is in that daily seeking, trusting, and growing that we become the people God meant for us to be all along.
Can we really be good?
From the dawn of time, we human beings have been both attracted to and repelled by the idea of being “good.” We lift people up as heroes and saviors; yet relish the moment when they are exposed as having feet of clay. We spend countless dollars on books, videos, programs, and workshops, hoping that they will help us be all that we can be. Yet we deliberately sabotage those very efforts with bad habits that have infiltrated our daily living. We want to be good but we aren’t always able. We don’t completely like being bad, but we sometimes don’t mind it. As Paul expressed, there seems to be a battle going on within us between our desire to follow goodness and the allure of evil that surrounds us.
It is a universal issue, but there is good news that goes along with it. God’s infinite mercy includes the gift of power over sin. We can start with the very word “virtue’ which comes form the Greek word arête, meaning “power.’ This is a major hint in answering the question of whether goodness is possible. God not only gives us tools in virtues like wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance, but God gives us power to walk in them as well. The virtues are the evidence of God’s love, of God’s grace.
Thomas Aquinas was one of the great champions of cultivating the virtues in our moral life. He described them as a source of power in developing our character. But he also considered the virtues to be habits. Like all habits, good and bad, they are developed through repetition and exercise, formed in the laboratory of daily life by the countless choices we make in each moment.
It is only through the power of God’s grace in the virtues’ and our own disciplined exercise of them, that we are able to strengthen our character and move toward the good person God created us to be. Like Aquinas, then, we can believe that living a life or moral virtue is possible, though not without God’s help.
Now Choose Life
We must understand that our individual relationship with God is all about choice. The choice is not whether we will become a new person or not – that is a matter of grace. Christ alone holds the power to make us a new creation. Our choice is whether we will choose to start to become a new person. Do you see the difference? We do not choose to become a new person; we choose to start to become a new person.
A theme which echoes through the Old Testament is, “I have set before you life and death….now choose life.” (Deut. 30:19) Here life and death don’t signify existence and nonexistence, rather they hold a promise that existence can be enriched and thereby become a real life – once that is lived in confidence, hope, and gratitude made possible through the miraculous working of God’s Spirit.
John’s Gospel explains that Jesus came to abolish death and to open the possibility of abundant life to all people. Death in this context speaks of a weakness or nulling of the life experience rather than actually ceasing to exist. Life, on the other hand, suggests a higher stage of existence. This higher state, this aliveness, is available only through God. Remember Paul’s words to the Ephesians: “But because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.” (Eph 2:4-5)
Living in a joy and peace that transcends all circumstances requires the same habits today as always: prayer, discipline, surrender, a thirst for holiness, and the knowledge that Jesus is alive in our experience. Just like Martin Luther and the saints of the ages, we can also know God’s presence in our time of need and God’s grace in our time of challenge. It’s all there for the choosing, offered to us with extravagant love.
Some things to ponder:
Think about your habits, good and bad. How have they shaped your life as a whole?
Have you chosen to “start to become” a new person? Why or why not?
What does it mean to you to choose to be in relationship with God? Do you make it a habit to seek God’s company each day?
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