Choosing Life
"Choose life, so that you . . . will live"
December 8, 2009  Issue 61
In this issue
The "Bad" Side of the Good News
          Purpose

The purpose of these email reflections is to stimulate the God-given longing we all have for that which is truly life-giving, and to encourage sacrificing the lesser, more immediate "satisfactions" for the greater, in all areas of life, so that one may Live and share that Life with others!
 
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Sheldon Swartz
Hello ,

Sometimes its a whole lot easier to try to keep the bad out than let the good in.  I think that's because I don't like trusting.  See if you are at all like me.  Maybe we can be friends!
                 
            - Sheldon Swartz
The "Bad" Side of the Good News
"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."  - Ephesians 2:8,9

We sometimes hear the phrase when we think that someone in some way is too focused on themselves, "It's not about you."

I just about always have mixed feelings when I hear that phrase.  If I use that phrase with someone, I think it would be important to clarify what I am saying is not about them.

On one hand everything is about us - about you, about me, about the people in the world.  The Good News was for us, real people who need to hear it.  "For God so loved the world that he gave . . . "  The world referred to here is not the ground below you (though he loves that too) - it's the people who live on it.  Of course it's about us!  Thank God it's about us! 

The "bad" side of the good news of salvation through Christ is that we can't take credit for anything having to do with our salvation and transformation.  David G. Benner in his wonderful book Surrender to Love: Discovering the Heart of Christian Spirituality  says, "A familiar Christian hymn states that as I come to God 'nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.'  How deeply I resent this fact.  How desperately I want to be able to contribute something to the deal - my faith, my effort, my love, my belief.  But the bottom line is that Perfect Love meets me where I am and asks only that I open my heart and receive the love for which I long."  p. 46 

So in that sense, although God's salvation is about me and you and the world, the means by which that comes about is not about me or you - "this is not your own doing." It is all about God's action on our behalf.  On my own I do not have what it takes to save myself from the cravings of my own flesh or to fully surrender to the love of God.  Being broken of self-effort can be painful but it can open us up to experience the grace of God, out of which love comes.  It seems like it would be nice that being broken good once would let enough grace in to last our lifetime.  But no, it needs to happen over and over and over and over - whenever it is needed!  I can't fix myself, so I need to learn to live in the grace of God, not above it.  I do that once in a great while, by the grace of God!

So, the good news is that the pressure is off to provide for my deepest needs  - there is true relief, I'm gonna be alright.  I can get off the kick of blaming myself for bad that happens and congratulating myself when good happens.  Talk about being a little god, there it is! 

Being in charge makes me tired but surrendering to love and living in the flow is refreshing, when I get to it.  If I am able to share a bit of that love with others I get no more credit than a cup gets for overflowing.  But it can be enjoyed without taking credit for it - in fact the enjoyment is deeper if I get no credit.

Don't get too discouraged if you feel powerless to make the good happen in life.  It isn't up to you.  Let yourself down into the ocean of God's everlasting and bottomless love and then live out of that place.  Easier said than done, I know, but the alternatives stink!

"God, thank you for never tiring of trying to get the good news through to me.  Sometimes I get afraid that my resistance will outlast your persistance, but you understand that and don't waste any time considering whether to give up on me or not.  You just keep inviting me to the table.  Thanks much.  Amen"

 I work with individuals, couples, and families to identify the ways of life and death in their lives and help uncover the motivation to choose that which leads to life, whether it be through counseling or spiritual direction.  - Sheldon Swartz, MA/LMFT