Discipleship Letters 29-30

 Discipleship Letter 29                                                           Feb. 15, 2009

One medieval writer tells us that “God is friendship.” “Our prayers are a response to the friendship and love of God.” [James M. Houston, The Prayer: Deepening Your Friendship with God (Colorado Springs: Victor, 2007), p. 10.] God is our friend. We pray to Him because we want to keep in company with Him. Nothing more; nothing less. Whenever we pray to God as if prayer was something we must do, we lose the sight of God while we’re praying to God.

All humans are created in God’s own image. Thus, we’re naturally inclined towards Him. We all have a longing deep down in our hearts. For those who haven’t yet returned to the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit, their longings are temporarily met by different needs. However, they’re never satisfied, for only the Father who created them can satisfy their deepest needs. When we pray, verbally or non-verbally, we’re hungry for a deeper communion with God. Augustine said, “God longs to be longed after.” We can also say that we long after God because of our longings as creatures. Our longings to long after God is a vital sign for spiritual maturity. We’re motivated to grow because we long after Him and to be like Him.

Jesus said, “I no longer call you servants, because a master doesn’t confide in his servants. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me” (Jn. 15:15). Our Lord longs for our friendship. 

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Discipleship Letter 30                                                            Feb. 22, 2009

The author of Hebrews emphasizes spiritual growth. “Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity…” (6:1). The Scriptures urge us not to stay where we are at, but to move on. The author talks about spiritual growth by using another metaphor. “For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God’ (6:7). Otherwise, it’ll be cursed and burned (6:8). A field that only bears thistles and thorns is useless in the sight of a farmer. The farmer will give it up or destroy it. 

Richard Foster said, “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but where, oh where, are those who think of changing themselves?” (“Spiritual Formation Agenda” in Christianity Today, Jan. 2009). We want to change things that are outside of us, but we don’t want to be changed what is inside within us. In God’s agenda, inner change is the first place where we begin with. Foster continues, “All real formation work is ‘heart work.’ The heart is the wellspring of all human action…Heart work is hard work indeed.”

God has expectation of our growth. We should not let his blood being shed for nothing.