by Chad Lewis on April 2, 2009
Before I list my reasons, it might be helpful to explain what I mean by “contemplative spirituality.” It is interesting to see what people mean by “contemplative spirituality” and the range goes from meditating on God’s Word to sitting in a room with a candle with no Bible and seeking to hear God for “new stuff.” I would like to redeem the term because the call of Scripture over and over again is to REMEMBER. So if you call it meditating on God’s Word or contemplative spirituality, if the source is God’s Word and His truth, then I need it.
There are many people in the contemplative camp I cherish and others who I think are dangerous. So maybe we need to create a new term after all. The Christian life is not just having a quiet time and then walking through the day doing your best. This is not the gospel message. We must continually be reminded throughout the day that we can’t, but He can. We must remember that the fruit of the Spirit is something that only the Spirit can produce. Many of us live with spiritual hernias trying to produce something in our own strength when the words of Jesus are clear, “apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). So with that preface, here are some reasons I need contemplative spirituality…
Reason 1: I don’t naturally have soul rest.
Most days it seems like a mini-wind is blowing through my soul. Often, the winds increase and hit hurricane force. I’ve heard it said that we often revert to a worried and hurried pace when this happens. By stopping and meditating on the truths of Scripture throughout the day, I can remember – Who God is, what He’s done, what He is doing, and what He promises to do. This fosters soul rest in me and it is a daily, moment by moment need. This might be simply taking a 5 minute walk and rehearsing Scripture in my heart and asking for help, but this simple act humbles me and reminds me of my need of God’s grace.
Reason 2: I am very forgetful.
I am forgetful. I forget where my keys are if I don’t put them in a certain place. I forget who I am in Christ and so easily merge back into my youthful ways of thinking. I need to be reminded everyday. I need to be gospeled everyday. I am finding Peter Scazzero’s The Daily Office helpful as an additional tool to point me to my Heavenly Father several times throughout the day.
Reason 3: If I don’t, I will crash and burn.
One writer called compulsion, “a blasphemous anxiety to do God’s work for him.” I have this anxiety often. I now believe that these feelings themselves surfacing are not sin, but rather, what I do with them can either be sinful or godly. If they only drive me to be busier, I will crash and burn. If they are a reminder of my desperate need for God, then they are a gift. What are some tools that help point you to Christ?
by Chad Lewis on December 14, 2006
As Christmas knocks on our door this year, let us continually keep before us the reason for this holiday. It is not for getting “stuff” though it’s theme is the gift of Christ and how He came to reconcile sinners to His Father. It is not about family though it is awesome to be with loved ones and even dwell on the fact that the family of God breaks through any socio-economic or cultural barriers. Christmas is about Christ.
One of the first things I learned in Seminary was so simple that it amazed me that I had not picked up on it earlier. When reading the Bible, the main character is always God. In the story of Abraham, the main character is God and how He will bring about His promises. With Moses, the main character is God and how He will set His people free and bring them into the land of promise. This list could go on and on. The story of the judges is how gracious God is and how He will bring his ways about even through a rebellious and obstinate people.
So we come back to Christmas. The main character is God again. In His infinite wisdom and with a plan that was drawn up before the earth was created, the Father decided to send His Son to earth to redeem a people of His own choosing. This Christ is spoken of so beautifully in Philippians 2. Paul admonishes us to be like Jesus as He is the ultimate and perfect picture of humility.
Though in perfect union in the Trinity for all eternity past, Christ does not keep hold of what is rightfully His. He lays down His rights and “made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:7-8). This was the very plan of God!
As we meditate on these things, let’s not forget about the depths of this story. Let’s get beyond singing carols and kneel before our Maker who made our eternal salvation possible. And after a few thousand years of prophecy and things lining up perfectly by the administration of God, Jesus was born when the fulness of time had come. And now we are to proclaim, “Hallelujah, What A SAVIOR!!!!”
by Chad Lewis on May 17, 2006
On many occasions I need to be reminded. This morning was such a time. I grabbed an old journal and went to a park. While sipping on some coffee I read about the following instance that occured two years ago.
I was sitting at a lunch table with a counselor named Melissa. I had come back to Lake Forest Ranch to be the worship leader for the 2004 summer. In 2003, I had come with a friend and played some music during his week of speaking. Melissa had been a counselor the summer before as well. She shared with me that one memory stuck out with her from the summer before. Their was a kid who was being difficult all day long. He was a bit different and because I realized the stresses on the counselors and the massiveness of their responsibilities, I made this kid my friend for the week. I hung out with him when everyone else wanted him to get away.
It was funny that as she reflected on this experience with me, I barely remembered the story, but it did sound vaguely familiar. It was during that conversation that God reminded me of an amazing truth.
God doesn’t forget… Though our sins are in the category of “forgotten” if we are His children, He knows all things. It is amazing to think that we will never have to pay the penalty for our rebellion and treason against God. It is wiped away. To continue this amazing thought, God never forgets the smallest act of kindess that we show.
During my times of darkness, I wallow in the lie that I am of no use to this world and a somewhat fatalistic attitude begins to simmer. But even so, I must be reminded that God remembers me hanging out with that kid that weekend and sharing the love of Christ with him. God remembers the sacrifices I have made in the attempts to follow hard after Him.
It is amazing to think that we will be rewarded for these things in the life to come because it is God who empowers us to do them as well. But remember to never grow weary in doing good for God is watching and His eyes are the only ones that matter.
