Still in spite of myself

In spite of myself God moves to perfect that which He has started in my life. I look back to see all of the opportunities that I have availed myself of in an effort to grow in Him and I realize that my motives were not always (not ever?) pure. Why did I participate so mightily in the Peer Ministry group at Cardinal Mooney High School? Was it so that I could gain a fresh perspective on God and start or deepen my relationship with Him? Or was it because I was lonely and needed substantive friendships? Was it because of a girl or two that I had my eye on? I could forever be questioning why this or that happened and what was the motive for this and that, but one thing remains certain. I had nothing to contribute to my salvation and my sanctification seems to be playing out the same way.

God’s grace saved me, is saving me, and will ultimately save me when what I have been saved from is finally revealed to me. I stand completely deserving hell today but assured of the bliss of heaven. And the abundant life promised is secured this day. Most assuredly. All this and heaven too. What a Giver this God is. No artist could have conceived His beauty for He is Beauty. No singer could compose such a hymn for He is Song. And no lover could shower more beautiful gifts on his beloved for He is Love.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

tightvnc keyboard mapping problem in Ubuntu 9.04

Image
I have been, off and on, having an issue with the keys on my keyboard mapping to the correct values when using the tightvnc client when paired with the vncserver vino in Ubuntu 9.04. I am not exactly sure what keyboard layout the client and server was expecting, but it seemed like every time I restarted the OS the keyboard mapping problem would come back and I would be at square one again. Well, I think I have found the workaround I was looking for . Hopefully this will help anyone else that is having this issue.
Read more

The manifestation of the "I" and the gift of self - Part 1

I am continuing my journey through Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body and I had never realized how body-focused the 2nd and 3rd chapters of Genesis truly are.  But then it all makes so much more sense when it was brought to my attention that the body we have been given in a manifestation of me, or to put it another way, the "I". And it goes beyond that still. Not only does it reveal me, but my body also reveals, in no small measure, the image of God. That is not to say that God is made of flesh like me as is depicted in so many Renaissance paintings. The old man in the sky is nothing like the God as revealed in the Bible. However, the love that God is, the holiness that he is, the justice he is, the righteousness that he is...all of it is shown to the world through my body. In a very real way, my body allows for others, and for me, to participate in the mystery (the hiddenness) of the image of God. That is by design; from the beginning.  If God is revealed in nature...
Read more

Let me learn what I need to learn

In the “I don’t know what God is trying to produce in me…” portion of the blog: I work across (not with) an incredibly loud person. We are in cubes and he refuses to use a handset when he is in a conference call…or headphones. Everything is done via speaker phone. Maybe his handset is broken? I don’t know and am too timid (read “interested in keeping the peace”) to ask him. Of course he shouts into his speaker phone as well when he talks. Now he even refuses to use a keyboard. He has a speech recognition program that allows him to speak to the computer rather than type. Good for him! Now we can all hear “Comma…open parenthesis…close parenthesis…tab…tab...tab…” Was it my sin or my parents sin that relegated me to this placement in the office. We all know the answer to that but man…it sure feels like I am getting punished for something.
Read more