A cast supports and protects a broken joint/bone until it sufficiently healed and can operate independently.
In the spiritual life, routines and disciplines are like casts, they protect us and enable us to heal and until such time as we are strong enough to move on from them.
Learning to live in our lives where we are, accepting our limitations, coming to terms with our disillusionments and not live in our own heads somewhere else is probably one of the greatest challenges of our age, especially given all the media technology that can whisk our imagination off to somewhere else at the touch of a phone screen.
Staying rooted in Christ and engaged with the real world and people around us takes great effort in an age of distraction and disillusionment. Have a look at the table and verses below and ask the Spirit to show you which of the pink sections you live in and how you can move closer to the green.
The Bible describes our life here as a journey to our eternal home. In traditional pilgrimages, the two most common threats were getting lost or falling into the hands of robbers / raiders. In the Christian life this is seen when we get beguiled by lies or we hide in fear of attackers. Look at the table and verses below and see what the Spirit nudges you on.
Yesterday we looked at how Jesus is at home in our hearts. Today, we look at how we are at home in our hearts. Sounds counter intuitive, but actually its easy for us to be absent from where we are for all kinds of reasons.
Have a look at the table below. In the blue column our home paradox (that home is both here and out there) is described. In the green column is a definition of what it means to be at home in the Lord both here and out there (in Heaven). In each of the red columns are some of the dangers we face when we are captured by misplaced fear or love. Only Jesus perfectly dwelt in the green all the time. The rest of us start in the pink bits and learn to move increasingly to the green centre.
Which of the four pink areas do you most identify with at the moment? Why? What do you need to know about the goodness of God so as to bring change?
We often say that Jesus lives in our heart and it makes us all warm and fuzzy, but have a look at the following slide and ask the Holy Spirit to show you what status he has in the home of your heart. Is there anything he is nudging you to change? Click on the image to enlarge the text.
