A cord of 3 strands is not easily broken
(A theological reflection in 3 parts)
What are the 3 strands?
- Always stay true to God and move towards him
- Don’t be fooled by false alternatives
- Accept you have weaknesses, but use the strength of your faith to work through to your goal
Part 1: I have asked myself a question, and I must answer it
I have asked myself the question: what will I do to show that I am devoted to God?
I think – and hope – that this will prove a powerful question which, in due course, will produce many answers. Perhaps it can become an ongoing tool – a ratchet, always moving one way, to progressively build my faithful response to God.
However, for now I can say this:-
I realise that I have been too impressed by the strength of my weaknesses that I’m trying to overcome, the obstacles in my way, the distance from my goals. I am not wrong to assess the power of human nature as awesome, but – while I have always been impressed by the immense capacity of human beings for good and for evil, and, while I have always understood in principle the supreme power of God – I have tended to think of myself as helpless. I have indeed called to God for help, and so often he has ministered his grace to me. Yet I sense now a new directive, which is both a command from God and arising from within myself, to work more in partnership with God. It is a new centre of authority, energy and direction within myself which God has been nurturing and which is, I think, finally sparking into life. Partly, my difficulties have arisen because of an incomplete theology: because I, quite rightly, understand that all is grace, as we can do nothing without God, this tends to leave me calling to God when challenged or in distress, crying, “Dear Lord, please help me” but I have not heard clearly enough God’s answer, “Yes, I am helping you; now exert yourself to put into practice the guidance I am giving you”.
This is proving a helpful insight. I am not now doing without God, or depending on my own strength, but a greater sense of my partnership with God and the effect of my own agency in achieving the change I want, or in pursuing my chosen path, seems right to me. It prevents me abdicating responsibility in the face of pressure, “Well, of course, I didn’t want to fail, but God didn’t sweep away the obstacles when I called for help, and, well, what can just little me do in the face of such intense pressure?” I have always believed in the power of the spirit – both of the Holy Spirit working in us, and of our own spirit as activated and empowered and strengthened by God – but I have, I think, on reflection, surrendered too easily when challenged, rather than fighting through to stick to the path I have chosen. I am now more willing to answer the negative challenges which have, too often, overcome me, with my new, positive challenge: “Well, what is faith for if not to enable you to stay close to God?”. Rather than seeing the matter in terms of an argument to win, I am seeing it as a battle to win. In my reasoning, I can see that God always wins, but in practice I am often then confused and humiliated when I fail, because the right theory in my mind collapsed in face of the challenge of the physical world. I suppose an illustration would be from sporting competition: when two opponents face each other, it is not enough to just examine their previous statistics and then declare the winner, the match must still be played and won – or lost. It is the willingness to compete that is the crucial issue. Yes, you may lose – but you may also win; don’t give up and accept failure just because your opponent will not back down in the face of your superior thoughts. Yes, your faith is superior, but if not exercised to the full, it will not see you through the challenge.
Spiritual Devotion 