“Lord, you are Lord and I want to live with you”.
Part 4: Our framework of understanding is important, but it’ the vibrant, dynamic encounter with God that counts
We have considered the framework of understanding in which the statement, “Lord, you are Lord, and I want to live with you” might be held, so that it is intellectually justified, rather than simply a product of blind faith or wishful thinking. However, this is not the vibrant core of the issue. We have backtracked to check that our value judgements are not foolish, based on emotional fancy rather than reality. However, the statement is being presented as the heart and foundation of faith: the realisation of who God is, and the need to make a response. In a way, the response is automatic, like in the laws of physics, in that, once we truly appreciate that the Lord is Lord, we cannot but help to be attracted to him. However, it is still an act of freewill. We see this in the way so many people do not respond to God. Now, it is difficult to judge this in that we may wish to argue that anyone who truly did encounter God would certainly give their lives to him, so if you have not done that it must mean that you haven’t really encountered God. However, this seems in practice not to fit the evidence, and in principle I think God would not take away our choice to respond to him, for if we had no choice then clearly we have not made a choice. I think the answer lies for most people in their willingness to respond to God – or not. I accept that for some people their lives in practice have not afforded them the opportunity to encounter God, and so they have not been faced with the choice we are about to consider. Perhaps their lives are so unrelievedly awful that it proves impossible for them to hear a call from God. Perhaps the internal make up of some people makes it difficult for them to perceive a spiritual call. However, let’s consider what is a common situation.
Spiritual Devotion 