Formed By The Presence

 

The Quote:

"Our hearts need to come to the fixed conclusion that God is everywhere present - that He is more real than the things we may think of as "real" and is deeply and utterly committed to our transformation into the image of His beloved Son. Any Christianity that embraces a less-integrated worldview is rendered increasingly powerless. It is a Christianity whose God exists only in an abstract sense. Such a life is madness in the end. It cannot but be encumbered with doubt while fostering opinion and argument in the place of faith. The result is an intellectualized faith (however simple or sophisticated), always driven by culture, either in ignorant subservience or in whatever form its political masters direct for the "culture wars." What Christianity in its various secularized forms has not done and cannot do is to produce true culture. The production of culture is not the goal of the Christian faith, but a faith that is truly integrated and grounded in the God who is everywhere present cannot help but produce culture - for it produces a whole humanity. (1)

My Thoughts:

How we think about and interact with God determines how we live life. God is committed to our transformation into Christ-likeness. The things we speak and the actions we take come from our hearts. I hear very little about the awareness of God's omnipresence and our transformation into the image of His Son as the answer to our cultural meltdown. 

I fear many evangelicals have "kissed the ring" of political power to the detriment of the Gospel message. A secularized form of Christianity is weak and non-efective. 

Moral transformation only becomes a reality for those who - have been formed by the Presence of God. There is no division between the secular and sacred for those who acknowledge His presence. 

The Holy Spirit is here, among us now.

 God is not "the man upstairs" - He is ever present.

Scriptures For Meditation:

"Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. - Colossians 3:2-4 ESV 

 "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." - Romans 12:2

"Where shall I go from your Spirit?

    Or where shall I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

    If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

If I take the wings of the morning

    and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

 even there your hand shall lead me,

    and your right hand shall hold me." - Psalm 139: 7-10

"Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” - John 18:36

(1) Every Where Present, Stephen Freeman, pages 95-96.