Madre
02-20-2007, 10:33 AM
It is enlightening to encounter a lifestyle so different from the one to which we have become accustomed at home. My brother and I were enjoying this type of encounter in the Amazon and were consumed with searching for the basics of water, food, shelter, transportation, and a place to exchange money. Then we had a vexing--no, haunting--experience. We both stopped in amazement, as though we were looking at an optical illusion. There on the sidewalk was a head, a human head with a body smaller than a box of cereal. There were no arms, no legs, no stomach, and no clothes; but the mouth held a pencil and drew flowers on a small piece of paper. In sorrow and compassion we left some money in a small bowl placed alongside the head. Wondering at how much of what consumed our daily lives would apply to this person. Wondering at how we complain over such comparatively insignificant things; wondering what this person's response would be were we to approach and relate an account of how someone had offended us by what he said; pondering what the head would think if we bemoaned the fact that Christmas might be a bit slim this year. The head was disturbing and mysterious; his image would not leave us. I began to ask myself how much of what is taught in Christendom would apply to this person. If the deep spirutual life is dependent on what we do or wear, on praying on the knees, on traveling to do mission work, on teaching, or on the thousands of religious activities promoted; would this individual--the one in ninety-nine, the lost coin, the weak one--not be excluded? I was left with the conclusion that if what we teach cannot be accomplished by this person, then it is not simple enough to apply to anyone else.
The deep life comes through faith, the activity of the soul and spirit, not the activity of the body. Doing is to be the result of faith. Therefore, faith is greater, even though it is within the grasp of everyone down to the very weakest. In fact, the weakest are most suited for pleasing God, since again, a believer rarely fails in his point of weakness, but more often at his strong point.
Jesus was asked who sinned to cause a man's blindness. He responded, "It was not sin but for the glory of God." Often as I drift off to sleep at night I think of the head. God brought me a loud, succinct message about the simplicity of FAITH through this person with nothing; he had found life tolerable, and he expressed a beauty within through simple art. In contrast, many with a multitude of worldly accomplishments and possessions cannot stand life. An obvious conclusion is that life is not found outside of man, but within.
Heavenly Discipleship
Michael Wells
The deep life comes through faith, the activity of the soul and spirit, not the activity of the body. Doing is to be the result of faith. Therefore, faith is greater, even though it is within the grasp of everyone down to the very weakest. In fact, the weakest are most suited for pleasing God, since again, a believer rarely fails in his point of weakness, but more often at his strong point.
Jesus was asked who sinned to cause a man's blindness. He responded, "It was not sin but for the glory of God." Often as I drift off to sleep at night I think of the head. God brought me a loud, succinct message about the simplicity of FAITH through this person with nothing; he had found life tolerable, and he expressed a beauty within through simple art. In contrast, many with a multitude of worldly accomplishments and possessions cannot stand life. An obvious conclusion is that life is not found outside of man, but within.
Heavenly Discipleship
Michael Wells