FROM
THE SERVANT GENERAL
THE WAY FORWARD IN CHRIST
(Part 31)
HEARING AND SEEING
June
22, 2010
Today’s readings
2 Kings 19:9-36
Psalm 48:2-11
Matthew 7:6-14
The
psalmist says “What we had heard we now see”
(Ps 48:9a), speaking about the beauty and awesomeness of
the holy city, Mount Zion. That line sounds familiar. Ah,
Job expressed it as well. Job spoke of God this way, “I
had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eye has seen
you.” (Job 42:5).
The
effect of what was seen was basically the same. The kings
who saw Mount Zion were stunned and terrified, and fled
at the sight of the divine glory (Ps 48:6). What Job “saw”
of God made him accept that he had dealt with great things
he did not understand, and so he backed off from challenging
God about his own righteousness, disowning what he had said
and repenting in dust and ashes (Job 42:3,6).
We
hear a lot about God. We even learn a lot about God, through
formation courses and teachings and books. But not very
many reach the point of “seeing” God for who
He truly is. To see God is to be truly awestruck at His
awesome and fearsome majesty, to be truly humbled in His
divine presence, to really finally realize how puny we creatures
are before our Omnipotent Creator. To see God is not only
to know with our minds who God is, but to experience with
our hearts who He is. To see God is to reach the point where
our lives are radically transformed in Christ.
How can we see God?
We
must choose to enter the narrow gate (Mt 7:13). Not many
Christians actually do so. They rather choose the wide gate
and the broad road, which leads to destruction. They give
in to the desires of the flesh, to the allures of the world,
to the temptations of the devil. But even for those who
try to be good, they might still miss the narrow gate. Indeed,
“those who find it are few” (Mt 7:14b). Why?
Because many do not realize that the narrow gate is that
path that leads to the cross. Many well-meaning Christians
avoid the cross, even though the very icon of our faith
is Christ crucified. Even though Jesus himself says that
if we are to be his disciples we are to take up our cross
daily.
Even
Christian preachers have resorted to preaching the gospel
of prosperity in order to attract followers or to preserve
their flock. But this false gospel shuns or minimizes the
cross. When we embrace the gospel of prosperity, then we
have taken the broad road. Did not God allow Job, who was
prosperous in all things (wealth, family, renown), to be
afflicted and to lose everything except his life? It was
only after such affliction that Job finally saw God.
When
we embrace our cross, then we embrace Christ who is on the
cross. Then we will see God for who He truly is, and know
His call to us for what it truly is.
As we enter the narrow gate, we then need to allow two things
to happen. We need to “strike root below and bear
fruit above.” (2 Kgs 19:30). We need to be rooted
in Christ and we need to bear the fruit of the Spirit in
our lives. This is a wonderful picture--a sturdy tree, with
roots deeply imbedded into the ground, and with bountiful
fruit. Paul says, “So, as you received Christ Jesus
the Lord, walk in him,[1] rooted in him and built upon him”
(Col 2:6-7a). If we remain in Jesus (that is, walking with
him and rooted in him), then we will bear much fruit (Jn
15:5).
As
we take root and bear fruit, we also become servants of
Christ and instruments of the Spirit in serving others.
One of the greatest services we can do is the work of evangelization
and mission. This is when we share with others the gift
that God has given us. Our posture, given our experience
of God’s love and goodness, should be this: “what
we have seen and heard we proclaim now to you, so that you
too may have fellowship with us; for our fellowship is with
the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.” (1 Jn
1:3).
God continues to reveal to us through His Spirit “What
eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not
entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those
who love him” (1 Cor 2:9).
We
love God, but more importantly, God loves us. He wants us
not just to hear but to see. God has shown us a bit of His
glory, “the holy mountain, fairest of heights, the
joy of all the earth” (Ps 48:2b). Let us continue
to ponder God’s steadfast love (Ps 48:10) and let
us share that love to all, so that His “praise reaches
the ends of the earth.” (Ps 48:11a).
*
* *
[1]
Along the narrow path.
