Copyright 2014 by Shea Oakley
\nAll rights reserved<\/p>\n
It has been said that, as Christians, we must become \u201cnothing\u201d in our own eyes. This is, in a sense, true but we do not achieve it by hating ourselves so much as in forgetting ourselves. When this happens on a purely human level it is always a function of our attention becoming fixed on someone or something else. As believers we most truly and fully become nothing in our own eyes when God becomes everything.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not sure that it is possible for a human being, including one in a saving relationship with his or her Lord, to live all of the time with Him at the center of their consciousness. Most of us cannot even say that He occupies this place most of the time, let alone all. That said, it is only during such moments or periods of \u201cGod-focus\u201d that we are most free of the tyranny of self. Such a state is most devoutly to be sought. It is there that we discover both our highest good and the ability to seek the highest good of others.<\/p>\n
Most of us find ourselves living in a time and place in human history when we feel a constant and strong pull towards distraction. It has become difficult in this 21st Century to stay focused on anything for very long and the problem is not just one of duration. Even when we do succeed in concentrating on just one thing we may find the level of concentration reached to be not as deep as might be desired. In our \u201cattention-deficit culture\u201d we sometimes seem to have corporately lost the ability to profoundly contemplate anything.<\/p>\n
This was not so true in centuries past. For most of the Church Age there were many who \u201cpracticed the presence of God\u201d as a vocation. At the least those who were regarded as serious Christians spent hours in serious devotion and adoration (often on the Sabbath Day.) Even if we do not respect a life of total contemplation, the kind manifested in the cloistered existence of a monastery, there is no reason why we cannot carve out significant periods during our waking hours to be contemplative. That we do not is somewhat of an indictment of how much we have been deleteriously caught up in the spirit of these latter times.<\/p>\n
The other, more serious, problem is that if we are not distracted by the lesser things of a perhaps suicidally busy world we tend to be thinking about our own interests or, more specifically, about ourselves. Self-centeredness is the most obvious legacy of the fall of humanity, probably because it is also the most pervasive. The believer must constantly call and rely on the power of the Holy Spirit if there is to be any hope of attaining a lasting victory over this aspect of our \u201cold man\u201d. Self-centeredness does not simply fall away as an immediate function of conversion to Christ. It must be pursued, and pursued consistently.<\/p>\n
One of the best ways to do this is to seek what we today often call \u201calone-time\u201d, specifically alone-time with the Lord. The purposeful pursuit of solitude in regards to human company is not the sole purview of the monk or the religious hermit and never has been. Throughout the Christian centuries there have been those who have found ways to balance human company with time spent alone with their Redeemer. It is in these hours or days spent pursuing God and God alone that they have achieved \u201cthe Beatific Vision\u201d, moments when He has become everything in their eyes. In this sweet communion they found new love for God and, as a sort of natural (or supernatural) byproduct, a fresh love for their fellow travelers here on earth as well.<\/p>\n
It is true that this is also a difficult thing to do in these times. Both distraction and self-worship are no doubt rife today, but the Spirit of God is still here to make this journey of Godly solitude possible. It begins with a desire for God to be more deeply our all-in-all then becoming consciously linked with active prayer for the Spirit to move us in such a way as to make that possible. This must translate into willed action to \u201ccome apart and be separate\u201d from the world for regular periods in our lives. These periods seem to most perfectly align with a weekly Sabbath (or at least they have for the author) but seeking them on a daily basis is certainly not impossible either. Annual or more frequent retreats may also have the same effect.<\/p>\n
However we pursue remembering God to forget ourselves the pursuit is worth whatever sacrifice of time that might be required. By putting Him first in our consciousness we eventually realize that we not only find Him, but begin to find our new selves\u2026our new lives in Him as well. We discover that it was never God\u2019s intention to somehow annihilate us as much as it was to give us that life which shall endure forever\u2026in and with Him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Copyright 2014 by Shea Oakley All rights reserved It has been said that, as Christians, we must become \u201cnothing\u201d in our own eyes. This is, in a sense, true but we do not achieve it by hating ourselves so much as in forgetting ourselves. When this happens on a purely human level it is always… <\/p>\n