A Good Reason to Get Real
I'm reading Richard Rohr's book Everything Belongs right now and when I came to a passage about using humility to get ahead, I unfortunately identified. Rohr talks about using the language of descent to make an ascent. That is, using the language of humility or spirituality to fit in or be accepted in a given culture.
The Bible contains a recurring phrase that goes something like this: they will get their reward in full…The context changes, of course, but the idea is the same. The idea is that we can really know God and walk with Him in peace, or we can use Him to fit in with a religious social group. The real reward is God, not the group. And besides, when we do things for real, we get both God and connection to the group, so why not be the real thing?
But motives are tough to decipher, and we can go crazy wondering whether we are being authentic. So how do we know if we are really spiritual, if we really love God? The answer lies in our actions. If we are talking one way and living another, we are just using the language of God to manipulate a group of people into affirming us. God says of us, then, that we have our reward in full. And He's right. I don't know about you, but I want more. I want the real stuff.
A Good Reason to Get Real is a post from: Donald Miller's Blog
newest »
Donald Miller's Blog
- Donald Miller's profile
- 2736 followers
Just finished reading Father Fiction and posted a review on GOODREADS! I love the book...had a parent who was the point of greatest hurt of anyone in my life and let me tell you I have the hardest time forgetting. I forgive the hurt, but to have to BE in that parent's presence just about sends me backward ten steps.
I recommend this book to anyone who's hurt was so close and so powerfully edgy in our lives that we have to RUN to God praying He will teach us how to love them!
Said that to say...I have to be watchful that I DON'T let others define me, even when I need their approval. It must come from GOD! Still working on that....