Manning Monday

There are certain burning questions that every Christian must answer in total candor. Do you hunger for Jesus Christ? Do you yearn to spend time alone with him in prayer? Is he the most important person in your life? Does he fill your soul like a song of joy? Is he on your lips as a shout of praise? Or has he been smothered by distractions, nullified by pride? Do you eagerly turn to his memoirs, his Testament, to learn more of him? Do you thirst for the living water of his Holy Spirit? Are you making the effort to die daily to anything and everything that inhibits, diminishes, or threatens your friendship with him?

To ascertain where you really are with the Lord, recall what saddened you the past month. Was it the realization that you do not love Jesus enough? That you did not seek his face in prayer often enough? That you did not care for his people enough? Or did you get depressed over a lack of respect, criticism from an authority figure, your finances, a lack of friends, fears about the future, or your bulging waistline?

Conversely, what gladdened you this past month? Reflection on your election to the Christian community? The joy of saying slowly, "Abba, Father"? The afternoon you stole away for two hours with only the gospel as your companion? A small victory over selfishness? Or were the sources of your joy a new care, a Brooks Brothers suit, a great date, great sex, a raise, or a loss of four inches from your hips?

So begins chapter 3 of The Importance of Being Foolish - and he goes right for the throat. Yeah, his examples show particularly where HE is in life, and most of the "or did you"s above don't really apply to me. But I found in reading it that in the past month my joy and my sadness come from "all of the above". I really do have thought I don't love Jesus enough, haven't spent enough time in prayer, as well as whining about my finances, future and fatness. Conversely, I have found great joy in my being a child of God, saying Abba, Father, as well as in some more...carnal...things...

So...it's a falsehood setting this up as a dichotomy - as if there's only "completely sold out on Jesus" or "completely self-absorbed." We're both. There's not just two kinds of people in the world**** - it's a whole range of Jesus loving, self-absorbed, right thinking, wrong doing, loving, hating people... A continuum, right? And we move along it, one day here, the next there. I express my love for God more one day than another...

But do I love God any less on that "other" day?

Still, Manning's questions in the first paragraph are worth asking ourselves, I think. Do I hunger for Jesus? Do I yearn to spend more time with him? IS he the most important person in my life?

No answers, just questions...

**** EVERY time someone sets up a false dichotomy like this, my mind goes right to this scene from What About Bob? (wish I had a video link for it...)

Dr. Leo Marvin: Are you married?
Bob Wiley: I'm divorced.
Dr. Leo Marvin: Would you like to talk about that?
Bob Wiley: There are two types of people in this world: Those who like Neil Diamond, and those who don't. My ex-wife loves him.
Dr. Leo Marvin: [pause] I see. So, what you're saying is that even though you are an almost-paralyzed, multiphobic personality who is in a constant state of panic, your wife did not leave you, you left her because she... liked Neil Diamond?