You do not have because you do not ask. (James 4:3)

Jesus was quite clear on how we should understand the Father. It was quite simple… The Father loves you! Over and over and over Jesus revealed this reality to His disciples and the people that followed Him. Even the signs and wonders he did were merely to reveal the heart of the Father to the world. Love, Love, Love!

It is strange how although every page of the Gospels is filled with this message, people still somehow miss it. But I think I know what the reasons for this are.

For some it is the fact that they never received love from their earthly father, and so they do not have a  framework from which to understand the love of their heavenly Father. And although they might understand that the Father loves them in theory, it has never become (what some would call) a “heart revelation” and because of that they have never experienced it either.

The other thing is that people often read what they want to read. They focus on what they want to focus. People who are pursuing righteousness on their own will see all the rules and commandments of the Lord, and miss the elements connected to grace and love. Others, who are fixated on theology will look at the scriptures from an academic perspective and try to validate opinions with theological arguments instead of just accepting and living out the beautiful truths within it. And the list carries on.

But no matter what you do or do not see in the scriptures and no matter what your motive or framework, the point remains. God loves you with an unquenchable fiery love.

Now the question arises: How do you let the Lord’s love in? How do you let the Lord love you?

Well, let me illustrate using a personal example.

I was fortunate enough to grow up with a very loving father. And although he is not perfect (like all fathers), He did get one thing right – He loved unconditionally.  No matter what I did or how I acted, his love never changed. In fact, it would usually only get stronger. And, although he had certain normal expectations of me (like passing high school…), even when I didn’t live up to them all, He never rejected me. He always loved me for me, in the good times and especially in the bad times. He was without a doubt a gift from above designed to teach me the heart of my Heavenly Father. And the main thing I learnt was that the Father loves unconditionally.

Secondly, I learnt that the Father actually likes loving me. You see, when you have a loving father, he is not shy to give you affection. My father wore his heart on his sleeve. He told us every day how much he loved us and confirmed it with his actions. He was open and real about his love for us. It was not something he would hide away. In fact, he would express it passionately, with daily hugs, kisses, and often with tears in his eyes. He actually enjoyed loving us. And his emotions and affections towards us confirmed it. And so by this I learnt that unconditional love has an expression. It is a daily experience. Not just an understanding. And just like my Father’s excitement and enthusiasm to pour his love onto me, I learnt that my heavenly Father absolutey delights in and desires to pour His love onto us daily.

Now, you might be asking, “so, if God loves me like this, why do I not feel loved? Why do I not experience the daily outworking of His unconditional love? Where is the affection?”

The answer is two-fold. In many respects you do experience the outworking of His unconditional love without even realising it. As a child, the bed that you sleep in, the food that you eat, and the clothing that you wear are all tangible outworkings of your Father’s love. They are Provision. A very powerful and practical expression of a Father’s love. Jesus helps us understand this reality on many occasions in the gospels. And the main way we are taught to access this is by asking.

…ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7

…how much more will the heavenly Father give… to those who ask him!” Luke 11:13

Now, the emotional side of love, like receiving hugs, kisses and hearing the words “I love you” are also very important. And usually this is the side that most people are looking for. They want a love that makes them “feel” loved. They want affection. And there is nothing wrong with that. We were designed to need and enjoy affection. And the Father desires to give you this love just as much as He desires to provide for you.

The question is “How do you experience it? How do you let the Lord love you with affection?”

Well, the answer is simple: Just ask! The Father knows that you need affection. He has designed you that way. In fact, he designed you that way so that you could experience his Love in greater depth. And just like He provides for your physical needs, He will also provide for you emotional needs. He will provide ALL your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:19) So do not be afraid or shy. He delights to give you His Love. He delights to provide for you. It is just who He is. A loving Father.

So Just Ask!

Although this is really the basis of Christian life, so many Christians move on from it after initially meeting the Lord, especially those who get saved (meet the Lord) radically and then get caught up in organisational forms of religious service. Some Christians who have grown up in systemised church have sadly never even touched it, for although they know theologically that the Lord loves them (and often hear it preached on Sunday’s), they have truly never experienced it as an ongoing reality. And although they might say that they know the Lord loves them, their internal minds often ask questions concerning the opposite: “Does the Lord actually love me?” “Why do I feel so condemned?” “Is the lord pleased with me?” “Am I a good Christian?” and so on. This is more of a reality than we think, and although most believers usually say the right things, that which is happening on the inside of them is often quite the opposite.

This dear brothers and sisters more than anything, saddens the Lord’s heart greatly. For His desire is that all his chosen saints, all his beloved would experience daily the Love that he has for them.

And so the question that we need to consider is “How do we let the Lord love us?” For we know that it is what he desires to do, but how do we experience it? How does it become our reality? How?

Dear saints, in many ways this is very simple. But as mentioned in previous posts, it is our interpretation of scripture, the religious communities we are a part of, and our own personal mental frameworks that usually complicate it all for us. Sadly, these elements combine to form a complicated mess that leaves us enslaved and therefore unable to access the free truths that are in Christ.

And even though the answer to these questions are simple, the journey of getting there is different for each person. For some it is an easy aspect to grasp and then experience, whereas for others it takes seconds to understand, and years to learn and eventually enjoy as a daily reality. And so, for this reason, I have decided to do a series of posts that will hopefully shed more light on the matter. You see, hearing a truth means nothing unless one is able to actually internalise it. And so it will be my quest in the next few posts to help us renew our framework in such a way that the simple truth’s connected to the Lord’s awesome love can be accepted, digested, and enjoyed!

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Brothers and sisters, this is the first and fundamental element of Christianity. The Lord’s love!

However, for the most part, it is only a mental note to most and not a reality in practice. There are many reasons for this, and most of them are connected to religious practice that we learn in systemised forms of church and the lens through which those practices encourage us to interpret the bible.

Many of us have learnt that once you get saved (once you meet the Lord Jesus), and you’ve had your initial “honeymoon” phase with him, well then real life begins.  The time of aimlessly just discovering the wonders of His person get put aside for doing the good works that He has asked us to do. And although this is never taught out loud, it does not have to be. The mere culture and order of the religious community speak this loud and clear. And so you learn it almost by osmosis. And that “first love” you have fades away and your Christian life becomes something of a typical marriage that we see in films – the type that is for the most part loveless, and filled with all kinds of blissful discontent. And even though you do not want this to be so, and you desire daily to love the Lord more, you feel like you just cannot get there.

My friends, this should not be so!

Within real love, there is no expectation, there is no guilt, there is no fear. And if these feelings are alive in your Christian walk, well  then you are not walking in the Love of the Lord. You are walking in something entirely different… Religion (Works, Duty… doing stuff for the Lord out of obligation, and for the most part, fear of judgement and failure). This might be hard for some to hear, but it is the reality. The scriptures are very clear about the feelings associated with walking with the Lord, they are peace, joy, and an overwhelming sense of righteousness (right standing with God… Him being pleased with you). And if you are not experiencing those, well then you need to ask yourself why. Many Christians are in this place, and sadly, many of them fake those feelings or suppress the reality of their discontent. The reason why they do so are numerous and multi-layered, but it ultimately comes back to their interpretation of scripture and understanding of the Lord’s heart.

What if I told you that if you never do another thing for the Lord accept allow Him to love you, He will be pleased with you? In fact, what if I told you that this is what pleases Him the most?!

Well, brothers and sisters, I will not say this to you, but instead allow Him to in paraphrased version of Luke 10:38-42:

As my disciples and I came to a village, there was a woman named Martha that opened her home for me. She had a sister called Mary, who instinctively came to sit at my feet and absorbed every element of my love and person as I sat and taught. Sadly Martha was very distracted with all the so-called preparations that had to be made, preparations that I had never requested. After a while she came to me asking “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the important work by myself?” Tell her to help me!”

Martha, Martha” I replied, saying, “you are so worried and upset about many things that although are very nice, are not important. Few things are needed Martha, in fact only one thing is important, and Mary has chosen it. She has chosen what is better, and I will certainly not take it away from her.”  

This passage more than any in the bible, shows us that the Lord is not looking for us to do stuff for him. In fact, what is more important to Him is that we humbly just let Him pour Himself out into us. That we let him Love us. And if you look at the scriptures through this lens, the one that is shaped with the question “Who is the Lord and how can I learn from Him and absorb His person?” rather than the one that says “What duties has he given and how can I go about pleasing him with my actions?,” you will notice a very beautiful reality! He just wants to love you! Everything else is designed to flow our of that naturally.

So more so than the first step we take, this is the foundation upon which a relationship with Him is built. It is not something we just step on initially and then leave as we venture further. No, it is the very foundation. The very basis of relationship with Him. That upon which everything else is built. That from which everything else grows.

The only way we can truly love him the way he desires to be loved, is if we first embrace his love for us. If we learn how to live by his love. How to drink it in, eat it up, bathe in it, sit by it, drown in it, live in it. It must become our core. Our foundation. That which moves and motivates us. That which energises and compels us. That which stirs and drives us. Only then can we truly please the Lord with what we do. For then His love will be what drives us. Not our sense of duty, our understanding of right and wrong, or our fear of judgement. No, the overwhelming beauty and unconditional love that is His person.

So LET the Lord Love you! For in doing so you will ultimately and effortlessly fulfill the law and all the prophets. And you will live a life that is above all, pleasing to God. For His highest pleasure is to pour His love out into the people that He has made (not to see them doing stuff for him). It is the very reason He created us. To live by His indwelling life. To be moved and motivated by the very essence of His being. To be sustained and made fully alive by nothing other than His love. This is His desire for you. In fact, this is His highest will for you. Not duty or expectation, but love.

So let Him do it. Let Him be the person He is. Let Him express Himself the way he wants to. Let Him Be the God that He desires to be. Stop everything else and Let Him love you! Let the Lord Love You!

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This is completely understandable. Every person is different and will therefore naturally have their own unique way of looking at life and the scriptures. The problem is not so much having a different perspective of scripture, but having a “distorted” or “incomplete” view of God.  Our understanding of the scriptures is directly proportional to our relationship with God. It informs and defines how we relate to Him and how we believe He relates to us. And this is why it is so important that we have the correct perspective and understanding of what it says. Because how we understand scripture ultimately defines how we see God.

For this reason, it is very important to look at scripture holistically and in context. We should not just take a piece of scripture and apply it to our life blindly (but this is what most do). We need to understand what was being said to who, why it was being said, when it was said, who wrote it, and so forth. All these elements will help us understand what God was communicating about himself, which will ultimately help us understand who He is. And better understanding who He is, helps us relate to Him better, which is ultimately His desire and the purpose of the scriptures: So we may KNOW Him!

This is important. Although the scriptures accomplish many things, its purpose is that we may KNOW Him through it. Not so much that we would obey him and do everything it says, but rather that we would get a revelation of who He is.

With that being said, many of you may look at scripture as a long line of duties. Serve me, feed my sheep, love your neighbour as yourself, follow me, do not be luke warm, and so forth. And depending on what lens you use to look at the scriptures through, this may be all you see. Expectation. Responsibility. Duty. The problem with that lens is that it ultimately results in failure, dissapointment, and  guilt. The hundreds of “expectations” the Lord reveals through the scriptures are not designed to give us a list of things to do. But they are actually designed to teach us about Himself.

Here is a good example. When a man makes certain rules for his household, you get to understand what type of man he is. If he makes a rule that the family must sit around a dinner table every night when eating, it tells you that He values family time and wants to see his family grow with a healthy sense of communication and relational balance. When he makes a rule that his daughter may not date until she is 18, you can see that he loves his daughter and wants to protect her until she is ready to venture the maze of relationships. His family may sometimes break the rules that he sets, and that is ok. A loving Father does not want rule-keepers, but wives and children that love him, and desire to please him. For that reason, He does not make rules to be kept blindly – like if a his son sits at the table every night without saying a word just to keep the rule – that would be missing the point. No, he makes rules because they express his fatherhood. They reveal his love. They ensure that his wisdom and ways are established. So more than anything, they are a reflection of His character as a Father. And the same is true of the scriptures, and especially all the rules within it.

So, the scriptures can say many different things, it all depends on the lens you look through. If you want to see rules, you will see rules, probably followed with an expectation to have to fulfill them. But if you want know God, you will look at those same rules and you will see His heart and character, which will naturally be followed with a reverence and love for Him.

The beauty of this lens, is that when getting to know the Lord and falling in love with His character, you are naturally filled with a desire to please him. And this is the way He desires it. He is not interested in people that obey for the sake of obeying. He does not want your “sacrifice”. God is interested in getting to know you. He wants friends. Family members that will get to know Him and love Him back by doing things that please him. And if they do not, does He hold it against them or make them feel guilty for not doing it? No, He does not. He simply continues loving them so that by being reminded of His wonderful character they will naturally be compelled again to love Him back in the ways that He desires.

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ah, Love… That wonderful yet mysterious topic. One that somehow seems to remain an anomaly for most of the human race (and especially the feminine side of it….;).

Although love is actually quite simple, somehow we seem to complicate it for ourselves. Does she still love me? Am I good enough? Maybe I will never get married? Does he think I’m beautiful? There are a myriad of questions that can go through our hearts when considering the subject of love. Sometimes they are directed towards a person, and other times (for the single folk), they just swim around in our heads, plaguing us with the fears of loneliness and rejection.

The truth is, Love is actually not complicated at all. We just complicate it for ourselves. And for the most part, this is because we do not understand how love works, and because of that we end up having the wrong expectations or end up looking for love in the wrong places, or both. Wrong expectations usually lead to dissapointment, which is followed by feelings of rejection. And when we find love in the wrong places, we end up with much of the same emotions, tied up with extra hurt and baggage as well. It all ends up being a vicious cycle that we cannot seem to find success in.

The reason for this is very simple again. We were made to love. Every single person has been designed to have an insaciable desire to love and be loved. Why? Because we were made for love. God designed us in such a way that we would find our fulfillment in him. And because he is love, He designed us to live by Him through Him and to Him. He, His person, His Nature (love) being the coals that fuel the fire of love within us.

Now, to make this practical: Love is something like food. It comes in many different forms and varieties. The choices we have for food are almost limitless. There’s roast beef, there’s a sandwich, a pie, lasagne, fried eggs, bacon, chicken, leg of lamb, and you get the picture. There are thousands, if not tens of thousands of different food types and meals. And although there are many varieties, the result of eating is essentially the same no matter what you eat…. nourishment. On its most basic level, food and eating is designed to sustain our life. What you eat (bar non-nourishing food) is not as important as eating. The point is ultimately to be nourished and sustained.

Now Love although a person (God), comes in many forms. It comes in the form of a new bicycle from a father, in a warm cooked meal from a mother, in an sms from a friend, in a birthday card. Love is all around us. God has made himself available to us in many different forms. The question is, are we taking Him in? Are we honouring (eating) the love that we have?

What would you say to a hungry person who upon receiving a slice of bread said,  ”I don’t want that, I WANT ROAST BEEF!”

Well, I would probably say that the were ungrateful and not give them anything ever again.

And the same is true for love. Most of us do not actually honour and enjoy the love that God has already given us. So instead of being satisfied with what we receive, we constantly lust after the type of love that we want. This is generally the fine dining uber magnificent love of a partner. We live unsatisfied disappointed lives because we do not have roast beef, instead of realising the variety of foods that the Lord has laid out before us. Instead of appreciating that which he gives us, we sit and complain like spoilt children, or run off and try to find it for ourselves like rebellious children. Neither attitude will result in what we want, or give us what we were designed to have.

Now, any good parent knows not to give a child what they want, especially when they are ungrateful with what they have received already. Such a child needs to be disciplined. Such a child needs to learn how to appreciate what they get before they can get what they desire. And the Lord, who is a loving and good Father, knows exactly how to work with such children. He is excellent at it!

So if you are in a position where you feel dissatisfied because you do not have a partner, ask yourself the following questions:

How has God made himself (love) available to me already? And then, “Am I honouring and enjoying it with a grateful heart?”

And if you are currently in a relationship where you feel dissatisfied or often find yourself in relationships that either leaves you broken or causes destruction in your life you should ask yourself the following questions:

“How has God made Himself (healthy love) available to me already?” And then “How can I eat the good stuff and stop eating the bad?”

Answering these questions honestly will help us determine our heart’s approach to the Lord and the love that he has so lavishly given us. And if we can learn how to honour and enjoy the love that the Lord has already given us, He will certainly give us more… maybe even the types that we so desire…;)

Lord, may we understand that you are our Father and that you know best. You made us and know exactly what we need and when we need it. We can trust you to provide for all our needs. And especially our need for love. You are all too aware of it, for you designed us with it. May we learn to rely on your discretion in this area and be grateful for your provision. For there is always enough!

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I have been taking a breather from blogging for the last month. Because I lecture at CPUT in Cape Town during the term, this time is considered something of a vacation for me (yes, lucky me). But although there has been a break from the university, I have been quite busy with other things.

That being said, I have also taken the time to think about this blog and where it fits into my life. I love blogging. I appreciate the way one can express your thoughts and feelings in a structured way to people who are actually interested in what you have to say. I enjoy putting posts together, especially when they are about my favourite topic and person, Jesus Christ and Gods eternal purpose in Him.

The specific angle of this blog has been to consider how we can walk with God as friend and get to know him for who He really is. This in many ways sums up my journey thus far with God. It has been one of friendship. And what a life-changing journey it has been. One that I would like to share with you in more detail as we go forward on I call you Friend.

Until now, blog posts have mostly been connected to “revelation” that either I or another author has received from the Lord through the scriptures. This has come through spending hours studying the word and asking God to give revelation on certain topics. These times have been especially blessed, and I am glad that we could have shared these wonderful truths with all of you on this blog. “Pressing into scripture” is one of the most rewarding and revelatory things any human can do, and I encourage you, if God gives you the time and space in which to do so, go for it! It is well worth it. It will take you to new heights and especially depths in your relationship with the Lord.

For me, the seasons are a changing, and I am moving into one that promises to be filled with lots of hard work and practical significance. And while I am both grateful and excited to be entering into it, I am also aware of my love for blogging and my commitment to continue doing so. For that reason, I have had to consider how I go about developing blog posts. Before, as mentioned, I would spend lots of time reading and praying before and during writing blog posts. But now, because of the shift in my life, I will not always be able to do so.

Now, when it comes to writing, there are only two places that you can get “inspiration” from. One is through reading and in my case praying as well, and the other is from ones past. Our minds and hearts are filled with all kinds of knowledge that we have learnt over the years as we have lived and walked. And it is quite simple to access this knowledge and share it with those around us. Many call this “experience.” It is something we all have and all access on a daily basis. And its easy to do so, because it is already there, we don’t still need to “study” or seek it out. We can just remember it, package it in a form that our listeners/ readers can understand and then share…

Now, because of the season that I am moving into, I will begin drawing from my journey with the Lord in sharing and writing. This will mean that I can continue blogging because posts will take me a significantly shorter time to write and prepare. That does not mean that I will completely stop searching the scriptures for truth and revelation, just that I am not limited to that form of information only.

For me, what is important, is that I stay doing what I enjoy while continuing to connect with all of you in our journey with the Lord as our eternal God and friend. Because he is so worth it!

So with that, I have a question: What are your thoughts on the difference between Revelation and Experience?

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A while back I asked the readers of this blog to give me their “2 cents” on what they thought the Tree of Life is. The idea was that I would incorporate these comments into upcoming blog posts about the Tree of Life. There were a range of different answers all focusing on different elements. And since then I have done one post entitled Christ, the Tree of Life that incorporates the comments of three bloggers that subscribe to this blog.

Today I would like to consider whether the Tree of Life was Literal, Symbolic or Both…?

Some of the comments connected to this aspect were as follows:

Nic, blogging here at I call you Friend

I asked my wife what she thought the tree of life was. She said that if we believe the garden was a real garden, then we should really believe the tree was a real tree. Good point!

Lynley, blogging at The Honest One

I think with all things in scripture there is the literal and the deeper meaning. Personally I think it was a literal tree (remembering that heaven and earth were connected at that point). That said, within heaven (where God is) I believe though the tree can be a literal tree, it does not mean Christ is a tree. It could simply mean that Christ is representing Himslef in the tree to us, because we derive an understanding of a tree.

Tobie, blogging at Natural Church

Ahh… The Tree of Life. Here’s some thoughts for consideration (Hope it’s worth two cents!):

1. If it’s a tree, then it’s a thing (an “it”, if you wish), which cannot be, as God does not allow his life to dwell in things.
2. If it’s not a tree, we have a problem. I don’t need to tell you why. Good, solid fundamentalists like John MacArthur will do so. Besides, as an earlier commentator has pointed out, then it also may not be a real garden. Or a serpent. Or an actual woman. Or… You get the point.

This means that it has to be a tree, but it cannot be a tree containing the actual life of God (or any other type of spiritual life, for that matter, for all life comes from God and originates in him). And so, I suspect, the way out of the dilemma is not to see an enchanted tree, but an actual tree functioning as a symbol. (To see the rest of this comment please go here and scroll down to the bottom of the page)

It is clear that all of us see the Tree of life as both a real tree that actually existed. But was it?

I did some research on this topic to discover what the “truth” is behind these questions. So I asked a few people questions relating to this and one person that I trust and respect in particular pointed me in the direction of what is known as Narrative Theology.

Narritive theology is associated with the idea that we are not primarily to learn principles, rules or laws from Scripture, but rather we are to learn to relate to God. In other words, the Bible’s stories are not designed to teach us scientific or theoretical facts, but are there to teach us truth. We are supposed to learn from those truths, and apply these lessons to our lives. As such, we should interpret and apply these stories according to the original intentions of the authors of Scripture—this is why the stories have been preserved for us (see Romans 15:4). (For more on Narritive Theology and how it relates to Systematic and Biblical Theology go here. Also, see N.T Wright on Narrative Theology)

So, with that in mind, what was the original intention of the author/s who wrote Genesis?

Well, from what I have picked up through my readings, it is suggested that Moses wrote the book of Genesis while he was traveling through the Wilderness with the Israelites. It is inferred that he got most of the information from the Israelites themselves who conveyed their history to him as they had carried it on through stories (illiterate cultures have been found to have a very good memory, especially with regards to the history of their culture and family trees). However, the actual creation account in Genesis 1 and 2 could not have been retold by the Israelites and for this reason most biblical scholars assume that God relayed this information directly to Moses just like the angel told John what to write in the book of Revelation.

Fundamentally then, the 5 books that Moses wrote/compiled, known as the Pentateuch or Torah (which means “to teach”) were written to do just that… teach the Israelites about their history and most importantly, their journey and relationship with God. Hence, it was written in the form of a story book. It was designed in many ways to be read like we would read stories to our kids today. The stories are often imaginative, but carry within them certain meanings and lessons that are passed along to the hearers.

Now, I am in no way suggesting that the events in Genesis are not true or historical fact, just that they were written in the form of a story and should therefore be read and interpreted in that light. For this reason, I believe that instead of asking the question, “what is the tree of life?” or “was it a real tree?” a more appropriate question considering the intention of the book would be “what do we learn from the tree of life? or “what was God’s intention for man in the Tree of Life?” These would better bring out the LIFE that is embedded in the book of Genesis.

Therefore, trying to figure out what the tree of life actually was is in some ways futile, for it is going down a path that the writer of the book never intended one to pursue. Like trying to determine whether Pinocchio was a real boy. Whether he was or was not really does not matter. What matters is what his life and story teaches little kids (not to lie, amongst other things). And therefore what we learn from the tree of life is what is most important. And that is in many ways simple: God desires to dispense Himself into man so that man can live by his uncreated life. God desires to be eaten. To be partaken of. To be enjoyed like food. And we can know Him in this way today in Christ, our Tree of Life!

So,what is the answer the question: “is the Tree of Life literal, symbolic or both…?”

It does not matter!

Check out this video for another great take on what I have just covered in today’s post:

The Whole Sweep Of Scripture from The Work Of The People on Vimeo.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ You have just finished reading an article entitled The Tree of Life – Literal, Symbolic, or Both…? If you wish to leave a comment, please click on the Comment link below. Also, if you have enjoyed it, please consider sharing it by clicking on the relevant links below the post on the blog. And if you missed last weeks post, click on the link just above the comment box to check it out. Glad to have you aboard!

This is a picture of two drawings that Leonardo da Vinci made when he started asking this very question, but just for the physical body. May we, today, be encouraged to understand the reality of how our Spiritual Bodies work…

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Two weeks ago after posting about Christ being our Tree of Life a set of comments took place that really began a wonderfuly revelatory idea that I would like to share with you. It is connected to our spiritual bodies.

Watchmen Nee writes about this in some length in a book called The Normal Christian Life (very good). In it he looks at the different parts of a human (spirit, soul, and body) and how they all work together. I would definitely recommend it.

But to bring it home for you and to extend the conversation, I would like to post the comments that were made. These comments only really begin a conversation that I believe has the potential to yield some great truth if worked and cultivated a bit by the members of this blog. So, any thoughts would be most appreciated.

What a wonderful thought to exist and be sustained by the life-giving Spirit of Christ! I reckon that God designed our bodies’ relationship to food with this in mind. We actually consist of the food we eat. If you eat some bread, the bread is broken down into tiny molecules which are absorbed into our bloodstream and used to build the tissues that make up our bodies. Even babies being formed in the womb are built together out of the molecules in their mother’s bloodstream! Amazing! This is a faint image of what it means to receive the nourishment of Christ to our spirits. As we feed on Christ, WE BECOME CHRIST! We become one with him! He gives us life!

How do we do this? In what ways can we receive Him as our spiritual nourishment?

In other words, if our physical bodies go through that process to break down food and assimilate it into the body, so too our spiritual bodies must do the same. They must have the ability to “break-down” the food (whether Christ or other) that we eat and then assimilate it into our spiritual bodies.

This is the natural process of growth that the Lord has designed. Just like we do not need to make our stomach break down food, so too we do not need to worry about how our spiritual bodies break down and assimilate food. Our only responsibility is to EAT! The rest of the system has been designed to work automatically. Fascinating. What an excellent system.

This makes one think about how we should approach our Christian lives…. Should we be worrying about growing? Should we be worried about doing things right? Or should we simply be concerned with our eating?

I think that we would fair so much better if we went back to the basics and focused on that which matters most. Eating Christ 3 times a day (as much as possible) and being concerned with eating only Christ, and discarding anything that will not be good for our spiritual bodies. This is how we approach our physical lives, so surely the same principles apply to the spiritual….?

To answer your questions: my thoughts are that we do so in the same way that we would do so in the physical…. by chewing. If we take a portion of scripture that reveals Christ, how do we get the nourishment from it? Well, we need to chew it. And that we do by exercising the same organ we use to eat… our mouths. We speak the scripture, pray the scripture, share the scripture, meditate on the scripture, sing the scripture… we chew and chew and chew, and then swallow of course to let it become a part of us.

Now, this can be done individually and we all need to learn how to eat Christ so that we can move on from the first things, from being fed only like children. We need to learn how to use our cutlery and eat Christ with our own mouths. That is fundamental.

Once we understand this concept for our individual selves and can eat effectively, the next step is learning to do it as a body. To learn how to Share Christ, Chew Christ, and then Swallow Christ together. And this my friend is the glorious life and mystery of organic church life…

So how would you say do our Spiritual Bodies work?

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You have just finished reading an article entitled How do our Spiritual Bodies work? If you wish to leave a comment, please click on the Comment link below. Also, if you have enjoyed it, please consider sharing it by clicking on the relevant links below the post on the blog. And if you missed last weeks post, click on the link just above the comment box to check it out. Glad to have you aboard!

*** This article is part of a blog series about what it means to live with Christ as our source. You can check out the Introduction to the series here. ***

Please do yourself a favour and download this pdf: http://www.thejesusmanifesto.com/JesusManifestoCh8.pdf

It is a free chapter from the book, Jesus Manifesto, written by Frank Viola and Leonard Sweet. It reveals Christ in a very unique way and is directly related to what we have been discussing on this blog the last while.

Here is the description of the book from the website for a bit of context:

Christians have made the gospel about so many things—things other than Christ. Religious concepts, ideas, doctrines, strategies, methods, techniques, programs, and formulas have all eclipsed the beauty, the glory, and the reality of the Lord Jesus Himself. On the whole, the Christian family today is starved for a real experience of the living Christ. We know a lot about our Lord, but we don’t know Him very well. We know a lot about trying to be like Jesus, but very little about living by His indwelling life. “Jesus Manifesto” presents a fresh unveiling of Jesus as not only Savior and Lord, but as so much more. It is a prophetic call to restore the supremacy and sovereignty of Christ in a world—and a church—that has lost sight of Him. Read this book and see your Lord like you’ve never seen Him before.

I would HIGHLY recommend this book. It reveals Christ on every page and really brings one back to the cornerstone of Christianity again. If you like this free chapter, you will LOVE the book. So give it a read and let the Lord speak to your heart. And if you like it enough and would like to get your hands on the book, let me know and I will point you in the right direction.

I’m still very much enjoying the fellowship on this blog. Thanks for all the comments and collaborations. You all make this blog what it is! Enjoy going deeper into the revelation of Christ as your source of life.

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You have just finished reading an article entitled The Forgotten Tree If you wish to leave a comment, please click on the Comment link below. Also, if you have enjoyed it, please consider sharing it by clicking on the relevant links below the post on the blog. And if you missed last weeks post, click on the link just above the comment box to check it out. Glad to have you aboard!

*** This article is part of a blog series about what it means to live with Christ as our source. You can check out the Introduction to the series here. ***

After reading all the comments of those who added their 2 cents to the collaborative Tree of Life discussion, I must say I am very encouraged. There is such a deep sense that the Tree of Life is important. And so much variety in what everyone expressed. Yet at the same time, there was a mysterious synergy in what everyone said.

It is clear that those reading this blog have realised that Christ is the Tree of Life to us today and we can eat of Him to take in the Life of God. That is why He said in John 6 that He is the bread of life and that anyone who eats of him will live (zoe).  And this is a marvellous thing. To be able to take God into us and live by his life. Truly miraculous. In many ways the point of all of scripture and the reason Christ came. “Christ IN you!”  being the mystery of the ages as Paul describes it.

And unless we can receive God in an “edible” form, there is no way to live by Him. Praise God that Christ has become the Tree of Life. That which allows us to take God in. His words, His ways, His life, His death, His resurrection, His person, His all. He is the life of God in an edible, transferrable form.

There is much that can still be said on this topic, but for now, I would like to highlight some of the comments made that relate to this specifically:

 …By considering the name of the tree it becomes clear that the tree of life itself is the tree “of” life, not the tree “from” life or “for” life.. In other words, it houses and gives life, makes and maintains life. In other words, without such a “tree” there would simply be no life.  - Letsego, blogging at Just a thought

…. We get food, shade, and promise of continual life from a tree. I think that is what the tree of life is. The promise of future, continual life. We also cannot eat once from a tree and never go back. We depend on the tree being there and need to return often in order to stay alive. Likewise you cannot connect with Christ once and live, you need to connect regularly to sustain life. – Lynley, blogging at The Honest One

… scripture portrays Jesus as “the bread of life,” “the true vine,” and knowing him IS “eternal life.” He said “I am the way, the truth, and the LIFE!” Why is He life itself? Because HE IS GOD! Man was created to live off God!…Christ is all the life we will ever need now and forever and to feast on Him is available to us now and will be for all eternity. So let’s feast. – Nic, who has done a great series on this blog entitled, God’s Zeal for His House

From these comments we learn something very important. Christ is our Tree of Life. And just like our physical bodies need nourishment 3 times a day to live, so too our spiritual bodies need to eat of Christ often. Also, just as we do not eat the same thing every day, so too we can enjoy different aspects of Christ and also feast on him with others, just as we would eat together in our families and with friends. We do not only need to eat to survive, we can enjoy our eating. We can FEAST on Christ, and we can FEAST on Him together. Halleluiah! Praise the Lord that once again we can live by and enjoy the life of God together!

May we regularly eat of Him together with great enthusiasm and unity.

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You have just finished reading an article entitled Christ, the Tree of Life! If you wish to leave a comment, please click on the Comment link below. Also, if you have enjoyed it, please consider sharing it by clicking on the relevant links below the post on the blog. And if you missed last weeks post, click on the link just above the comment box to check it out. Glad to have you aboard!