Somehow my posts from last week and yesterday got messed up, and two of them didn’t post and are now lost to the mystery of the internet. Apologies to those who were reading them. Not a good start to my Lenten discipline. I think the issue is cleared up, so here we go…
In today’s Daily Lectionary we read Hebrews 3.1-11. In verses 5-6 we are likened to a house, our bodies are dwelling places for God’s revelation in Christ. In scripture we read about people refusing God’s entrance into their lives, and they suffer for it every time. They were not necessarily punished, but without God in their lives they were easily led down dangerous and often selfish paths.
It is easy to be tempted by the myth of self-sufficiency—God knows I battle with that every day. But we can never fully be ourselves without allowing God to enter into us and be our guide, our plumb line. Things will not necessarily be easier or without struggle—for God often calls us to do difficult things for the sake of the world—but we will feel more complete and full, able to hold firm “the confidence and the pride that belongs to hope,” as the author of Hebrews writes (3.6).
Allowing God into my life is a dangerous and wonderful thing. I pray I may be more faithful in this, and accept the risks involved. The risks are evident in Luke 9.51, when Jesus, in whom God fully dwelt, turns directly toward the center of power:
As the time approached when Jesus was to be taken up into heaven, he determined to go to Jerusalem. (CEB)
Letting God in is an invitation to a more fulfilling life, but also a resolute life in which we are called to go to and step into suffering and speaking truth to the sources of suffering. I realize there are risks. But I have found that the rewards and opportunities are so much greater. May we welcome God to dwell within us all!