Genesis 22:1

Now it was after these things that God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham.”

“Hineni,” he said.   ~(Tree of Life Version)

What are the biggest questions of life?

What is the greatest call?

And what is our best response?

I believe the two most vital questions come from Jesus:

“Who do you say that I am?” and “Do you love me?”

Each of us, sooner or later, in this life or the next, must deeply respond to Jesus’s “Who do you say that I am?” And for those of us who have already given a heart-felt answer, we likely need to be reminded of just who He is.

Once Jesus’s identity is settled through faith within us, we need to answer His “Do you love me?” If we have indeed acknowledged that He is the great, compassionate, merciful, loving, sacrificial, creating, powerful, almighty I AM, hopefully we may be able to answer, perhaps with trembling, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” (John 21)

After this comes Jesus’s challenge/call/command:

“Feed my sheep.”

Minister to my image-bearers. Do unto others as I’ve done to you~in radical equality, wash their feet, show them God, put their needs before your own, teach them, bring my healing and wholeness, overflow with the love of God all over them.

And what is our best response?

“Hinneni.”

This was Abraham’s response, in Hebrew of course, and can be translated as,

Here I am, your servant. I am at your disposal. Tell me what you want me to do!

This is the standard biblical reply. Virtually all of life and all of Scripture, once you take notice, is call and response. From eons ago God calls, “Let there be light!” And there was light. So the very beginning of the world is the result of God’s call. God calls and the world suddenly comes into existence. Much later, Mary responds to God’s incredibly heavy call to bring His Word incarnate into our world with, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

Call and response is the most fundamental structure of our lives.

We are constantly being called by God to give the reply “Hinneni”~”Here I am”, which signals our utter openness to God’s command. In all reality, this is the only response to God that makes any sense at all–complete surrender to His omni-everything! What else is there? Besides our pointless, futile fighting for our own way.

With each unique situation in life, there are multiple calls, therefore, a variety of ongoing responses within hinneni specific to the circumstance before us, as God’s reality is constantly unfolded before us in concert with our willingness, or lack thereof, to answer and act accordingly.

What is God asking of you?

How are you responding?

• “Who do you say that I am?”
• “Do you love me?”
• “Feed my sheep.”
• “Hineni.”

Matthew 14:28-33

Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came towards Jesus.  But when he saw the strong wind he was afraid, and began to sink.

The more people set their eyes on the king’s servants and the more attention they pay to them, the less heed they pay to the king and the less they esteem him.

~St. John of the Cross

This quote has been in my mind for the last two weeks. I feel it names very succinctly what is poisoning so many minds and spirits within the church.

With regard to what we call “church” today, I’m convinced that a large portion of our dysfunction, lack of spiritual health and growth, confusion, dissatisfaction, and unhappiness is due to the fact that we seem to be focused on everything but God.

Most of us would readily agree that there is an obvious toxicity that comes to anyone who is focused on their own problems, on what is wrong with everything, or on what they don’t have.

Yet there’s also a damaging negative impact on spiritual (and emotional) health that comes from too much focus on “good things” that are not Christ Himself. Perhaps it’s looking to preachers, worship leaders, authors, or maybe even “non-human” good things such as books, church services, social justice programs, theology, music, morality, or podcasts.

It’s not that these deserve zero attention, but I believe they have been the stars of our Christian show for a while now, and it’s getting really old, boring, and frustrating. At most, their role should be “supporting cast”.

It’s amazing how many people I’ve encountered over the years who only have an idea of what God is like based on that which is not God. Our earthly parents, especially our fathers, are our first representation of God for most of us, be it good or bad. Then there’s preachers, popes, church people, books or whatever. But rarely do I meet someone who has an unhealthy view of God which came from their actual seeking of God through Jesus, through Scripture, specifically the gospel accounts. Whenever people express their unhealthy views of God, I gently direct them to Jesus Himself, and ask them, “What do you think of Him? All other distractions aside–church people, tragedies, etc. Who is He really?” Generally, there’s silence, some thought or confusion, and then, “I’ve not really thought about that.”

And that is understandable. Few have been challenged with that direct question. But that is the most important question:

“Who do you say that I am?”

That was Jesus’ question on earth two millennia ago, and it is His question to you right now.

“Who do you say that I am?”

At some point, we must all face this question with no help from anyone else.

Please know that I am in no way saying we cannot or do not encounter Christ through other people or countless material sources. I’m just reminding us to ask ourselves, “What am I really seeking?”

Or better,

“Who am I really seeking?”

Acts 2:42

They all gave full attention to the teaching of the apostles and to the common life, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Assiduity. This is an old word I recently discovered and have fallen in love with.

• Constant or close attention to what one is doing
• Archaic–constant attentions to someone
• The quality or state of being
• Persistent personal attention
• Constant or close application or effort; diligence; industry
• Devoted or solicitous attentions
• Application, concentration, intentness, constancy, continuity, perseverance

Oh how we need assiduity in our prayer life and Scripture meditation! How many of us have a dedicated time daily, or even weekly, for nothing but God–to focus on nothing but God alone so that we may be able to actually absorb His life? And this through His Scripture, and in prayer.

To just sit with a passage of Scripture with nothing on our mind but listening to the Holy Spirit through it, and what she might want to teach and say to us right now. We often “use” Scripture to bolster what we already know or think (or think we know) or to justify what we’re already doing.

I love the idea of constancy, consistency, and persistence that this word encompasses alongside the close attention and focus.

What do you keep coming back to over and over?

Whatever it is, intentional or not, it is shaping you, I promise.

I wonder what would happen if people who identified themselves as Christians kept coming back to times of prayer, everyday, over and over again.

What if we really took (made) time to sit and pray for each other in assiduity?

To take just 15 minutes a day to do nothing but focus on God through Scripture and in prayer….