Tag Archives: michael casey

Daily Meditations

The Basis of Life

Leave a comment

I have been reading the latest book by one of my 5 favorite authors of all time, Michael Casey. His new book The Longest Psalm is absolutely fire (like Holy Spirit fire). At 82 years old he is still bringing the thunder, and I am continually inspired and refreshed by his deeper-than-the-Mariana-Trench insights into humanity. The Longest Psalm is, of course, on Psalm 119 which has 176 verses. He offers a meditation on each verse, and so far, they are all gold. I’m on verse 64, in case you were wondering.

There’s a phrase I came across that really struck me and has stayed with me like none other. It is this: “The basis of life is gratitude not accomplishment.”

The simplicity and profundity of this sentence. It goes against much of the world’s ways of thought I suppose. With this pithy thought I have found much freedom. It is a wholly fresh way to engage each day and each experience.

This truth was reinforced a week ago during my time of lectio divina over John 16:31-33 which ends with Jesus saying, “You’ll have trouble in the world. But cheer up! I have defeated the world!” I sat meditating on this for some time, and have often wondered over the years what exactly Jesus meant by this. Then the Michael Casey phrase entered my mind as I was seeking the Lord Spirit’s wisdom, and I realized that this is at least one aspect of the meaning behind Jesus’s defeat of the world.

As He said, we will indeed have troubles in the world; it seems there is just no guarantee against that. But we as believers and partakers of the Divine Life offered by Christ realize that there is a new basis of life which does not follow the stressed out masses of the world. Our motivation and satisfaction come from another place if we have genuinely accepted the truth Jesus brought to us from the Father. As we live in God’s light we live on this basis of gratitude and do not feel we must compete and win and accomplish in order to feel and know that we are someone, that we are valued. We already know that we are of infinite value and are cared for more intensely than we can possibly imagine, and are subsequently free to bask in the smile of our wonderful Creator at the end of the day.

It is this “basking” which is that gratitudinal basis of life that allows us to engage creatively with reality and then, in turn, accomplish exactly what we are meant to do without any unhealthy pressure.

Daily Meditations

The Grace of Faith

Leave a comment

I’ve been working through my favorite author’s latest work, and recently read a chapter entitled “The Grace of Faith”. It is so rich and insightful and wonderful, that I want to share some of it with you for our Hebrews 11 reflection on faith. Actually, I’d love to share the whole awesome chapter with you, but that’d be a bit much for an email I guess. Therefore, I’ll keep it to a couple paragraphs.

Our having received the gift of faith should not lead us to complacency. We who practice religion should not consider ourselves untouched by the secular skepticism that surrounds us. Our faith, perhaps without knowing it, is not absolute. More often than not our understanding of it is qualified, partial, and undeveloped, and so our assent is incomplete. For example, we will often find ourselves buttressing our presentation of religion by appealing to its visible benefits; its works of compassion and education, its ethical and moral guidance, its role in personal well-being. So eloquent are we in religion’s defense that we may convince even ourselves that its principal value is to be found in these collateral benefits. And meanwhile we become forgetful of the “supernatural” basis of all our faith and practice.

It is possible to admire Jesus as a great teacher of wisdom and as a model of genuine humanity and, with great sincerity of heart, to become his enthusiastic followers by purely rational or historical grounds—just as some may become followers of Socrates, the Buddha, or Karl Marx. Such an adherence is not what Christian discipleship is about. Christianity is more than an identification with an admired leader; it is not merely a philosophy or a code of conduct. Authentic Christianity sees itself as a participation in the life of God through immersion in the mystery of the Word become flesh. At the heart of our adherence to Christ is a truth that surpasses human understanding, one that even we, who accept the truth, cannot fully explain. The gift of faith takes us beyond the known world into a sphere of being that transcends the power of rational thought. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1).

 

Daily Meditations

December 28 / Proverbs 28 / John 21

Leave a comment

Proverbs 28:26

Those who trust in themselves are foolish, but those who walk in wisdom will be kept safe.

What I believe is of the utmost importance in these days of our insanely noisy culture of distraction from what is truly important, are encounters with God in solitude, quiet, and listening.  It is in this place of meditative silence that the many voices competing for our attention are finally able to be turned down. This does not come at once, but with practice.

How can we hear someone except to be quiet and listen for two seconds? The same goes with listening to God. How can we hear Him unless we quiet ourselves and the voices around us so as to actually hear Him who is always speaking to us?

God is spirit, and must be worshipped and communicated with in spirit and in truth.

We don’t expect to see God with our bodily eyes-simply because we can sense only what is spatio-temporally limited. We can’t see God by some sort of intellectual vision, because cognition depends on a sensory infrastructure which cannot contain divinity. It is only at the level of spirit that God is visible. For us to see God we have to leave behind the world of sense, enter the region of unknowing and allow the Holy Spirit to be our guide.”If we have known Christ Jesus according to the flesh, then we know him thus no longer” (2 Corinthians 5:16).

-from Toward God by Michael Casey

This has absolutely, unequivocally been my experience.

John 21:21-22

“Master, what about him?”

“…what’s that got to do with you? Follow me!”

Yet another distraction from where our hearts should be. When you find yourself wondering if mega-churches are on the right path or if other denominations have the correct doctrine and practices, imagine Jesus Himself asking you, “What’s that got to do with you following Me?”

I’ve noticed this Christmas season, for whatever reason, that we humans have quite an intense affinity for talking about others and their shortcomings. Why? Well, when we’re discussing that topic, the pressure is off of us, isn’t it? We don’t have to think or talk about our own shortcomings or areas of needed growth. Unless of course we have no need for growth. Then I guess we can talk about people all day long…

But seriously, what if we, as Christ followers, made an agreement with ourselves that we will not speak negatively of others, at all. If nothing else, we will remain silent, not giving in to fueling the fires of gossip. I’ve tried this a couple times this week, and it went well, tho feeling slightly awkward at first-just not responding at all-but the convo stopped. It had nowhere to go due to the cut-off of supply line.

If nothing else, before responding, imagine Jesus asking you, “What does that have to do with you following Me?”