Reading through 1 Corinthians today, I came across these verses (4:15-17): "Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church."
Been thinking about that all day, about how the Corinthians had a reputation for being wild, living immorally and without any shame. And among the many reasons for this, I wonder what effect not having 'many fathers' had, what part it played among the people in Corinth. I can think of no more apt example than my brother. Don Miller's Father Fiction is good. And then there's all of those with our varying degrees of absent fathers and as many stories as there are mouths to tell them, hands to write them.
This is still mostly a string of questions and thoughts, all of which I intend to be thinking through, but Paul seems to know the importance of fathers and their role in leading spiritually. I'm wondering what guardians in Christ is referring to--does anyone know? And how is it different than being one's father through the gospel and what Paul is to them?
However, it also seems clear that, while this absence of fathers is (and has been) a big problem, it's one that God is fully at work in in many ways, not least of which being that one of his persons is God the Father. I don't mean that who he is is a response to it, but that these things are deeply connected. Not to mention, he's using us! God sent Paul and Paul is sending Timothy. Interesting observation: just as God sent his son, Paul sends Timothy, "my son whom I love." Sounds familiar, no?
Hrmm. Definitely one to come back to.
Showing posts with label the father. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the father. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Monday, February 16, 2009
whose
Of all the really cool things that happened this weekend, this one drove it home:
I was at Spring Conference (formerly known as Emmaus) this weekend, which is a sort of a big retreat for all the InterVarsity students that go to universities in the eastern Carolinas. And it's pretty cool, it's at Myrtle Beach and retreats are always great and well-needed, so. And it was over Valentine's Day, which means my Valentine's Day present to myself was taking a three hour nap (and it was glorious, oh man, I could do it every day), falling asleep to Alicia making a chill-music love mix cd.
Part of what the speakers were talking about this weekend was identity, God as the father, all that good stuff. So when we left, we went to Zaxby's and while we were eating I saw this sign on the wall that said "Nude Bathers Watch For Poisonous Jelly Fish." Which is pretty much the most amazing thing I think I've ever read. And so I wanted to get a picture of it, but there were these two little old ladies sitting in front of it so I just figured I'd wait until they left.
Well, by the time we were leaving they were still sitting there talking so I got up and I (TENSE SHIFT!) walk over to them to ask and see if I can have a picture, and they say yes and so while I'm taking it, I start talking to them. Turns out they're from High Point and Pittsburg, but they've been living down here for thirty four years now. And oh, I'm from the beach too? And they've just gotten out of church, so oh oh, have they heard of InterVarsity? That's why we're here this weekend--yes ma'am, we're college students. And the conversation goes on like that until I've got the picture and I have to leave.
But as I go, the woman on the right holds out her hand and takes mine, pulls me toward her, and says to me, "Wherever you go in life, don't ever forget whose you are."
Whose. Not who, but whose. Which is incredible, because first, she seriously said that, and second, because a huge point of this weekend is that we are the Father's, we are his children, and he loves us for no other reason except that we are his children and he is that good. And things with identity and the father have always been a little weird for me, and especially so since this past Christmas. But also especially so since this past Christmas, I've been beginning to really know and understand that God is my father and everything else falls short, so lucky for me, I've always had the best there is. And there is no other that can take that place for me, not for anything at all. And it is pure joy, because it means that actually I found him before December. So when she said that, don't ever forget, I want to always answer: I haven't, I won't.
I was at Spring Conference (formerly known as Emmaus) this weekend, which is a sort of a big retreat for all the InterVarsity students that go to universities in the eastern Carolinas. And it's pretty cool, it's at Myrtle Beach and retreats are always great and well-needed, so. And it was over Valentine's Day, which means my Valentine's Day present to myself was taking a three hour nap (and it was glorious, oh man, I could do it every day), falling asleep to Alicia making a chill-music love mix cd.
Part of what the speakers were talking about this weekend was identity, God as the father, all that good stuff. So when we left, we went to Zaxby's and while we were eating I saw this sign on the wall that said "Nude Bathers Watch For Poisonous Jelly Fish." Which is pretty much the most amazing thing I think I've ever read. And so I wanted to get a picture of it, but there were these two little old ladies sitting in front of it so I just figured I'd wait until they left.
Well, by the time we were leaving they were still sitting there talking so I got up and I (TENSE SHIFT!) walk over to them to ask and see if I can have a picture, and they say yes and so while I'm taking it, I start talking to them. Turns out they're from High Point and Pittsburg, but they've been living down here for thirty four years now. And oh, I'm from the beach too? And they've just gotten out of church, so oh oh, have they heard of InterVarsity? That's why we're here this weekend--yes ma'am, we're college students. And the conversation goes on like that until I've got the picture and I have to leave.
But as I go, the woman on the right holds out her hand and takes mine, pulls me toward her, and says to me, "Wherever you go in life, don't ever forget whose you are."
Whose. Not who, but whose. Which is incredible, because first, she seriously said that, and second, because a huge point of this weekend is that we are the Father's, we are his children, and he loves us for no other reason except that we are his children and he is that good. And things with identity and the father have always been a little weird for me, and especially so since this past Christmas. But also especially so since this past Christmas, I've been beginning to really know and understand that God is my father and everything else falls short, so lucky for me, I've always had the best there is. And there is no other that can take that place for me, not for anything at all. And it is pure joy, because it means that actually I found him before December. So when she said that, don't ever forget, I want to always answer: I haven't, I won't.
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