Dear Faith Family,
Where do you look to get a bead on where you are? When you feel unsettled (physically, emotionally, spiritually), where do you look to know if you're in our Father's kingdom come and will done, or not quite there at the moment?
If you're like me, you answer the question by zooming out and assessing the present circumstantially--what's working and not--or perhaps historically--the decisions and situations that led here. While such a big-picture assessment has its time and place, Jesus encourages a more granular perspective.
As we said on Sunday, if we want to know why we are unsettled, we don't need to zoom out; we need to zoom in. Take a look, Jesus exhorts in Matthew 5:17-48, at those ordinary and minute interactions in any given day, and you'll discover what's easily overlooked. Whether in a conversation with your coworker, an argument with your spouse, correcting a child, counseling a friend, or any of the dozen daily collisions; when you get granular, you can see that unsettledness is often relational.
The source of our anxiousness and unrest is often the disposition of our interactions, how we come into contact with others or a reaction to their disposition towards us. Remember, unsettledness is contagious. But, so too is peace!
The wonderous paradox of Jesus' revelation is that when we look at the granular, we not only discover (become aware of) what's going on under the surface in us and sometimes in others, but we also see the kingdom of heaven's entrance. The place where we feel tension, the daily interactions and collisions that make life real, is the same place we experience the "Already Blessedness" of life in God's life. And so, Jesus encourages us, don't avoid the collisions, pay attention and participate in what's happening within them.
Love your enemies and
pray for those who make life hard on you.
(Matthew 5:44)
After all, that's our familial expectation:
You therefore must mature, reach your end goal,
as your heavenly Father is already at the end.
(Matthew 5:48)
Our Fourth Practice is meant to help us mature, get better at paying attention to participate! I encourage you to set aside space to work through the practice this week. Perhaps with a friend or spouse? As you do, may you find,
...the kingdom of God is in
the midst of you...
within you...
within your grasp.
(Luke 17:21)
Love you, faith family!