I have come to treasure Christ more than anything. It's hard to put into words or to find words adequate to express it - but the totally awesome thing is that as I'm talking to other believers, they seem to know and understand, even when I'm failing to really express it. Whether Catholic or Baptist, Fundamentalist or Liberal, Episcopalian or Greek Orthodox.
There are so many aspects, all different and all just different ways of looking at exactly the same thing...
Presence. "Lo, I am with you always." "He is the Immanuel" (that means "God with you"). This is the single most powerful aspect of my faith. I can't shake the awareness of His presence, and not just in some locational or physical sense but here - for me. I once memorized that "Footprints" poem. It's part of why I treasure the Sacrament and a powerful aspect of worship for me.
Loved. The concept of LOVE (agape) is the starting point, the hub of the entire Christian religion. Everything in the Christian religion all comes back to this point: God loves us. The unconditional, no-matter-what LOVE. Even when I can't stand me, God loves me. I feel that always. It is the one thing in life I KNOW. It's extremely affirming and renewing and life-giving. John 3:16, 1 John 4:8, 1 John 4:10. As childish as it sounds, I sometimes sing "Jesus Loves Me" . It's okay to be a child. That's what I am. (Galatians 4:5, 1 John 5:1)
Family/Relationship. Christianity is all about our RELATIONSHIP with God, and how that impacts our relationships with others and with ourselves. God calls Himself "Our Father." He calls us "My son, My daughter." It's a living, loving, abiding REAL relationship with the living, loving, abiding REAL God. When I pray, I can call God "Abba" (Galatians 4:5, Romans 8:15) - it means "Daddy." And the more I know that (relational "know" not didactic "know"), the more it seems to impact how I relate to myself and to others. Forgiveness is easier when we know we are forgiven, acceptance is easier when we know we are accepted. When we HAVE love, so we can GIVE love...
Peace. This is totally hard to put into words. There is, of course, that objective peace - the end to the war - that Jesus secured for us on the Cross. Romans 5:1-11. But it isn't just objective and historic, it's subjective and present. "The peace that passes all understanding," the Bible says somewhere. I've known this for a long time, but it's beginning to grow some deep roots. When I was a little boy, I had surgery (no need to go into that). I was just old enough to understand that I could die - and what that meant. I remember - for the first and probably only time in my life - I considered that in very real terms. And I remember feeling at peace with that. It didn't have too much to do with Heaven, really, it had a lot to do with relying on His heart and will, in knowing my small hand was in His big hand - and that's all that mattered. I understand that more today. I could give seperate things about JOY and COMFORT but they are really just different ways of looking at the same thing. "Joy is peace dancing, peace is joy at rest."
For ME, faith isn't about trying to find a lost god, it's about God finding ME, and loving me more than I'll ever be able to comprehend.
For ME, faith isn't about my somehow satisfying God by jumping through a bunch of hoops, it's about what HE did for me. For ME. Try reading the Passion Story in the Bible and put your own name in there whenever the crowd or soldiers or whoever is mentioned. Yeah. He did it for ME. And for YOU. We are the ones in the crowd. We are the ones with the hammer. It's about what HE did for ME.
For ME, faith isn't so much about obedience to a demanding God, it's about the opportunities He gives me to be a blessing; "blessed to be a blessing" as Roman Catholics are so fond of saying. The times I can touch someone with just a TINY, TINY bit of what He blessed me with. It's how we love Him back (John 13:34). It's how we share His love with others. And it ends up blessing us more than the other, which is the odd thing about God's economics. You can't out-love Him.
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