A Personal Retreat

Today, I took the day off for a personal prayer retreat. There have been a number of items which I have been trying to work through spiritually. I sensed that I needed some time away with the Lord. I was able to arrange staying at a retreat center during the day.

It was a truly blessed time. Upon my arrival at the retreat center, for a moment, I had a sense of guilt about taking the whole day off work for this. There are so many things to be done. Yet, I very quickly reminded myself that seeking God first in my life is not something to be done second. My body may not have needed a day of vacation but my soul did.

Although I did encounter a few people during the day, it was truly a time of silence and solitude. In the morning, I read through the devotional reading (Zechariah 2) for today with the printed guide that I use called Encounter With God (published by Scripture Union here in the U.S. and also in Great Britain). I also read through the letter to the Philippians, with a special emphasis on Chapter 3 and its' call for us to put the past behind us and look ahead to the heavenly and upward call of Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14). I really sensed during that time this morning that God wants me to slow down my Bible reading and spend more time on meditation. I do not merit favor with God if I complete a reading the Bible in one year. I do obtain grace in pondering over the text and seeking how to apply it to my life.

I was able to spend quite a bit of time in prayer in the chapel at the retreat center. My prayers centered in on trying to develop and deepen my relationship with God in Christ as well as deepen my relationship to those around me, particularly my immediate family. One of my prayers was based on the response to God by Thomas Aquinas about three months before Thomas died. God is to have said that Thomas wrote well of him (his literary output for a low tech society and not having quite lived to the age of 50 is utterly amazing). Thomas said that all he wanted was "You, Lord." That has been my prayer as well. I prayed to put ambition (even if seemingly noble in the cause of Christ) in the "back seat" and prayed to seek God as my prize and may really pray that

"I [may] count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ" (Philippians 3:8 NASB)

At lunchtime, which I had in silence, was occupied with reading some devotional material which I had printed earlier, some from the Logoscentric blogsite as well as reading about Christ's priesthood in text taken from the book "A Body of Divinity" by the 17th century Puritan minister Thomas Watson. He is one of my favorite authors to read as he had a writing style which used comparisons from Scripture or nature to make a point. He could turn a phrase with the best that I have read. For example, in speaking of the sin which Jesus bore for us on the Cross, Watson wrote:

The sight of Christ’s bleeding body should incense us against sin. Let us not parley with it; let not that be our joy, which made Christ a man of sorrow

or

The balm-tree weeps out its precious balm, to heal those that cut and mangle it; so Christ shed his blood, to heal those that crucified him. He died freely.

It was a warm, beautiful clear day so I walked the grounds at the center for some of my prayer time and spent an hour sitting by a rather quickly flowing large creek. While sitting by the creek, I read from George Marsden's biography of Jonathan Edwards (Jonathan Edwards - A Life).

Also, I spent some time in my room and then in the library working on the some writing which I needed to do (I decided to spend at least two nights a month in writing a book which I've had rattling around in my mind and spirit for the last few months on the topic of restoration as found in the Bible).

The day was such a tremendous blessing. I am grateful that the same God who let me sample just a little of the peace of eternity during the retreat is the same God I meet in prayer everyday outside the retreat.

While not everyone's schedule and circumstances allow for this kind of daylong retreat, I highly recommend for you to try to find (or make) the time to do this. It is a great way to deepen your relationship to God in Christ.

(Photo courtesy of www.heartlight.org)

Weights and Measures

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV

Notice the distinction between "every weight" and "sin which clings so closely." There are some things we are called to put off which are not, of and by themselves, sinful by nature. An interesting commentary on this passage is found in "Way Into the Holiest" by F.B. Meyer(1847-1929). In Chapter XXVII, Meyer wrote:

WE MUST RUN FREE OF WEIGHTS. This speed can only be maintained when we run unencumbered and free. Now, of course we would all admit the necessity of divesting ourselves of sins; but in all our lives there are weights which are not sins. A sin is that which in its very nature, and always, and by whomsoever perpetrated, is a transgression of God's law, a violation of God's will. But a weight is something which in itself or to another may be harmless, or even legitimate, but in our own case is a hindrance and an impediment.

Every believer must be left to decide what is his own special weight. We may not judge for one another. What is a weight to one is not so to all. But the Holy Spirit, if he be consulted and asked to reveal the hindrance to the earnestness and speed of the soul's progress in divine things, will not fail to indicate it swiftly and infallibly. And this is the excellence of the Holy Spirit's teaching: it is ever definite. If you have a general undefined feeling of discouragement, it is probably the work of the great enemy of souls; but if you are aware of some one hindrance and encumbrance which stays your speed, it is almost certainly the work of the divine Spirit, who is leading you to relinquish something which is slackening your progress in the spiritual life.

No man would think of maintaining a high speed encompassed with weights. The lads who run for a prize litter the course with garments flung away in their eager haste. There would be little difficulty in maintaining an intense and ardent spirit if we were more faithful in dealing with the habits and indulgences which cling around us and impede our steps. Thousands of Christians are like water-logged vessels. They cannot sink; but they are so saturated with inconsistencies and worldliness and permitted evil that they can only be towed with difficulty into the celestial port.

Is there anything in your life which dissipates your energy from holy things, which disinclines you to the practice of prayer and Bible study, which rises before you in your best moments, and produces in you a general sense of uneasiness and disturbance? something which others account harmless, and permit, and in which you once saw no cause for anxiety, but which you now look on with a feeling of self-condemnation? It is likely enough a weight."

I also found a related blog entry here. The blog entry is a commentary on and application to Psalm 101:3 and the topic of "worthless things." How often do our best intentions get derailed when things which have no real enduring value in the scheme of eternity absorb time which could have been used in Bible study, prayer, Christian service to others? This is something which has become more and more evident in my Christian walk. For many years after my coming to Christ in faith back in 1984, I spent a lot of time in doing research to refute certain distinctive doctrines of the church in which I grew upapologetics. I kept telling myself that I was doing this to help family members who were still a part of that church. Only about two years ago did I realize that I have been spending way too much time in this endeavor. It was at that time that I knew I could logically demonstrate my case but without the Holy Spirit opening up hearts and minds, no one would listen. My prayer life suffered and has only really recovered in the last year.

Keep in mind that what I was doing was not only not evil but could definitely glorify God. However, it ended up sucking away irreplacible time and screwing up my prayer life. It was definitely a weight which I needed to throw off (or at least radically reduce) to run the race which Christ is calling me to run.

Pray for the wisdom to know what your weights and worthless things are. Truly this must be done with wisdom. It would be easy for myself or someone else to develop a list of "never do the following...." as a kind of holiness code. However, church history shows us, from the Pharisees of Christ's time to individuals today, when one makes up a list of dos & don'ts, we can easily default our thinking and actions to conform with the list rather than conforming to Christ. We might think that if something is not on the list, it's automatically okay.

One help in this may be found in a resolution written by Jonathan Edwards in the early 1720s. In his 7th Resolution, Edwards wrote:"Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life. Our time on Earth is short. I realize this more and more with each passing year. I turned 51 last month. Those years have seemed to go by so quickly. Yet, I have been blessed to make it to at least 51. Many others in human history never got this far in their earthly years. This should be a sobering reminder about asking the Lord to teach us to live our lives redeeming the time which we have.

Please don't take this entry as a "let's put on a hairshirt and have no more fun for as long we live" rant. However, this does require wisdom from God. Are we spending excessive time and money in some pursuit, which, in the eternal scheme of things, is of little or no value. My first application comes immediately. Being a hockey fan and relishing the fact that my hometown Detroit Red Wings have made it to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, I'll need to ask myself if I'm spending too much time in following the Red Wings during this playoff season.

Lastly, while non-useful items to the Christian are considered a weight, there is a weight which we need to involve ourselves in. 2 Corinthians 4:7 tells us: "For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison". A verse such as this is a poignant reminder to keep eternity in mind in how we use our time here and now.