Tending the Interior
Friday of the First Week of Lent
Daily Reading: Matthew 5:20 – 26
Focus Passage:
"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. And anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. (Matt. 5:21 – 22)
We have inherited a version of Christianity largely made up of moral demands and ethical guidelines for living a certain way. This expression of the Christian life carries certain ideas about what “goodness” is. For many people, being “Christian” is equated with being “good.”
However, it is very, very easy to spend a lifetime within the context of traditional Christianity, keeping rules and never having a significant encounter with God as revealed in Jesus. Keeping the outer dimension of Christianity is no guarantee that we have been transformed inwardly.
Contemporary expressions of Christianity tend to emphasize the outer aspects of faith, how our faith is expressed in the world. Don’t misread me. I’m not suggesting that faith should not be expressed outwardly in our church, community, or world. But the outward dimension is not the full extent of the kingdom of God.
In this passage and in other places, Jesus drove outer actions inward. He moved life to the interior, to the inner motives that produce exterior actions. He dug into our center, since life always flows outward from the center of a person.
We have to be reminded often that our doing proceeds from our being. That is, our being, our essence, our core identity is first. It resides at the heart of each of us. And from this inner center we live, act, think, speak, serve, and witness.
It is one thing to live one’s faith at the external level. It is another to move our faith-expression to the interior. If Jesus’ kingdom is not perceived from the inside, it is likely misread and misperceived.
So God invites us to find ways to attend to the inner person, to transform the anger, control issues, bitterness, and divisiveness that reside within us. We undertake spiritual practices that open us to God’s inner healing. We practice prayer that does not demand, but opens us in attentiveness.
During the season of Lent, we are invited to tend our interior landscape.
For Reflection:
Consider an afflictive emotion (anger, jealousy, critical spirit, judging, controlling behavior, etc.) you deal with regularly. Give some attention today not so much to the exterior ways that emotion shows up, but to the inner state of that emotion within you. What would be helpful for you in tending your inner garden? Tell God what you desire related to that afflictive emotion. Listen to what God says to you.
Daily Reading: Matthew 5:20 – 26
Focus Passage:
"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. And anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. (Matt. 5:21 – 22)
We have inherited a version of Christianity largely made up of moral demands and ethical guidelines for living a certain way. This expression of the Christian life carries certain ideas about what “goodness” is. For many people, being “Christian” is equated with being “good.”
However, it is very, very easy to spend a lifetime within the context of traditional Christianity, keeping rules and never having a significant encounter with God as revealed in Jesus. Keeping the outer dimension of Christianity is no guarantee that we have been transformed inwardly.
Contemporary expressions of Christianity tend to emphasize the outer aspects of faith, how our faith is expressed in the world. Don’t misread me. I’m not suggesting that faith should not be expressed outwardly in our church, community, or world. But the outward dimension is not the full extent of the kingdom of God.
In this passage and in other places, Jesus drove outer actions inward. He moved life to the interior, to the inner motives that produce exterior actions. He dug into our center, since life always flows outward from the center of a person.
We have to be reminded often that our doing proceeds from our being. That is, our being, our essence, our core identity is first. It resides at the heart of each of us. And from this inner center we live, act, think, speak, serve, and witness.
It is one thing to live one’s faith at the external level. It is another to move our faith-expression to the interior. If Jesus’ kingdom is not perceived from the inside, it is likely misread and misperceived.
So God invites us to find ways to attend to the inner person, to transform the anger, control issues, bitterness, and divisiveness that reside within us. We undertake spiritual practices that open us to God’s inner healing. We practice prayer that does not demand, but opens us in attentiveness.
During the season of Lent, we are invited to tend our interior landscape.
For Reflection:
Consider an afflictive emotion (anger, jealousy, critical spirit, judging, controlling behavior, etc.) you deal with regularly. Give some attention today not so much to the exterior ways that emotion shows up, but to the inner state of that emotion within you. What would be helpful for you in tending your inner garden? Tell God what you desire related to that afflictive emotion. Listen to what God says to you.
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