Author Archives: Bill Dalgetty

When Will the Kingdom of God Come?

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This is a question people have been asking for centuries, starting with the apostles.   One of the problems we have with this question is that our minds immediately think in terms of earthly kingdoms with geographic locations headed by someone who is a king.  The other problem is that people sometimes mix the subjects of the coming of the kingdom of God and the second coming of Jesus.

The Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come, and he gave a surprising answer.  “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17: 20-21)  In other words, we won’t be able to physically observe a kingdom as a location with geographic boundaries, because the kingdom that Jesus is talking about is within us.  Its geography is our heart, our soul – our inner being.

Jesus gives added understanding of this verse in the Gospel of John when he says, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.  My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:10) If we love God and obey his teaching, God and Jesus will take up residence in us.  By the power of the Holy Spirit, God draws us closer to him each day. We desire to be in his presence, we seek to know him more through prayer and scripture, and to participate in the sacraments if we a part of a sacramental church.

The fruit of the Spirit becomes evident in our lives.  Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are the visible signs that the kingdom has come. (Galatians 5:22-23)  When we love the people in our lives, showing patience, kindness and gentleness; when we are faithful to God, showing goodness and self-control, the Kingdom of God is in us.

Might not this be the kingdom Jesus is talking about when he instructed the disciples how to pray?   “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”   In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray for the coming of God’s kingdom in us and that his will be accomplished through us.

As earthly kingdoms experience the rise of enemies with whom they have to do battle, so also does God’s kingdom in us have to do battle with God’s enemy, the devil.  He constantly strives to lure us away from God’s kingdom into his kingdom.  But God equips us for this spiritual battle with his word, the Holy Spirit and the supporting allies of other kingdoms residing in our brothers and sisters in Christ and the Church.

When will the Kingdom of God come?  When we love Jesus, obey his teaching and invite the Father and Jesus to make their home in us.  

The Blessing of Burdens

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When are we most likely to experience the closeness of God – in our trials or in our victories?  St. John of the Cross said, “When you are burdened you are close to God.  When you are relieved of your burden you are close to yourself.” (Sayings of Light and Love, No. 4)

In this proverb-like statement, he proclaims a truth that captures our human nature intersecting with the ways of God.  When things are going well for us we tend to focus more on ourselves than God.  Remember the ten lepers who were healed by Jesus.  Only one returned to thank him and praise God. (Luke 17:17-18)

When we are burdened beyond our capabilities or unable to envision the solution to our needs, we are more open to turn to God.  We are more open to acknowledge the humble state of our need.

When our youngest daughter was facing open heart surgery at six months to correct openings between the auricle and ventricle chambers of her heart, some dear Christian friends came to pray over her and us.  After praying with us, one of them said, “God has never been closer to you than right now.”  He was right.  We experienced both God’s presence and his peace.  During a subsequent pre-surgical catheterization, we learned that the most critical opening had been healed, and the surgery on the less serious opening could be postponed until she was four, when she was much stronger and the surgery would be less risky.

The liturgical readings for this past Sunday from Daniel and the Gospel of Mark were about the tribulation of the end times and the signs preceding the second coming of Jesus.  The overall message was that we need not fear these events for we have the hope of the coming of Jesus who will set all things right.

We should have the same hope when faced with various burdens in our lives, for they are opportunities to experience Jesus and his mercy, love, forgiveness, renewal, and restoration.  The burden could be a sin, the alienation of a friend, an illness, the loss of a loved one, the loss of a job, or a personal financial crisis.

Whatever it is, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Mt. 11:28-29) 

This past week, at a Christian ministry for the local jail, I listened to three different men share how the tribulation of their imprisonment had led them to be open to listening to God and his invitation to become a part of their lives through Jesus Christ.  One literally said that he would be dead now if he had not been imprisoned, which caused him to listen to God and come to know Jesus.  

His burden has become his blessing. 

Is Peace Hidden from your Eyes?

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When Jesus was making his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Luke reports that Jesus wept as he approached the city, saying, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes.” (Luke19:42) Jesus goes on to describe how their enemies will kill them and destroy the temple, “because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” (vs. 44)

We have here a scene of contrasts.  In the midst of all the adulation for Jesus, he is weeping over the city, for the people have failed to recognize that God has visited them in the flesh.

After all of the time he spent with them, after all of the miracles, after all the teaching, they still do not recognize that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is present to them in the person of Jesus.  They do not accept him as the Messiah they have waited for so long, and the consequences are dire.

How often do we lose our peace because we forget that God in the person of Jesus and the Holy Spirit is in us?  Jesus tells us: he is with us always (Mt. 28:20); he wants us to come to him when we are weary or burdened (Mt. 11:28); he and the Father want to make their home in us (John 14:23); and apart from him we can do nothing (John 15:5).

When I get angry with a store clerk or phone solicitor, I forget that the Father and Jesus reside in me, and I lose my peace. When I am indifferent to a homeless person asking for money at a stoplight, I forget that the Jesus in me wants to show him mercy. When I fail to stop and listen to a family member or friend who wants to talk or share a problem, I am putting shackles on God’s mercy and love that are waiting to be manifested through me.

When I refuse to embrace the cross in daily sacrifices, whether small and large, Jesus has some strong words – he says that anyone who does not take his cross and follow him “is not worthy of him.” (Mt. 10:38)

Yet, God never stops bidding us to seek him.  He has put in us a hunger for him whether we realize it or not.  It is a part of our human DNA.  God weeps when we do not recognize his presence in our lives.

Do we know what brings us peace?  It is the presence of God dwelling in us through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, being poured out on the people and circumstances of our lives. 

 

Can You Become a Saint?

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Past sins are not an obstacle to sainthood.  St. Paul was a persecutor of the early church, standing by and sanctioning the murder of Stephen.  St. Peter denied three times that he knew Jesus following his arrest.  St. Augustine is reported to have lived a rather hedonistic life, fathering a son from a woman he lived with for many years before he experienced his conversion.

Yet, all of them elected to change their ways and follow the Lord.  All of them chose to give up following their own wills and seek God’s will instead.  Sainthood is determined by our actions today, not yesterday.

It is not surprising that the Gospel reading selected by the Church for this past Sunday, All Saints Day, was the Beatitudes, for they are Jesus’ prescription for sainthood, as well as a roadmap for all of us in how we should live our lives.  If we are meek and humble in spirit, mourn for our sins and the sins of others, show mercy, are pure in heart and hunger for righteousness, Jesus says we will be blessed.  We will be comforted, shown mercy, see the face of God, and the kingdom of God will be ours.  This is an offer we should not refuse. 

Yet, it is our sinful nature, particularly pride and sloth, that war against the Beatitudes becoming the fabric for our daily choices.  In our pride we seek to substitute our will for God’s.  In our sloth we become indifferent to the needs of others and lose our passion to seek God in all things.  Let me illustrate.

Last summer I took my name off a Saturday volunteers list for July and August in a Christian jail ministry in order to preserve the weekends for boating with family and friends.  God might have worked out the schedule if I had let him, but I pre-empted the choice.  I was neither seeking God nor asking what he wanted me to do in this matter.

I can relate to Paul’s statement that “What I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do.” (Rom.7:15)  Living out the Beatitudes by our own will and determination is very difficult, but with God’s presence and grace through the power of the Holy Spirit, the saints show us it is possible.

While God is forgiving and merciful, his desire and call for us is neither casual nor trivial.  Jesus said to the Church of Laodicea, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot.  I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” (Rev. 3:15)

The last thing we should want is to become distasteful to Jesus.

Worry’s Antidote

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Do you have a solution for worry? 

In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, he tells us not to worry about our lives – what we are to eat, drink or wear.  As God provides food for the birds and décor for the flowers, he will surely provide for us.  He then says, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and “all these things will be given to you as well.”  (Mt. 6:33)

The variety and subject of our worry is almost endless.  We can worry about our health, jobs, the well-being of loved ones, and what people think of us.  It is not uncommon to worry about all the preparations for a wedding or other big event, only to see them take place with our later wondering what all the worry was about.  I worry about how long it will take to get through security lines when flying, so I have made it a practice in recent years to get to the airport far earlier than may be necessary.

Peter Kreeft in his book, After Virtue, reverses Jesus’ statement about seeking the kingdom.  “Unless we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these things will not be added to us.”  If we are not seeking God, we are in effect separating ourselves from him, which means we are relying solely on ourselves.  God is not then present to assist or backup our efforts.  “Doing it my way” may sound good for a popular song, but it is unlikely to result in our being part of God’s kingdom with the accompanying benefits of his wisdom, counsel, truth, courage, faith, hope and love. 

While God expects us to do our part in providing for our daily lives, he is absolutely scrupulous about respecting our freedom to choose in seeking or not seeking to be a part of his kingdom.  When I look back on the greatest opportunities for worry in my life, I thank God that he was present so I was not relying solely on my own resources when our youngest daughter underwent open heart surgery at age four.  I thank God that I was not relying only on my own pro and con list when making a major job decision impacting our family.

Seeking God’s kingdom along with his guidance and assistance requires faith, detachment and contentment.  We need faith in his love for us, trust in his provision, and hope in an outcome that often has eternal ramifications.  We need detachment from trying to control the timing, means and outcome to the solutions for our worry.  We need contentment in willingly submitting to God’s way instead of “my way.”   

When Martha complained to Jesus about Mary not helping her in the preparations for Jesus’ visit, Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.  Mary has chosen what is better.” (Luke 10:41-42)  Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening to him.

Spending time at Jesus’ feet and listening to him is the best antidote for worry.

How Are We to Love God?

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When the teachers of the law asked Jesus what was the most important commandment, Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30)

Jesus is describing how broad, deep and complete our love of God should be. It should include heart, soul, mind and strength.

With our heart and soul, we love God with our non-physical or eternal nature – that part of our inner being that uniquely reflects who we are as an individual person and creation of God.   

With our mind, we love God with our physical or present nature – our intellect, thought, reason and will.  With our strength, we love God with our actions supported by determination and perseverance.

To help us understand how to love an unseen God, Jesus gives a human illustration in what he describes as the second commandment to “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Love of self, or survival, is one of the first laws of nature.  It is instinct.  We don’t even have to think about it.  The love Jesus is calling us to embrace, however, is to overcome the instinct of putting self first.  This is of course consistent with what he said earlier to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)

So how do we love like this?  John says, “We love because he first loved us.” (1John 4:19)  The God of all creation loved us so much that he became one of us and then submitted to a tortuous death for our sake.  This kind of love involves humility, obedience, and self-sacrifice to the Father’s will.

We see this kind of love in soldiers who literally lay down their lives for one another in combat.  We see it in parents who sacrifice in the care and provision for their children.  We see it in a spouse who provides continuous, daily care to a terminally ill loved one. 

We can also see this kind of love in the marketplace.  In the 2008 economic downturn, a friend who owns a building supply company in Phoenix refused to lay off any of his employees even though it resulted in having to operate at a loss for some period of time.  His love and concern for his long-time faithful employees overrode the need to operate a business at a profit for what he hoped would be a short-term cyclical retreat in the economy.

Loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength starts with the little things. Let them become a habit, and we start to love God as Jesus commands.     

God’s Breath

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Are you a daily reader of the Word?

St. Paul, in a letter to his disciple, Timothy, says, “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim. 3:16)

All scripture in the Bible is from God, confirmed by his son, Jesus Christ, and validated over time by the Church fathers.  Scripture instructs us about life, existence, truth and all that is important.

For many years I have made scripture a part of my daily prayer time with the Lord at the start of the day.  After experiencing a renewal of the Holy Spirit in my life thirty-eight years ago this October, I had an intense desire to read the Bible.  I immediately started to read it from cover to cover as I commuted on the trains in and out of New York City each day.  As with many people who have experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit, the words literally leapt off the page.

Psalm 119, which is the longest of the psalms, spends its entire length extolling all that God’s word is and does for us. 

  • “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” (v.105)
  • “Your statutes are my heritage forever.” (v. 111)
  • “All your commands are trustworthy.” (v. 86)
  • “Great peace have they who love your law.” (v. 165)
  • “Your statutes…are my counselors.” (v. 24)

Proverbs says “Every word of God is flawless.” (v. 30:5) Paul says, “For the word of God is living.” (Heb. 4:12)  James exhorts us, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (v. 1:22) Finally, the Gospel of John tells us that all of God’s word became flesh in the person of Jesus and dwelt among us. 

Want to know about Jesus and to know him personally? Read scripture and you will know who he is.  Read scripture and meet him personally.  He tells us he is standing outside the door of our hearts knocking, waiting for us to invite him in.

God’s promise is to dwell in us if we invite him in.  “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.  My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23)  Imagine that!  The God and creator of all that exists, wants to make his home in us!  It’s all in the Good Book.

Wherever we may be with God’s word in our daily life, God says, “Go deeper!”

How to Control Our Desire for Recognition

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Do you desire to be recognized and honored?

Even though Jesus admonishes us that “whoever exalts himself will be humbled,” many of us struggle with the desire to be recognized and honored.  While I may try to act humble, there is an unspoken desire for recognition that has been a weakness in my character for most of my life.

This can manifest itself in various ways – becoming angry over perceived slights, experiencing jealousy over another’s success, allowing ambition to crowd out other priorities in our lives, to name just a few. There was a time early in my career as an attorney for a large international oil company when I allowed the desire to move up the corporate ladder to short change the responsibilities to my family.  Fortunately, the Lord opened my eyes to this reality and gave me the grace to bring better balance to both family and work.

Still, I quietly desire more recognition for things I write, say and do.  St. Gregory of Nyssa said we should “openly despise the accolades of the world and reject all earthly glory.” He suggested seeking God’s will instead of our own as a true act of humility and self-denial.

St. Paul has one of the best statements about seeking recognition.  He says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”  He then goes on to make one of the more eloquent statements in all of scripture when he declares that our attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus, “Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant.” (Philippians 2:3, 6-7)

If Jesus, the Son of God, did not seek recognition for who he was, why should we?  Confident in his relationship with the Father, he was content with the family who raised him, his likely carpenter apprenticeship to his earthly father and the evolving revelation of his call by God to teach, to witness and eventually to sacrifice his life in a tortuous death for the rest of us.

St. Paul said he learned to be content with whatever the circumstances, “whether living in plenty or want,” because he could “do everything through who him gives me strength.”(Philippians 4:11-13)  We, too, should seek to be content without regard to recognition or honor, seeking God’s will instead of our own in all things.

Who do you seek to please – the people in your life or God?  Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Mt. 6:33)

Enlarge Your Tent

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Both Pope Francis and the Prophet Isaiah share a common theme that we should enlarge the tents of our lives and work.  “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.” (Isaiah 54:2)

Whether as individuals or as a group, we tend to get comfortable with familiar people, familiar friends, familiar routines, familiar work, and even familiar forms of outreach.  Francis and Isaiah encourage us not to fall into the bed of comfort and familiarity, but rather to move the walls of our tents to include people who are not a part of our normal social patterns, people who may not necessarily share our background, beliefs and values.

I have been involved in various forms of Christian ministry for a good part of my adult life.  Much of it has been peer related – young people when I was young; business people when I was in business; people who were part of my social patterns at the time.

Last year I started volunteering in a local jail ministry.  It has challenged me.  I am not comfortable and feel like I am out of my element.  I don’t see much fruit so far, but I believe God wants me to continue.   God calls us to faithfulness, often without the benefit of a report card or feedback.  It is our presence and love that he wants regardless of what we perceive the outcome to be.

Enlarging our tents can also include how we relate to one another — family, friends and strangers.  Pope Francis encouraged us to engage in “little gestures” of love.  He cited examples for the family. “They are little signs of tenderness, affection and compassion,” he said.  “Like the warm supper we look forward to at night, the early breakfast awaiting someone who gets up early to go to work…a blessing before we go to bed.”  “Love is shown by little things,” said Francis.

On Christians in Commerce retreats when we pray with men to experience the Holy Spirit more fully in their lives, we often hear about their desire to love more.  Loving more starts with “little gestures” of love.  As the King said in the Parable of the Talents, “You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.” (Mt. 25:21)

Loving more starts with the little things every day.  As loving in the little things becomes a habit, God increases our capacity to love and sacrifice in the larger things.  A habit of love in the little things will open the door to people familiar and unfamiliar, and enlarge our tents. 

Exercises for the Heart

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Pick up any health magazine and you will likely see an article about the importance of exercise, diet and eliminating stress to maintain a healthy physical heart.  But what about our other heart – the non-physical one that the Bible talks about so much?

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”   The abridged concordance at the back of my NIV Bible shows 75 references to the use of the word “heart.”  None of them seem to be talking about the physical organ that is the center piece of our circulatory system.  The following are just a few examples:

  • “Serve the Lord your God with all your heart” (Dt. 10:12)
  • “Trust in the Lord with all your heart” (Proverbs 3:5)
  • “Love the Lord God with all your heart” (Matthew 23:32)
  • “A cheerful heart is good medicine” (Proverbs 17:22)
  • “Where your treasure is there is your heart” (Matthew: 6:21)

Some of these verses come from texts that go back more than 3000 years.  None of them are referring to our physical heart.  All of them seem to be searching for a way to express that mysterious interior part of our existence that determines who we really are – our attitudes, our propensity to love or be selfish; our inclination toward joy or depression; our motivation, courage and thirst for life; the source for many of our daily choices. 

Since we can’t physically see or touch these non-physical aspects of our existence we use words like heart, soul, spirit, and inner self to describe them.  Although separate from our physical being, they take up residence there.  If our physical being is destroyed, God promises that our heart, soul and spirit live on.  That’s why St. Paul says our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. (1 Co. 6:19)

Since our non-physical heart is so instrumental to all of our overall existence, are we treating it with the same care as our physical heart?  What are we feeding this “other heart?”  How are we exercising it? Is our diet primarily one of pop culture that includes mostly R and X rated movies, comedians that love to use four letter words, busyness that leaves no time for daily prayer, the reading of God’s word or the serving of someone other than our self?

Fill this “wellspring of life” with: a dedicated and exclusive time of talking with and listening to God each day; reading the Bible and other spiritual books; serving a spouse, child, colleague or friend; seeking God’s will in all things; and this other heart will be sufficiently nourished and exercised to realize Jesus’ promise in the sixth Beatitude, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.” (Matthew 5:8)

Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”  (John 4:34) May we nourish our other heart with similar food.