Jesus Is My Guru

[zpotus]

There are certain moments/events in life we know are from God. Certain dreams, for example, that are so clear and so real that they leave no doubt as to their meaning, and we live them out and look back and think, "Wow." And for me, there are certain books (in an endless list of books I've read and books I'm reading) that I know for a fact have

Comments

[chaeri]

thanks for this! its always encouraging to me to read about someone else's positive journey and learning. sometimes my own faith is so weak that it taks all the faith i have to say "ok, God can work in someone's life. i just have to take it on faith that he can in mine." its sort of a secondhand light...i can't light my own candle, so i need someone else's light.

[zpotus]

I'm glad you found a little encouragement in the random musings of my mind! Try not to be too hard on yourself.

One of my favorite parts of the author's story was about how she was so bad at meditating (I totally felt her pain). All she heard was her own head fighting with itself and she thought, this cannot be the point! I'm supposed to be listening to God! And a friend of hers reminded her that, really, she has NO IDEA what's really going on when she prays/meditates etc. That it's the act that matters, not the result, b/c God might be doing things that don't have a visible result, but have a spiritual result none-the-less.

So don't be discouraged that you don't *see* God working in your life. The power is in the belief. God lit your candle a long time ago, and you acknowledged that it was God who lit it, based on a faith you obviously have more of than you give yourself credit for. And if you have that, then the results are there whether you can see them or not. Promise;)

[chaeri]

thanks :) its just that right now i am in a phase of questioning and the answers i am getting tend to make me seem questionable if not down right heretical to other christians and is very different from what i grew up with. yes, if i stop and think i can see God working :)

[zpotus]

"...i am in a phase of questioning and the answers i am getting tend to make me seem questionable if not down right heretical to other christians..."

I lived in that place for 3 years! Some people called it Charlotte, NC. I called it "misery." ;) The answers I got from God always had me one step away from excommunication, if you know what I mean. But hang in there. God (BIG GOD!) will speak any language necessary to let you know He loves you where YOU are, not where THEY are:) And in the end, HIs love (not their approval) is all that matters.

[log_junkie]

She explains how the ancients believed it essential to have a guru in order to find God, and that, in order to find a guru, all one needed to do was desire one sincerely enough and all the Fates would align to bring you one.I'm happy you were able to find Christ in this. God can certainly use anything He wants to bring His children closer to Himself

Clarification...

[zpotus]

hahahaha.. No, no, no. I think I've been misunderstood here. My apologies

Re: Clarification...

[log_junkie]

No misunderstanding, I gathered you knew Him beforehand. I think it was my over-developed sense of responsibility kicking in ;o) I am happy you were able to see God in this book, I think it's beautiful to see He can work in all places if we let Him.

Thanks for sharing your story.

[susannah]

Really really interesting and thought-provoking (oh yes, and beautiful).

Thank you.

[zpotus]

Thank you! I appreciate that a lot:)

[chrysologus400]

"The truths of all the faiths of all the ages fit into Him with room to spare, allowing each to be equally and unequivocally true at the exact same time without need to imply that if one is true, the others must be lies."

That makes no sense. Something can't be both true and not true at the same time and in the same way. Ergo, all the religions of the world can't be completely right. It really is wrong to burn your children to death to please the gods. And so are other doctrines.

[zpotus]

sigh... so literal.

First, there really isn't any real need for you and I to agree on this point.

However, since I'm here in response-mode...

I confess "all" is probably not what I really mean. I don't think pagan "religions" and religions that burn babies and deny the existence of any power higher than Self fit into this category.

But I do believe (hope) that (1) there are things that make perfect sense to God that make no sense to us; and (2) that the spirit (if not the actual mucked-up practices) of the religions that believe a single, omnipotent God of love and peace can, in the infinite possibilities of God, all be true at the same time. I personally just don't see my God of infinite-love for His creation playing a zero-sum game with it, whereby if one person "wins" with the "correct" religion, then another must "lose" with the "wrong" one.

But that is JUST me. In this belief, right or wrong, I feel the fruits of the spirit manifesting themselves within me.

If you feel the opposite, then stick to it:)

[pastorlenny]

So can I ask you what you think sin is? And how it affects a human being seeking a relationship with the Father? Can a "religion" claim as a central tenet belief in a "single, omnipotent God of love and peace" -- yet still completely fail to address the issue of man's inherent sin-nature?

[zpotus]

I haven't studied all the world's religions in-depth, I confess, just as I confess that I have no one correct-for-all-time definition of "sin" by which I live my life. I don't think "sin" has one defintion that covers everything in every moment, just as I don't think faith has one definition

[thehonorableryu]

And she told of how it is the Guru's teachings, not so much his/her physical presence, that is important. For instance, Liz meditated at her guru's ashram in India without the guru herself, which was fine because it was the guidance that mattered, not the presence.
The Lord Jesus Christ definitely brings us from darkness into light. :) In fact, He is the light (John 8:12).

However, there is at least one enormous difference between Jesus and a guru.

A guru just gives you a bunch of teachings that you probably already knew. Be good instead of bad, kind instead of mean, humble instead of arrogant, etc.

But Jesus Christ in resurrection actively and presently lives and works inside of everyone who receives Him. No "guru" ever lived inside of anyone. Maybe you've never contemplated this before? :)

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.-Gal. 2:20

[thehonorableryu]

So I would explain the difference in this way

[zpotus]

I agree with you. I'm using "guru" as an adjective here. It's not a title with which to replace all I know to be true about Jesus otherwise, nor to turn Jesus into something other than or less than He was/is; it's just another way to describe the indescribable being of Jesus.

Make sense?

It's important to realize that I wasn't looking for a guru. I already had everything I needed in Christ. But when I read this part of the book, it amused me to think, "Hey! I already have one of those (and then some)!"

The more important point (to me, at least) is that someting about this phrase (while it amused me) inspired me to meditate on Jesus and with Jesus in a very meaninful way.

[zpotus]

OK, now that I've returned from the dog park and no longer have the "Mother, LET'S GO" look eminating from my dog, I can continue