Pathways Press.com

Written by Uli Chi, a contemporary businessman and writer.

Our relationship with God is neither straightforward nor without challenges. To begin with, we are confronted with the paradox that, despite God’s remarkable care for us, God is regularly experienced as hidden or absent. In Jesus’ wonderfully evocative language, God is “your Father who is in secret” (Matthew 6:6 NRSV). Further, his words suggest more than God’s hiddenness and absence. They point to at least two other surprising aspects of our relationship with God. First, God is present in the ordinary and the everyday, not just in the dramatic and spectacular. While Jesus’ life and ministry showed occasions of miraculous healing and demonstrations of power, much of his life did not. And particularly in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spotlights God’s presence and work in the ordinary and everyday… Second, “your Father who is in secret” suggests that God works from the inside out. Previously in the Sermon, Jesus underscored the importance of our interior life and how it relates to our outward behavior. He warned against anger that develops into murder and lust that leads to adultery. In other words, we need to pay attention to what’s going on inside of us, not just to our actions. In Jesus’ teachings, the human heart matters a great deal. And the “heart” involves more than just our feelings but includes all our interior capacity to consider and to choose… love is the ultimate measuring stick. 

Prayer:

Written by Uli Chi, the author of today’s meditation.

Father in heaven, we are grateful for your great love for us, for the work we’ve been given to do, and for the world in which we live. Enable both our inner lives and our outer actions to be rooted in that love. Help us to live coherent lives where our performance is an expression of who we really are. And shape who we are to be more like you. We ask in your name, Amen.