When I am able to come before God's grace, which is his unmerited help, to look at my own character defects with which I obsessively disturb myself and the world, I am graciously shown at the same time how unsuitable I am to judge others, to demand their perfection, to ask them to do it my way. Dropping the weight of those judgements and that control is a joy indeed and I remain grateful every day that God has loved a sinner like me.
“The closer I draw to Christ the darker is my view of man, and the more joy I experience.” Andrew, I feel like you are an angel sent to me. Your words bring to life so many things I am experiencing. 🙏 I am grateful and joyful.
The closer one draws to God the more one learns of God's plans and wishes to follow His plan for an eternity of no more tears, instead of the plans of the world, which is mostly confusion.
I was in a guest house in North Italy last week and the place had one of your books on the shelf in Italian! It had a picture of very young you on the back in a trench coat with a beard. The book was called Spettri. I’d post a picture but I can’t figure out how.
I know I am far behind and no one will read this but I feel it necessary to put out to the world. When “Passion of the Christ” came out my church in Katy, TX bought out the theater 5 times. Of course we all “know” that Christ dies for our sins, but somewhere deep inside of me I always assumed it was sort of for other people’s sins. For the first time in my life, I was 42 at that time, I realized that truly, Christ suffered and die for MY sins. It was a humbling and joyful experience.
When you start to do just as Andrew says in this letter, there is an inner peace. The more I feel that surrender and peace, the more I see how others are in the grip of judging others and feel stressed about everyone else. Being humble and merciful is something I work on everyday.
Reading this, I’m reminded of a quote from “Woyzeck” by Georg Büchner. He has one of the protagonists say: “virtue is achieved by being virtuous”, meaning everyone is tasked with different challenges and circumstances, therefore making it impossible to judge one person by another ones standards.
This whole judging everyone-everything-24/7- thing, to me, seems to be a giant waste of brain power and, if anything, a distraction from looking in the mirror. I’ve found, that it frees up a lot of space, time and energy to leave the judging to someone who sees things more clearly, being all-knowing does come in handy for the task, if you ask me.
When I am able to come before God's grace, which is his unmerited help, to look at my own character defects with which I obsessively disturb myself and the world, I am graciously shown at the same time how unsuitable I am to judge others, to demand their perfection, to ask them to do it my way. Dropping the weight of those judgements and that control is a joy indeed and I remain grateful every day that God has loved a sinner like me.
“Dropping the weight of those judgements” is so true. They are a weight. I am going through this process now. Being cleansed by God. Thanks Debra.
“The closer I draw to Christ the darker is my view of man, and the more joy I experience.” Andrew, I feel like you are an angel sent to me. Your words bring to life so many things I am experiencing. 🙏 I am grateful and joyful.
Thank you Andrew for your gift today...my heart is filled...
The closer one draws to God the more one learns of God's plans and wishes to follow His plan for an eternity of no more tears, instead of the plans of the world, which is mostly confusion.
Very true. I’ve stopped making my own plans. It’s pointless. My life gets so much better when I just do what he tells me.
I was in a guest house in North Italy last week and the place had one of your books on the shelf in Italian! It had a picture of very young you on the back in a trench coat with a beard. The book was called Spettri. I’d post a picture but I can’t figure out how.
Ha, yes, that's The Uncanny.
This is one of your best.
Beautiful essay. Chesterton would have loved its paradoxes.
I know I am far behind and no one will read this but I feel it necessary to put out to the world. When “Passion of the Christ” came out my church in Katy, TX bought out the theater 5 times. Of course we all “know” that Christ dies for our sins, but somewhere deep inside of me I always assumed it was sort of for other people’s sins. For the first time in my life, I was 42 at that time, I realized that truly, Christ suffered and die for MY sins. It was a humbling and joyful experience.
When you start to do just as Andrew says in this letter, there is an inner peace. The more I feel that surrender and peace, the more I see how others are in the grip of judging others and feel stressed about everyone else. Being humble and merciful is something I work on everyday.
Reading this, I’m reminded of a quote from “Woyzeck” by Georg Büchner. He has one of the protagonists say: “virtue is achieved by being virtuous”, meaning everyone is tasked with different challenges and circumstances, therefore making it impossible to judge one person by another ones standards.
This whole judging everyone-everything-24/7- thing, to me, seems to be a giant waste of brain power and, if anything, a distraction from looking in the mirror. I’ve found, that it frees up a lot of space, time and energy to leave the judging to someone who sees things more clearly, being all-knowing does come in handy for the task, if you ask me.
I love this.