Word of the day: DIALECTIC. Thanks Cory.

Obedience and intimacy. Two sides of the same coin. One cannot healthfully exist without the other. To love God but defy Him. To follow His commands but without heart, without relationship. Both ways veer away toward decay. Jesus: “If you love me, you will obey my commands… if you obey my commands you will remain in my love.” Kids like me grew up practicing obedience but receiving love (and mercy) is the growing edge. For others, the reverse is true. I think God has patience with all of us, but none of us should be happy with a lopsided devotion. Jesus addresses both groups: “You hypocrites! You nullify the law to follow tradition!” Or… “You are healed. Stop sinning or something worse might happen.”

I’ll admit I’m on the rebellious side, but I have a pretty tender conscience. Typically I think through my actions and try to err on the safe side to avoid sin. But of course avoiding sin can be radically different than obedience! I know it feels unfair sometimes, but the truth is inaction can be just as damning as carnality.

But over all, I suppose remaining in Jesus’ love is the tough part for me because it’s not something I can check off a list. It’s an unending state of being. And as my friend says, everything we do towards being “in Christ” easily becomes a new moral standard (how was your quiet time today?). What he and I decided though was that the best doing-oriented stuff of discipleship is the stuff that hardwires God-awareness into our daily life. Prayer, study, meditation, fasting, and all the spiritual disciplines should be the fine tuners on our spiritual instrument that inch us toward that resonant frequency of awareness and alignment with what the Holy Spirit is doing in our lives… (hmm… nice analogy, Nate. Pat, pat, pat.) They should make us better listeners, more attentive, more responsive. (Lovemaking analogy deleted… *bleep*) If they don’t, then we may be practicing obedience without love. And I’m learning there IS no safe side with God. Either we walk in the tension or we veer off the road.

“Remain in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing.”

In, in, in. Not on, around, or among. With Jesus there’s a whole lot of “in” going on. In makes love. In makes obedience. In sees all the shit and all the beauty. In accepts and challenges at the same time. In makes growth, and life, and freedom. Guy in black and white with neon sweat rivulets looks at the camera and says, “is it in you?”

…Wow, I’m a dork.