Mystic Monday
There is a huge difference between philosophical and Christian mysticism, and I’d like to take the time in today’s post to share that difference with you. Understanding that difference will help protect us from a prevalent error in the church today - focusing on doctrines about God rather than seeking God’s deep and abiding presence in our lives.
In his book, “Paul the Mystic,” James Mann Campbell has this to say about substituting philosophical mysticism for Christian or what he refers to as “religious” mysticism -
Great harm has often come from confounding philosophical mysticism with religious mysticism. The two are radically distinct in their spirit and aims. The philosophic mystic covets knowledge; the religious mystic covets holiness; with the one knowledge is an end, with the other it is a means to an end. (p.18)
Doctrine matters. Knowledge about God is crucial for our lives as disciples of Jesus. But doctrine must never become the goal and end-all of our Christian lives. This is what Jesus said to the religious leaders in John 5:39-40. “You study the Scriptures diligently,” he said, “because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”
Do you see it? The Scriptures are not an end in themselves; rather they are the means to the end, which is living life in the awareness of the presence of Christ Jesus.
Paul had an abiding sense of the presence of Christ in his life. And his Christian life was not built on intellectual knowledge. It was built on intimate, relational knowledge. “Knowledge puffs up,” he warns the Corinthians, but “love builds up.” He continues, saying, “Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know.” (I Corinthians 8:1-2)
One of the reasons for these Mystic Monday devotionals is to encourage you in your growing relationship with Christ. There are many Christian mystics throughout the centuries whose theologies differed. Yet, all had one thing in common; they diligently sought God’s abiding and living presence in their lives.
Those who prioritize “right knowledge” over God’s loving presence have a tendency to divide the body of Christ. Those who practice what the New Testament calls the Royal Law, the law of love, seek to build and unify those who acknowledge Jesus as Lord.
Our prideful flesh finds it easier to build a Christian life based on dotting the correct doctrinal i’s and crossing the correct doctrinal t’s. Being “right” matters more than loving and accepting others for who they are in Christ. But the fact is we can be right and be wrong, wrong in our attitudes, wrong in our hearts.
Years ago, I read these words. I can’t remember where, but they have stayed with me all these years, and I close with them today -
He drew a circle to shut me out, heretic, rebel, thing to flout. But God and I had the wit to win; we drew a circle that brought him in.
Happy Mystic Monday!
In Christ,
Dan
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