Ordo Amoris

While reading a biography of C.S. Lewis, I ran across something that he wrote about St. Augustine and virtue. St. Augustine defines the idea of virtue as ordo amoris, or the proper condition of one's emotions and desires "in which every object is accorded that kind of degree of love which is appropriate to it." In other words, virtue is to love and desire everything at an appropriate and healthy level in accordance with it's actual value and worth.

that's good. and difficult. all at the same time.felt

That's a big leap, right? How does one evaluate the proper worth and value of something, and then how does one measure what level of love or affection is appropriate to the worth ascribed to the object (Object in this context can be anything i.e. person, place, thing, idea, feeling, philosophy, etc.). But throughout philosophy and history, there is this sense that some things are worthy of praise and honor and to be highly valued. Aristotle and Plato thought that the purpose of educating children should be to teach them what is good and bad, right and wrong.

so it's not a Christian notion. or religious notion. it's an idea that has been constant throughout history. some attributes or characteristics of people have been thought to be more noble or more desirable than others. certain characteristics of object have been thought to be more valuable, useful, etc. and of course there have been changes depending on the context and time period.

Aristotle said that virtue is the middle point between deficiency and excess of a certain characteristic. He used this is the context of the virtuous characteristics that are found in individuals. But we can apply this to certain items as well. For example, when looking for a material to build tall buildings, the characteristic of strength would be considered one that is very important. Depending on the height, some pliability is also needed in order for it to not stand too rigid in high winds. These same characteristics when discussing a wedding cake are not needed in the same proportion nor to be valued at the same level as compared to steel.

what I mean by all of this is quite simple.

Oftentimes, we put a much higher value on things that what their intrinsic worth is. And a much higher value on characteristics of people and things than what is appropriate.

Who or what have you overvalued in your life? What do you see in other people that you overvalue? Who or what have you undervalued in your life? What do you see in other people that you undervalue?

Just some questions...

Breath

So tonight (1/27/2011) at small group we sang this song. It was done with excellence as is the norm for our worship leader. But a line stuck out to me, and it is one that is probably overused within Christian music. It's overused in all types of music. We normally attribute this metaphor to something that we feel we cannot live without. Most often it is in reference to relationships though I have heard it used to speak of sports and hobbies as well. But in the context of my small group, the phrase is speaking of God.

"You are the air I breathe..." - Always Forever by Phil Wickham

It's kind of interesting. I normally think this means that like somehow God is all we need and the only thing that matters, and in some sense that is true. In comparison to all other things, for the Christian, one's relationship with God, or more important God's relationship with us, is of utmost importance.

But let's think this metaphor through.

So in life. We definitely need breath, right?

I mean, if we're honest, we really can't do much else. Let's take a look Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. If you look, on the bottom rung is breath. Pretty important. Essential actually. There is never a time that anything else can be experienced, enjoyed, or even survived without breath. But there are other things in life. Good things. But breath is essential. Gen. 2:7 tells us that "Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being."

So from the beginning, we needed breath.

Back to the song.

Oh. This isn't a Bible teaching by the way, so you aren't going to see a bunch of Scripture passages. Mostly because I don't all of them off the top of my head, and this is a blog, and so I am just writing free form with whatever come into my head. Sort of like a journal except all 5 of you can read it.

But what I was thinking is this. God created so many good things for us to enjoy. First, in the Genesis account, if you are a man, he created woman. Good call God. All of us men say thank you! For the women reading this, the same is true, as God intended for us to walk side by side enjoying each others company and doing life together. But we couldn't do it without breath. We couldn't experience the joy and....heartache of relationship without breath. We couldn't experience the sunrise with a good cup of coffee in the morning without breath. Or take in a view of Grand Canyon. Or listen to a great piece of music and be moved to the core of who we are without breath. Or taste a meal with such complexity, flavors so well balanced that we want to savor each bite. Or for those with children, to just watch your child sleep. Without breath, none of this is possible.

I overstate the obvious to say this.

our amazingly creative and redeeming God has overwhelmed us with his love. with his grace. forgiveness. kindness. and healing. he is the air we breathe. and how amazing that in his being our everything, he enables us to enjoy and experience the beauty, depth, and richness of this life that he has given us. that he designed. wow. what a good dad. he really does give good gifts. Matthew 7:11 (i had to throw one more in there)

Dating and God's Pride

"I'm really proud of you."

Those were the words that I felt God say to me after I had asked a girl out for coffee a few years back.

Man. How's that for weird? Apart from the craziness that God speaks to us, to me, add in that he would choose to say he was proud of me for asking out a girl. I mean, wasn't I supposed to kiss dating goodbye at some point in my journey through my high school Christian culture? But he said he was proud of me or at least that is what I felt.

And I believe it.

God being proud of us for doing things that, for some of us, don't fall into the confines of what we think God would consider important. Wouldn't he save words like that for extended prayer times, after I taught at church, or when I shared my faith journey with a friend?

Evidently not.

He was proud of me for doing something that I was created to do. Be in relationships. Take risks. Especially take risks with my heart. Not something that I do very often. But it isn't even that. It's that God created us to do many things. Breathe. Eat. Work. Sleep. Talk. Smell. So if he made us for these things, could it be that he takes joy in us doing these things? To simplify, wouldn't it make sense that if he chose to create us - an intentional act of his will - that he would delight in us for simply being. For just existing. For those of us who have entered into his grace to us in Jesus, we are accepted and beloved - children of God. He is pleased with us for just being. He is proud of us for just doing what he created us to do, whether that is taking the risk to act out a girl or go climbing or lead a small group or apply for the promotion or venture into reading the Bible for the first time maybe. Maybe pray for the first time.

If we only were able to see how God sees and not how we think he sees based upon our projections. Whoa. Game over.

Check out some of these scriptures for reference: Psalm 18:19, Psalm 37:11, Psalm 41:11, Romans 8:38-39, Ephesians 1:18 just to name a few.

A Culture of the Un-Blessed

Today in Dr. Terry Wardle's class, Person in Prayer, we spoke about the idea of benediction. For those who didn't grow up religious or attended a church in which the term "benediction" wasn't used, let me define it. A benediction is the blessing spoken over a group of people, most often at church, and most often at the end of a church service. Throughout history, including biblical history, the idea of blessing was really important to families. Fathers would speak blessings over their children, most often their sons. And it was more than simply kind words. The idea was that the blessing of the father, in this culture, actually changed things. It actually help create a different future in the son than would have been if the blessing had not been spoken. Now we could chat about the many ways in which blessing, or the speaking of God's divine favor over someone impacts the individual... and there are many. Spiritual, psychological, and physically just to name a few. But the clearest example, and the one that God set in the book of Numbers to the Israelites is found in Numbers 6.

²² The LORD said to Moses, ²³ “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

²⁴ “‘“The LORD bless you
and keep you;
²⁵ the LORD make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
²⁶ the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”’

But what Dr. Wardle was saying that we really should take the time to bless people whenever the opportunity arises. Even more, we should create opportunities to speak blessing over people. We all long for it. We all yearn to not simply be praised and applauded for our efforts, actions, or abilities, but to be blessed. What I mean is that a blessing speaks to who you are, but not only to who you are at that moment. A blessing speaks to who the person who is pronouncing the blessing sees you to be, or sees who you will be. In a Judeo-Christian blessing, it should be one step further, and this is an important step further. This type of blessing speaks to how God sees you as an individual and what future he sees for you. There are so many ways to take time to bless another person. In our culture, we don't see this.

But in our world we mostly encounter discouragement and cynicism with a possible dash of indifference. This is not blessing. This is the anithesis to blessing.

So today. Bless someone. Encourage someone. Take the time to get God's perspective on that person, and then share it with them. Let them know that they are doing a great job. Give that compliment that you have been resisting giving.

Like the famous sculpture and shoe company, Nike says, "Just do it."