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Welcome to OneLife Ministries. This site is designed to lead you prayerfully into a heart experience of Divine Presence, Who is Love. While it focuses on Christian teaching, I hope persons of varied faiths will find inspiration here. Indeed, "God" can be whatever image helps us trust in the Sacred, by whatever means Grace touches us each. Please share this ministry with others, and please return soon. There is a new offering daily. And to be placed on the daily OneLife email list, to request notifications of new writings or submit prayer requests, write to briankwilcox@yahoo.com .
Blessings,
Brian Kenneth Wilcox MDiv, MFT, PhD
Interspiritual Pastor-Teacher, Author, Workshop Leader, Spiritual Counselor, and Chaplain.
You are invited to join Brian at his fellowship group on Facebook. The group is called OneLife Ministries – An Interspiritual Contemplative Fellowship. Hope to see you there. Blessings.
Scripture
So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.
*I Peter 5.6, NLT
Spiritual Teaching
A certain conqueror said to a Sage: "Sir, all the great rulers of the past had honorific titles with the name of God in them: there was God-Gifted, and God-Accepted, and so on. How about such a name for me?" "God Forbid," said the Sage.
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Our Scripture today presents a universal Truth. What is that Truth? Each of us can say, truthfully: God is God, and I am not God.
Out of this is a universal Principle. By this I mean, the Peter passage shows us something that works universally, for the faithfulness of the principle is part of the Nature of God and the Universe. You could say it of yourself like this: When I humble myself before God, God exalts me at the right time.
So, regardless of how low things may be for you, you can do this – and this works. First, humble yourself before God. Second, wait for God to lift you up. This does not mean God decides to lift you up; this means God cannot lift you up when your pride blocks the Divine Will – for pride quenches the operations of Grace. God has already decided to lift you up. The question is, will your willfulness deter the Divine Will?
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We are each part of God. We each are a self-expression of God. We are each a particularized ray of the Eternal Sun, and drop of the Celestial Sea. In this world, God is Who and What God is, for you are who and what you are.
Yes, to say “I am of God” or “I am part of God” is not to say “I am God.” Now, this would be true, for instance, if we meditate on “I am God,” and mean the wise thing. What is that? “I am” states your being in and of God; yet, when you add “God,” well, you have added the Whole of what you rely on for your every breath, thought, will, and hope.
Therefore, we find a sane humbleness in all true spiritual expressions. We are not to think too lowly of ourselves, and we are not to think too highly of ourselves. In this, we can ask always, “Is this I think of myself loving toward myself?” And, “Is this I think of myself expressive of reverence toward the Divine?”
The beginning of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Bible begins, “In the beginning God” or “When God began to create.” If we look at the Bible as a Story of faith, this beginning places all else in context – the context of the Divine Power, Presence, and Will.
Likewise, the Ten Commandments begins with honoring God first, and alone as God. All else, then, in the Jewish Law is within that context. This is to say, the Divine Order operates well only in this context of absolute honor for and reliance on God.
This entails different ways we may view God, and the different ways of referring to God. The Jews had many ways of referring to God. Yet, priority was to be given to the One Truth these many names and titles refer to. We need not all refer to God in the same ways to have a like priority upon and reverence for Infinity.
In the New Testament, Jesus gives the Lord's Prayer. This begins, “Our Father.” The rest of the Prayer finds proper order within those first two words. Father is only one way of speaking of and to God: the importance is the place God holds within our minds and hearts, and that we are reverential of the Spirit called by many names.
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Is there a way of referring to and invoking God which is not reverential? Yes. Not everything is okay. Some persons I have found out see a light pole as their Higher Power. Yes, possibly that seems to work for those persons; yet, I find no grounds for saying that is a reverential means of relating to, invoking, or speaking about "God." If one says, "But that works for me," my reply can be, "What works for anyone is not the final decider of reverence." I want to be as inclusive as possible, but domesticated, diminutive ideas of God do not serve us well, not in the long run, and are not reflective of the dignity God Is and the respect the Divine inherently is.
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From Eastern Christianity comes the word “economy” for the Divine Order. The word “economy” relates to the ordering of a household. Creation is the household of the Universal Spirit. The Head of the household defines the order of it; that is, the Nature of the Divine is the nature of the Order. All within the Nature of God is in-order, and will be blessed; all else is out-of-order, and will not be blessed.
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God Forbid that we be God, try to be God, or want to be God. I have been observant enough of myself to know I am not God. I am, and God is, but I am not God.
Are you not glad the Bible does not begin, “In the beginning Brian"? I am glad your name is not there. We are glad together to be part of something More than ourselves, yet in Whom, or What, we participate as equals in Love.
Responding
Reflect upon the following from the writing. What is a sane humbleness, as presented in this writing?
Therefore, we find a sane humbleness in all true spiritual expressions. We are not to think too lowly of ourselves, and we are not to think too highly of ourselves. In this, we can ask always, “Is this I think of myself loving toward myself?” And, “Is this I think of myself expressive of reverence toward the Divine?”
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*OneLife Ministries is a ministry of Brian Kenneth Wilcox, SW Florida. Brian lives a vowed life and with his two dogs, Bandit Ty and St. Francis, with friends and under a vow of simplicity. Brian is an ecumenical-interspiritual leader, who chooses not to identify with any group, and renounces all titles of sacredness that some would apply to him, but seeks to be open to how Christ manifests in the diversity of Christian denominations and varied religious-spiritual traditions. He affirms that all spiritual paths lead ultimately back to Jesus Christ. He is Senior Chaplain for the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office, Punta Gorda, FL.
*Brian welcomes responses to his writings or submission of prayer requests at briankwilcox@yahoo.com . Also, Brian is on Facebook: search Brian Kenneth Wilcox.
*Contact the above email to book Brian for preaching, Spiritual Direction, retreats, workshops, animal blessing services, house blessings, or other spiritual requests. You can order his book An Ache for Union from major booksellers.
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