More on the Keating Interview....

The last post about the Keating interview (many moons ago) ended with the following sentence.

This means first having a self and then surrendering it, opening oneself to union with God, which is a gift.

I think this sentence is ripe with stuff to think about and ponder. Some of that pondering follows....

Having a self and then surrendering it....

In the reading I've done over the course of the last year or so, there is the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) implication that the ego...the self....is a bad thing. I don't necessarily see it that way unless, of course, it takes over and convinces you that it is all there is to you. You become lost in your thoughts...caught on the merry go round of egoic thinking. I recently read a quote from Willie Nelson...don't let your thoughts think you. Another way of saying, don't succumb to the ploys of the egoic mind. Annie recently posted a link to a short audio of Joel Goldsmith where he talked about our uniqueness. Joel Goldsmith refers to our individuality as "our individual expression of God's being. He says we never lose our individuality, our uniqueness.

But then there is mention about surrendering. Ahhhhh......the tricky part...surrendering our uniqueness to God. I found some really interesting quotes about surrender....

"At the back of it there lies the central citadel of obstinacy:I will not give up my right to myself--the thing God intends you to give up if ever you are going to be a disciple of Jesus Christ."
-------- Oswald Chambers, in *My Utmost for His Highest*

To place ourselves in range of God's choicest gifts, we have to walk with God, work with God, lean on God, cling to God, come to have the sense and feel of God, refer all things to God.Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. Calvin Seminary
He knows what He is doing with me. I cannot always understand His way, but I am content in the realization that He knows what is best. That is surrender.~Daya Mata

And a rather long quote from the very prolific Preston Eby...from THE ROYAL PRIESTHOOD Part 23 THE CLEANSING AND SANCTIFICATION OF THE PRIESTHOOD

Many are ready enough to give unto God an hour a week, or perchance an hour a day, a few spare dollars, and a sentimental kind of religionism, which consists of feelings and emotions and activities; but anything like a practical surrender of themselves to the leadership of the Spirit alone, to follow on to know HIM in His perfections, to know His voice and obey His will as He reveals it, yielding body and soul, all they have, and are, and will be, to the Lord alone, is put on one side as an extravagant idea, not to be entertained by soberminded people, who have to get on in the world. Oh, are you one of these? Are you a servant of religion and tradition, rather than the Lord? YOU ARE ROBBING GOD! "But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? IN TITHES AND OFFERINGS" (Mal. 3:8). You are withholding that which belongs to Him. You profess to be the Lord's; then how much of you is His? The priesthood is the tithe and offering of the people unto God. Having received the call to priesthood, do you not belong entirely to Him? Then how can you how dare you refuse Him THE WHOLE of that heart, that life which He has claimed as uniquely His? Let the words, "WHOLLY GIVEN UNTO THE LORD," be henceforward our motto, the stamp and superscription on all we have, and are, and let each day and each hour witness, by God's grace, a renewed, willing, and hearty surrender of ourselves, body, soul, and spirit, unto Him whose we are, and whom we desire to serve as HIS PRIESTHOOD upon the earth. God grant that we may yield it!

And about union with Him? Norman Grubb puts it this way:

"Jesus gave us the vine and branches illustration. Through this our eyes are opened to the secret of the universe: union the mystery of the universe: how two can be one and yet remain two. The living God, the living Christ, and I actually become one person and function as one person. Separation is impossible. It has disappeared. We function entirely and forever and naturally as one person. And yet we remain two!" (Norman Grubb, The Key to Everything. Fort Washington: Christian Literature Crusade. 1960. Pgs 24,25)

...then the Holy Spirit will bring the whole Christ-- Christ crucified and risen and living in glory-- into your heart. Andrew Murray

And about the gift part? Well, Romans 6:23 sums that up very succinctly....

the [bountiful] free gift of God is eternal life through (in union with) Jesus Christ our Lord. (Emph)

And while cruising around looking for quotes about surrendering (amazing what google will cough up if one is willing to look for a bit) I found a whole series of writings on surrender written from a very calvinistic Universalist perspective. Check out the 2009 writings by Jan Antonoson on The Glory Road...all about surrender. The most intriguing title in the collection? Surrendering to God Is Like Giving a Cat a Pill.

Tomorrow I will finish up my comments on this interview with Keating...and interview that provided all kinds of fodder for my thoughts and ponderings....