More on the Trinity

It seems that the subject matter of the Trinity keeps coming to my attention. There has been a book by Carlo Carretto, The God Who Comes, that sits by my chair in the study that I pick up occasionally to read. In chapter 10 (pages 88-89) he writes:

“When God reveals Himself in His nature as one and in His actions as three, Pentecost penetrates the depths of man’s heart.

“His soul is enflamed and He becomes inebriated with the light and with life.

“It is as though he were going beyond his own limits, leaving his old earthly city, to enter the new land of God.

“For the first time he touches the frontier of Christianity, he is aware of the nature of the Kingdom.
…

“At the same moment in which you discover – or rather, live – the experience of the Unity and Trinity of God within you, you discover and live the unity of your human existence.

“You need no longer ask yourself, ‘Who am I?’

“You know it, see, you live it.”

A couple of things jumped off the page as I read these words – like “inebriated with the light and with life.” I’ve never been drunk because that is kind of hard to do when you only have a glass of wine occasionally, but I’ve witnessed many individuals that have succumbed to the power that alcohol can have on the body and mind. Can you imagine being so intoxicated with life? My assumption is that for all of us … or at least, most of us … life is lived as simply a day-to-day existence … far from the “intoxicated” level. I wonder what it would feel like to be so filled with life?

The very thought of “inebriated with the light” really intrigues me. I can remember an old Scottish Presbyterian evangelists sharing that we should so “radiate the joy and light of Christ” that we “blind the people” we meet. For some reason that has always stuck with me. To be so filled with Christ that it is never night wherever we stand. Must be something like the face of Moses as he descended from Holy Mountain after coming face-to-face with God. His countenance simply radiated because of the experience.

And then Dr. Carretto speaks of living “the unity of ‘our’ human existence” instead of the disunity that could be the testimony of most of us. Our life is more fragmented then we would be willing to admit … a part here and a part there and never the two shall meet! A simple injury or an unkind word or a nagging feeling keeps us all tied up and confused. At best we run on only a couple of cylinders, but seldom at full capacity. Every now and again we come across a person who is unbelievable in what they are able to accomplish in the course of just one day. Could they be living “the unity of their human existence”? Could that be what he is referring to?

The “radiation” and the “unity” come directly out of living an ongoing relationship with God through Jesus Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit. The closer we get to the light the more radiation we will show. The closer we get to the One who holds the entire universe together the more we will experience the unity of it all. We all want life – abundantly – a life filled with joy and fulfillment. Maybe, just maybe, Carlo Carretto has discovered a little bit of the insight to make it happen … just maybe.

Quote for today: There are two ways of being united -- one is by being frozen together, and the other is by being melted together. What Christians need is to be united in brotherly love, and then they may expect to have power. Dwight L. Moody

NOTE: There will not be a posting tomorrow.