The Practice of the Presence of God - Tapa blanda

In a world full of "doing", "performing", "keeping up with the Joneses", and an innumerable other distractions and pressures, Brother Lawrence was a man gifted by God to have the vision of true fellowship with God. He tells us simply that being a Christian means to have a constant love relationship with God, only made possible through Jesus Christ's sacrifice. He reminds us not be guilty or ashamed (a very difficult thing to know if you're not told explicitly, and something only known through faith). The message of the churches (at least in the Western world) has been so diluted by the culture of "results" and "knowledge". We are often given guilt trips by church leader because we aren't "up to par" or because we don't buy into the church's vision. After attending a church for many years, we're still spiritually dry, and at the same time expected to serve more and more? Is that the abundant life? Instead, we are supposed to be taught how to have fellowship with God! From that, everything else flows. There are no shortcuts! Brother Lawrence exhorts us to have such a dear love for God that we are completely at rest with Him. It does takes time and discipline to develop the intimacy, but with any other love relationship (w/spouse, etc.), after a little effort and focus, the love between the two of you carries the relationship quite automatically.

Brother Lawrence (1614 – 1691) served as a lay brother in a Carmelite monastery in Paris. Christians commonly remember him for the intimacy he expressed concerning his relationship to God as recorded in a book compiled after his death, the classic Christian text, The Practice of the Presence of God.