Greg Paul - Simply Open: A Guide to Experiencing God in the Everyday

Praise for Simply Open

If we but simply open ourselves, Greg Paul shows us how the whole world is full of God. This is a book that will stay with you for life.

LEONARD SWEET, BEST-SELLING AUTHOR, PROFESSOR (DREW UNIVERSITY, GEORGE FOX UNIVERSITY), AND CHIEF CONTRIBUTOR TO SERMONS.COM

Greg Paul writes with the language of a poet, the compassion of a pastor and the insight of a philosopher. Simply Open will inspire and inform you in new ways that will deepen your spiritual journey and relationship with God.

MARK SANBORN, BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF THE FRED FACTOR AND YOU DONT NEED A TITLE TO BE A LEADER

Greg Paul shows Gods tender involvement with the gritty realities of life. Gregs hard-won wisdom and biblical and theological insight are expressed through lavish love of language, a telling eye for stories, and lush descriptive passages. This potent combination makes the book a sacrament.

ARTHUR BOERS, AUTHOR OF THE WAY IS MADE BY WALKING: A PILGRIMAGE ALONG THE CAMINO DE SANTIAGO

Simply Open is an inspiring and insightful book. It practically addresses the need followers of Jesus have for contemplation in the midst of busy lives. If each of us were to take some of this to heart, our Christian communities would be more transforming and be healthier places.

DAVID EDWARDS, BISHOP OF THE ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF FREDERICTON

2015 by Greg Paul

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Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Nelson Books, an imprint of Thomas Nelson. Nelson Books and Thomas Nelson are registered trademarks of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.

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Unless otherwise notes, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from THE ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION. 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version. Public domain.

ISBN 978-1-4002-0669-8 (eBook)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Paul, Greg, 1958

Simply open : a guide to experiencing God in the everyday / Greg Paul.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-4002-0668-1

1. Spiritual life--Christianity. I. Title.

BV4501.3.P38575 2015

248.4--dc23

2014023479

14 15 16 17 18 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1

For all the soul-hungry strivers, the white-knucklers, the duty-bound, and the driven, who, like me, long to let go and open wide to a new world of grace

Contents

1
The Path to Openness

T o open is to unveil, to unlock, to unclench, to invite. To create passage, to begin. Openness means generosity and truthfulness and clarity and spaciousness and fearless receptiveness and a willingness to be moved.

An open door invites me to enter, signals my release, tells me I am free to come and go. An open vista lets me see clearly into the distance, and it tantalizes me with possibility. Open water offers a sailor the liberty to choose a course unconstrained by land or shoal, an infinite choice of destinationand the sobering recognition of dependence upon wind, water, and current. A gift, upon being opened, reveals not only the nature of the item previously hidden but also the thoughtfulness of and the blessing conferred by the giver.

An open jar of olives is the beginning of a feast; an open bottle of wine, the start of celebration. The sight, the sound, the smell, the taste, the touch. The opening bars of a song or the opening paragraphs of a book are the commencement of a shared creative journey.

An open face is honest, humblethe expression of a person secure in oneself and desirous of finding the good in others. An open heart is warm and tender, ready for friendship. An open mind is generous, engaging, respectful of others, eager to grow and learn. Open arms offer welcome and comfort. An open spirit receives and perceives without condemnation.

An open society is one that values transparency over secrets. It chooses the vulnerability of welcoming the stranger over the security of exclusivity. It celebrates the richness of diversity over the comfort of homogeneity. It embraces new or different perspectives rather than defending tired dogmas. It does not rush to judgment.

Openness requires courage. By its nature it diminishes certainty and requires faith; it dismantles the mighty fortresses of ego and privilege, leaving one armed instead with the flimsy weapons of hope and love. Openness takes captive ones own private agenda, binding it to the needs and dreams of others.

The one who is truly open desires to be known, unveiled, right down to every blemish, each unrecognized strength.

The one who is truly open desires also to know, even if the knowing destroys cherished illusions. This is good, but it may also be terrifying.

It is a fearful thing, said the writer of the letter to the Hebrews, to fall into the hands of the living God (10:31 KJV).

Fearful, yes. But where safer? And where in this universe could one find greater excitement, deeper fulfillment, more enduring peace, a richer joy? This is why God seeks to cleave me, pierce me to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Heb. 4:12 ESV). Not to harm, but to heal. To open a path.

God is the Great Openness. Surely Jesus is the evidence of this: the Omnipotent becomes powerless; the Omnipresent binds himself to a point in time, a geographical and cultural place, a specific person within the narrow confines of history; the Omniscient bends every aspect of that infinite genius to the purpose of being known. Every created thing is a revelation, and no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account (Heb. 4:13 ESV).

If, then, openness is a path inward to the very core of my own being, the path leads also outward from that core to the heart of God.

I want to be free, but not without direction. I want to be humble, but not insecure. I want to be vulnerable and fearless. I desire simplicity, but the kind that is profound rather than nave. I want to know God, and myself, and others.

I want to be open. But such openness is not easy.

As much as I might want to, I cannot simply fling some internal door open and be instantly flooded with the insight, humility, serenity, and intimacy with God and others that I crave. Seeking such openness, I find, is more like a battle, one in which I have dug trenches and foxholes, built bunkers and fortresses, to protect myself.

Ironically, the strongholds I have built for protection have proven to be my dungeon.

Openness has many enemies: fear, weariness, insecurity, past traumas and disappointments, pride, selfishness. These and many others are the thick walls behind which we hide, behind which we are trapped. They may manifest themselves in our lives as variously as life-dominating drives to succeed, dependence on drugs or alcohol, arrogance or low self-esteem (or both), habitual self-sabotage, or self-aggrandizement.