Explore The Monastic Rhythms That Make for Healthy LeadershipSample

Daring to Believe in the Abundance of God’s Provision

The second vow undertaken by the Benedictine monks upon entering a monastery was a commitment to “conversion.” And contrary to our modern understanding of conversion as a one-time event where we engage our wills to declare loyalty to Christ, the ancient understanding of conversion was a lifestyle of daily formation into the character of Christ. They recognized that the transformation of the false self into the true self was the conscious work of a lifetime.

Such an engagement with conversion requires a God who is “rich in mercy” (Ephesians 2:4), a God lavish in love and overflowing with compassion and provision. This is the opposite of a chintzy, demanding, vindictive God. The monastics, for all their structure and discipline, were committed to a generous God as their source and hope.

Paul’s letter to the Ephesian believers mirrors the conviction that God is a “more than” God. A God that invites us to really taste and see that he is good (Psalm 34:8), and in the process, have our minds blown with the sheer vastness of his delighted provision for his children. Paul is reaching for all his superlatives as he describes a God this good. 

Dare we risk believing in such an abundant God? Maybe a better way to ask it: dare we not draw near to such a lavish God?