ver.: 20 October 2007
One of the things that spiritually-alive people most talk about is a sense of expectation. They have a sense that God will act, and will let people be aware of the continuing divine involvement in their lives.
Henri Nouwen (in Out of Solitude, p.59) likened it to getting a letter from someone you love: it brightens up even the most boring day. God's 'love letters' are being delivered daily, hourly, often moment by moment. Part of living in the Spirit is to trust that God will deliver these 'letters'. No wonder people who live in the Spirit feel so refreshed; is there anything as refreshing as that?
Part of this sense of expectation is expecting to be empowered and used by God. God will not waste you. God will put you to use. Maybe not as you want to, maybe not when you want to. But just as God's Word does not come back empty, neither will God's work in you. This idea draws from, among other places, Acts 1:8, where the risen Jesus addresses the gathering of His followers (beyond just the circle of his disciples!). Jesus told them not to try to figure out the time of the coming of the Kingdom, for that was not their task. "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you," Jesus said, "and you shall be my witnesses .... to the ends of the earth." No maybes about this commissioning -- the power shall be given to be Jesus' witnesses. Acts 2 reports that on Pentecost, just after Jesus left, the Holy Spirit arrived in full force. The Spirit is still here, in each baptized believer.
The power is still here, too, arising within us in order to enable us to carry out our tasks of service, witness, and benefit of the Body. Because the Spirit gives such possibilities, the follower of Christ can be bold about doing the good things that make for holiness. The follower expects to be used at any moment. This is what the holy life is made of.
When charismatics talk of doing things in "resurrection
power", they are saying that they are not afraid to take action
for God's purposes, because anything that causes fear is already
defeated through Jesus' resurrection. They're not afraid to be
wrong, even dreadfully wrong. They trust that when they trust the Spirit, the Spirit will
lead them in the right direction, out of whatever hole they may
have dug for themselves. They can be free to take chances to
follow God. While I would remind them that the Spirit, through
Scripture, tells us to be discerning about all things, that is
a matter of wisdom not fear. In doing God's work,
whatever that may be, there's no room for fear.
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"To know the mechanics does not mean that
we are practicing the Disciplines. The Spiritual
Disciplines are an inward and spiritual reality, and the
inner attitude of the heart is far more crucial than the
mechanics for coming into the reality of the spiritual
life." |
SPIRITUAL PRACTICESChristians through the years have learned that certain practices help them keep the spiritual channels open and help keep the heart turned toward God. They don't save you or turn you into a holy person, or even into a good one. But they can inspire your desire, and grow your love of God by pulling down the walls you yourself put up as well as those which others put up for you. You can learn to find God where God is least expected. The practices, and the disciplines they grew from, take a specific part of your way of life and turn it toward God. A spiritual discipline is, when given exercise faithfully and regularly, a habit or regular pattern in your life that repeatedly brings you back to God and opens you up to what the Spirit is showing you. |
Spiritual disciplines help to keep our relationship with God in good working order, and even help develop intimacy. But no discipline is able to create or start one's relationship with God. Nothing we do can do that; Christ did it already. No discipline can earn us heavenly brownie points, because there are no such brownie points to earn. No discipline gives us even the briefest moment of escape from our broken nature. No discipline can rescue us, make us more valuable as persons, or make us inherently more of a leader. Your life may go smoother because of it, but it may get much rougher, and neither is really the point of it.
Disciplines and practices are tools used for cooperating
with the Spirit on the task of remaking us into what God wants
us to be. Tools, not magic, not willpower. Tools of surrender
and remanufacture. Tools that are used with Scripture, not in
its stead. Powerful tools, but only because of the powerful One
we're working with. And you are not the foreman.
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The Spirit uses Scripture, fellowship and devotional practices to develop in us the spiritual eyes to see what God is doing. (This is what Ephesians means by the 'eyes of understanding'.) We then become freer to break out of the neat boxes in which we package our behavior. We don't have to act super-pious, or stay stolid and formal, or strictly orderly and in place, or do all the right things. We can be freer to stop trying to package God or ourselves as some sort of Captain Nice or Joe Cool or Heather Hip. Or perhaps we'll stop boxing God in with limits to divine authority (as if we have any power to do so). Without the vision that the Spirit supplies, such freedom leads to anarchy and self-obsession. Without 'spiritual eyes', we force God to confront us and our way of life rather than let God share with us the pleasure of divine company. With those 'spiritual eyes', we can see some part of where God is headed and where we belong in it. We can then act accordingly, and not think about the boxes.
A DEVOTIONAL OUTLOOK ON LIFEOne way to envision this is to look at Jesus as the Light from different angles. The first vision is that we see the Light: we experience the 'something' that pierces darkness and drives it away. The second is that we see by way of the Light: we see the blessed wretchedness and fallen splendor of the world that He so loved. We see the poverty and the delusions of grandeur, the cowardice and the courage, the insight and the stupidity. We can see it for what it is when the Light shines on it. We even see ourselves, out from the shadows, our bodies, our tastes, our visual effects. The third kind of vision is to see along the Light, past the peepholes and the crevices the Light sneaks through, out past the boughs and birds and nevels and the blue sky, to the blazing Source whose vision is branded upon us. Within a devotional outlook on life, spiritual growth never ends. No matter how well you may think you have done, there's always a whole lot more around the corner. This is a challenge, not a problem, but it doesn't always feel that way. No matter what practices and disciplines you use, progress will often be like trying to run through a quagmire; the feet are weighed down by the thick mud, the legs pull, and you go very slowly. But you go nonetheless. |
"The renewal of our natures is a work of great
importance. It is not to be done in a day. We have not
only a new house to build up, but an old one to pull
down. " |
A devotional outlook brings many blessings and gifts. One of the surest signs of shallow belief is if you're constantly seeking gifts and blessings for yourself and those closest to you. The truly devoted understand why the gifts are given, namely, to further God's Kingdom, and to build up others in Christ's fellowship and beyond. They understand why God gives blessings of material or status : as a tool for spreading the Good News and for making the Body's ministries function better. Seeking gains for self or clique or clan is, to be blunt, the sin of greed.
Holiness does not exist for its own sake; the moment it does, it's no longer holy. The root of holiness is love. One can't be holy for one's own sake; the best of our own holiness is rags before God. As Paul pointed out about holiness, 'it is not me, but Christ who lives in me'. Working on your own holiness for its own sake misses the point. If you look in the Bible at where God commands or commissions -- say, at the Ten Commandments, or the Great Commission -- you'll find that they're not focused on you. It's 'your neighbors', 'your mother and your father', 'the Kingdom of God', 'love your enemies', 'lend to others, expecting nothing in return', 'go therefore and make disciples'. God's commands go outward from us, not inward. So, any turning inward is, at best, a temporary strategy for becoming whole enough to follow God the way we ought : by serving others and bearing witness. God's own concern is directed out towards others; we are to live the same way.
Certain practices, attitudes, and disciplines have helped millions in their inner search. Check these out:
In your own life, have you found Jesus to be any of the aspects of light mentioned here? Or even any that's not mentioned here? (If in a group: share with others about one such time.)
What is the difference between 'expectation' and 'demand'? Between 'trust' and 'knowing'? In what ways are they alike?
Picture in your mind what the 'walk' of faith is like, as you envision that 'journeying' imagery.
(Again, groups: share your imaginary picture of this 'walk' with those around you -- but only after you've savored it for a while. Be honest; don't be afraid to say what you think might be stupid or trivial.)
People who strive to be pleasing to God often struggle with a tension between two things God does: (a) God gives freedom; (b) God provides limits.
Think of a time when you knew (or discovered) that God had somehow changed you :
Can you think of a time when you chose not to turn away from what you knew was wrong?
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