Surrendering to the Spirit

As we read the second chapter of Acts with an eye toward spiritual empowerment we see not only the value of a high view of Jesus, but also a willingness to embrace the work and presence of the Holy Spirit with a whatever spirit.  The disciples certainly had no idea that what happened in their Jerusalem meeting room would happen.  They were there because Jesus said to wait for the promise of the Father so they started gathering in a spirit of waiting and prayer.  Whatever the Spirit would do, they would embrace.    

It is not always easy for us to wait anticipating whatever God might want to do in our lives, or in the church which is a part of our lives.  If waiting is hard for us an individual, how much harder it is for a body of individuals to wait.  Actually, the church has taught us many things about living this life of faith in Christ.  We have learned about worship, spiritual disciplines, and sound doctrine, but the church has not always invited us, or encouraged us to wait on the Holy Spirit to come with power in our midst.  

What we see in the early words of Acts is a word which tells us that the Holy Spirit is ready to come into our midst in a powerful and life changing way.  He came into their midst in such a way as to underscore that His coming is not about our agenda, or needs, but about the desire of the Spirit to raise up a people intent on nothing but being about the will of God.  Surrendering to that purpose usurps anything else, or we have not created a space fit for the Spirit to do His thing.  

The Common View

Whenever we start roaming inside the story of Pentecost, it almost inevitable that we end up thinking about the church of our own day.  Questions start rising from a deep place within us.  Could what happened then happen now?  Is it possible for the church to be renewed in such a powerful way?  Is there anything we could do which would enable the Holy Spirit to once again act in such a transforming way?  Does the church really have any hope of a future apart from some kind of divine intervention by the Holy Spirit?   

The second chapter of Acts does not invite us to a quick casual reading, but to a moment of spiritual pondering which touches the core of our soul.  One of the obvious things about this moment of spiritual empowerment is the seriousness with which the disciples regarded Jesus.  They were witnesses to His life, to His death, to His resurrection, and to His disappearance in the clouds above them.  His teaching and preaching had taken root in their lives in such a way that it became the center of every thing considered and done.  Jesus was not a friend or buddy, He was not a teacher or prophet, but He was Son of God and Savior.  Nothing made sense without Him.    

The common view of Jesus in our day is much less than it was in that day.  His teachings can be manipulated and interpreted to give credibility to our personal viewpoint.  More stock is placed in His teachings than His sacrificial death on the cross.  In many ways the cross has become unnecessary to today's trendy theology and the church which preaches it.  To expect renewal in the church established through that sacrifice when it is not regarded as something which has inherent saving power is not something which makes any sense to expect.  

The Whatever Prayers

When the Holy Spirit came as wind and fire on the Day of Pentecost, it came to a gathering of people who had been devoting themselves to prayer.  Acts 1:14 says, "All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer..."  Jesus had told them to wait in the city until the power came and while they waited, they prayed.  Had there been any Methodist blood in them, they would have created a study committee to probe the reason for the waiting, but instead they elected to pray.  The praying thing is something about which the church of our day talks about a lot, but which still remains a difficult task.    

One of the things which makes it difficult is that so much of the praying of the church is result focused.  When the Jesus followers met during those days between Ascension and Pentecost, they simply devoted themselves to what seems to be a kind of non-directed prayer.  The only word they had to guide them was the one about waiting.  Their praying was more a whatever kind of prayer, or maybe even one of those "Thy will be done"  prayers.  The "'Thy will be done" prayers are always hard for the church and its leaders who have already figured out what God needs to do to lead the church forward.  

The pre-Pentecost believers were open to whatever it was that God was about to do.  They had no idea what to expect.  And, they could wait and pray in that space which was empty of their own agenda, their own desires, and the knowledge of God's plan.  They knew only that something was going to happen that God had planned and waiting for it was enough to keep them praying.  The church could greatly benefit from the kind of faith that prays the whatever prayers.   

The Hostile Environment

When the Holy Spirit came into that room as wind and fire on the Day of Pentecost, there was no sign on the door to guide Him.  The disciples of Jesus who were in the habit of gathering there most likely were doing little to advertise their whereabouts.  After all, there were in a city filled with folks who had cried for the crucifixion of Jesus and religious authoritarians whose poison had fueled the crowds still roamed the streets.  It goes without that saying those followers of Jesus were gathering in a hostile environment.  

After the Spirit showed up to bless and give life to something completely new, Peter and those who were with him walked out the door which might have seemed like some measure of protection into those streets still hostile to Jesus.  As soon as they appeared out there speaking the language of so many different folks, they were accused of being drunk on wine.  The crowd who met the disciples out in the street did not seem to be eager to listen to a sermon about Jesus people.  Yet, such is exactly what they heard from the one who had been so afraid on the night Jesus was taken into custody by the authorities.   

While we still have the freedom to preach about Jesus, when it is done seriously, it is not likely to be regarded as a relevant word by those in the streets of this present age.  A little Jesus goes a long way today.  And when the preaching about Jesus starts cutting across the grain of what is perceived as the greater wisdom representing the common consensus, the same hostile environment which surrounded the post Pentecost preachers once again surfaces.  It is now as it was then.  Being in the presence of the wind and fire is needed for bold preaching and faithful witness. 

What's Missing

When we look back at the Scriptural account of Pentecost in the second chapter of Acts, we see an interesting thing about the preacher and preaching.  When Simon Peter walked out of that room filled to the overflowing with wind and fire, he found himself becoming a street preacher.  By today's standards for preaching, his sermon had nothing going for it.  Any good preacher would have had a good church start-up sermon to draw the crowds.  Peter just preached about Jesus.  And when he finished he led those who heard to a moment of response.    

Sometimes it seems that preaching about Jesus has gone out of style.  Too many of today's pulpit offerings are geared more to supporting the life of the institutional church than something as radical as personal surrender to the authority of Jesus.    And, a surprising thing witnessed in the span of years I stood in the pulpit was the decline and loss of the invitational ending to a sermon.  Somewhere along the way, preachers lost the notion that sermons are to be persuasive and invitational.    

We can only wonder what would happen in our day if Jesus was unashamedly and unreservedly preached.  When Simon Peter did it, the Word says that three thousand became disciples of Jesus.  Of course, when Peter preached, the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit was fresh upon him and, perhaps, that one thing speaks more than anything else about what might be missing in contemporary preaching.

Purity Within the Church

The second chapter of Acts brings to mind the second chapter of Genesis.  Genesis speaks of a Garden where purity prevailed and Acts speaks of a moment in time when the church was pure and untainted.  Neither seems to have lasted very long.  As soon as the church left the room which had been filled with holy wind and fire, people starting messing it up.  To read the book of Acts is to read the early church's struggle to live within a spiritual community unaffected by controlling religious rules.    

The further the church has moved from the Day of Pentecost, the more it has been impacted by the theology and practices of religious people who sought to shape and direct its journey forward.  Certainly, there have been times of revival and reformation which re-directed the church in its movement, but never enough to change the trajectory over the centuries.    

The church of our own day is in deep trouble.  We have run so far into activism that personal piety has lost its place and we have submitted too often to the demands of a secularism which requires adherence to its values even at the cost of losing the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.  It is not a day for the spiritually faint at heart.  Instead, it is a day for the rediscovery of the power and boldness imparted to those first imperfect men and women who worked to take what started in Jerusalem out into the world.  

Remnant Theology

When the last wisp of smoke exhausted itself out the window of that Jerusalem room where the disciples had gathered and the holy wind finally ceased its blowing, something new and never before seen or known came into existence. Tradition marks this moment as the beginning of the church.  Missing is some divine decree declaring the existence, not of First Church Jerusalem, but First Church.  It would be some time before it wore the name Roman Catholic, and even longer before it was known as Methodist, or Baptist, or Lutheran, or whatever.   In that genesis moment we remember as Pentecost, the church stood ever so briefly in its purest form.    

When Peter started preaching his first out door post Pentecost sermon, the church had not been messed up by theological battles, policy issues, and anything divisive.  For the briefest moment it stood in history like the Garden of Eden.  Today's church has become far removed from that Garden like beginning.  It is rapidly becoming a church whose room is filled more with the common consensus than the Holy Spirit.   

As it struggles to live and exist far removed from its roots and its source of power, one of the things which gives us hope and encouragement for its future is something from the Old Testament called remnant theology.   When we read the prophets, we catch a picture of their despair over a people gone after other gods, but midst the despair they also proclaimed a word of hope as they spoke of a remnant people being raised up to live in faithfulness before the nations.  May it be so again.

The Prevailing Church

The collective heart beat of the disciples had not even had time to return to normal before what had been birthed by the Spirit was facing controversy.  As soon as the Holy Wind had blown through the small room pushing the church out of its hiding place, critical challenging spirits spoke saying, "They (these disciples) are filled with new wine."  (Acts 2:13).  It may be true that the church has been under attack ever since that singular moment when the Holy Spirit gave birth to something never before seen, or known on the face of the earth.      

Over two thousand years have passed.  Countless controversies and heresies have sought to undermine its power and influence.  There have even been times when it was pushed underground and into the realm of invisible where it was thought to be powerless.  Despite all that has stood at the gate to destroy it, the church has prevailed without losing its unique identity and purpose in the world.    Certainly, there are times when it seems that none of this is true.  

There are times when it seems that the church has lost the battle and those who seek to change it into something other than a holy breath conceived community have proven themselves victorious.  But, before we decide to start marching to the new order which has created a community based not on the Holy Spirit, but one based on human agenda, we must pause to realize superficial trendy changes can never eradicate the church for as long as its Creator lives, what He has created will not only live, but thrive as it goes on accomplishing holy purposes.  

Walking in Sync

The walking in some days seems like not being exactly sure if the ground is steady.  But, then it is not really the ground, but the walking.  Sometimes it seems like life is being lived out of sync with everything going on around us.  And, when we start looking more closely, it often becomes apparent that we are not out of sync so much with the creation as the Creator.  As we find ourselves out of sync with the Creator, we often experience an uneasiness that penetrates into the deep places within us.    

Traditional spirituality would tell us that such is explained by the sin which we have allowed to take root in our life.  There is certainly good reason to come to such a conclusion since sin creates a break in the relationship we have with God.  But, it is not just the sin which can create the uneasiness, but also the reality of the self-deception we practice in those moments of denying that we have damaged a relationship that gives us life and purpose.     

When we come to those moments when it seems that we are out of step, out of sync, or walking in our will instead of God's will, the thing needed is some honest knee time.  To speak of knee time is to acknowledge the need for what is required of any relationship and that is honesty.  As long as we continue to walk without being real about who we are, we are destined to walk as someone we were never created to be.  We were created to live as one who is at one with the Creator and whatever is required of us to walk in such a way is always well worth the cost and effort.  God made the way for us to find that oneness through Jesus, but as freely given as it is, it still must be received through a conscious intentional decision.  

Holy Mystery

When the wet mist finally got heavy enough high up in the clouds, it started falling to the waiting earth.  All day long the dirt upon which I walk was marked and nurtured by the baptizing rain.  Some surely could only see how inconvenient was the rain.  Others raced from here to there covering their head as if getting wet would somehow destroy the rest of the day.  Such days are generally regarded as gray, dismal, dreary days which are mostly tolerated, but seldom embraced.    

Most of us miss the mystery taking place as the water from the high heavens touches the needy soil.  As the soil is soaked, life is renewed and created as surely as new life is conceived in the human womb.  And, on days like this day, there is such an overflow that it seeps down deep until it begins to drip in underground rivers.  On this wet dismal day, holy mystery surrounds us.   It is as if the earth receives a baptism of heavenly water bringing new life to visibility in the creation.  

And as we watch, we are reminded of the way spiritual baptisms do much the same for each one of us who embrace the Spirit who seeks to wash over us, fill us, and overflow from us into the deep places where our life brings forth new life to others who share this place with us.  The baptismal waters of our spiritual tradition point us to this baptism of the Spirit which like the falling rain brings into visibility a creation never before seen.  (II Corinthians 5:17) 

The Grand Cathedral

For some it is a stretch too far to consider that within the creation are more manifestations of the Creator than could ever be counted.  Some might even consider it heresy to think that the creation speaks Words from the Creator as surely as the written holy Word speaks Words from the Holy Spirit.  To be honest is to confess that it is something not ever really thought about until I found myself walking daily in the dirt, listening to the sounds never before heard, and seeing things that had apparently been invisible though they had always been visible to those who had learned to see.   

It is a huge leap for many of us to realize how every blade of grass, each towering tree, every breath of wind, and all that is within the created order has within it the inherent power to become the voice of God in the world around us.  Creation is filled to overflowing with holy mystery.   To call the creation "Mother Nature" seems to delegate it to a world belonging to a fairy tale heroine instead of belonging to the Creator of all that is.  Creation is about Mystery not fantasy.    

It is within the creation that we live.  It is where we spend every single moment of our life.  W spend more time in the creation than we do in the sanctuary.  If God is experienced in the sanctuary, how much more should we expect to experience His presence in the grand cathedral He has put around us.  It is not that the tree or the rock is an object to worship, but things He has put in place to give glory to the Creator and, perhaps, even to open our eyes to the way every created thing points toward His presence.  

New Mercies

Every morning for over ten years I have gone to the western horizon facing kitchen window and looked out across the hay field toward the branch filled with towering trees nurtured by the fertile ground underneath them.  Even though the sun comes up on the other side of the house, there is always a light show out there to mark its rising.  Long shadows created by the house stretch out across the open field and glory unfolds from the top of the distant trees as the sun cascades over them.    

It would have seemed that after ten years there would be nothing new about the morning sight which greets me, but this morning it was so filled with what was new that it seemed like the Spirit of the Living God was out there somewhere stirring around with the light of the sun.  What immediately came to mind was a hymn sung for a lifetime.  Within it are the words, "Morning by morning, new mercies I see."  Indeed, the song "Great is Thy Faithfulness"  spoke truth on this new day.     

The morning epiphany there at the kitchen window sent a reminder of the unending and everlasting mercies of God.  My life, as is the case with your life, has been filled with His countless and often taken for granted mercies.  They do indeed abound new every morning.   It is this mercy of God which has sustained us all our days and it will be the mercy of God which will be wrapped around us all our remaining days and even beyond into eternity.   

Stop, Look, and Listen

When I was growing up down in Waycross, Georgia, I often heard the words of warning from my mother to "Stop, Look, and Listen" when crossing the railroad track on my way to the local neighborhood market.  And after the tracks were cleared, there was a highway to cross, but it was a different time for children back then than it is now.  Children were more free to roam without overwhelming parental anxiety hanging over them.     

Though the times are different, the words "Stop, Look, and Listen" still seem to have value for us as we make our way along the roads of our life.  Instead of it being a word which calls us to look out for danger, it can be a word which reminds us to slow down and see what is happening around us.  The truth is we often become so obsessed with what might be coming that we are unable to see what has already come and is right there in front of us to see, hear, and experience.    

As one who spent far too much time living in the future instead of the present and as one who worshiped at the altar of staying busy, it has been gratifying to come into this season of life framed by the words, "Pay Attention."  To pay attention, or to practice the words, "Stop, Look, and Listen" is to live life with an expectation that the Holy One can at any moment reveal Himself, or speak a life directing Word to those who are willing to live closer to pause than fast forward.

What is Coming

Hard times full of trouble are always coming.  Some come slowly like a rumbling noise beyond the edge of the horizon that dumps lightning and fury on our heads.  And, others come in earthquake fashion shaking our lives to the core before we even have time to name the chaos.  None of this comes as a surprise to those who have read the Word enough to know about Job and what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount where He said that the rain, wind, and floods come to the just and the unjust.      

Hard times just come.  There is no way to live and avoid them.   The time to ready ourselves for them is not in the moment of their arrival as sometimes there is no warning.  The time to ready ourselves is in the moment when the air seems absent of trouble.  One of the ways we surely ready ourselves is in the ongoing times of choosing to be in the presence of the Almighty One of Creation.    

It is not that we necessarily receive verbal warnings about what is to come, or instructions about what to do, but that we come to an awareness of not being alone.  Our ongoing connection with God joins us with the One who is not surprised by what comes to us and Who is always able to deliver us from the power of any trouble.  It is that holy presence in the ordinary moments that are emptied of the trouble which give us confidence that He will being us out of any dark trouble to the joy of life which waits on the other side.  

The Gift of Dirt

When we made the move from an agrarian culture to a more urban one, we moved away from an awareness that there is something special about land.   Around here it is often said that land is valuable because no one is making any more of it.  And while there may be some truth in the saying, it is also true that its value is measured by the way it takes hold the heart  and because of the reality that every inch of it has creative power which surely points toward the Creator God through whose hands it has passed.   

It often seems that we are in some kind of great race to cover all the existing dirt with concrete, asphalt, and buildings.  If we think of any ground being holy, it is the ground upon which worship places have been built.  To think seriously about every inch of ground being holy would require such a radical change in the way we live on the land, take care of it, and think of the Creator.  We give lip service to the truth behind the Word which says, "The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it..."  (Psalm 24:1), but the reality is that we live as if it belongs to us.   

The earth upon which we walk and the air which we breathe is such a precious gift given to all of us.  It is life giving.  Without the power within the dirt beneath our feet, life as we know it would soon end.  It not only nurtures our bodies, but to become aware of it around us nurtures our soul.  The story in the front end of Genesis reminds us that we were created to live in a relationship with the Creator and the creation.  As we fail to affirm these important connections, something essential comes up missing in our living.  

The Value of Understanding

It is easy to lose our way when we start spouting doctrinal jargon.  Even the simple and most used words like "salvation," or "atonement," or "grace" can become for us like a verbal maze which only seems to get us deeper and deeper into not knowing.  Saying the right words does not always equate with understanding.  They can become like a cover hiding what we do not really know, but are embarrassed to admit to others that we do not know.    

One of the ways we can move toward understanding what we think we should know, but do not know, is to struggle with it until we are able to articulate something akin to a definition in our own words.  Sometimes it seems that I made it up the stairs of educational advancement by memorization.  I learned to memorize stuff without any real understanding of what I was learning.  It gave an impression of understanding, but it was really just repeating back what had heard.   

As we seek a faith that is uniquely ours, it is not enough to be able to say back what we have heard.  It is important that we study, ask questions, and struggle until what is before us becomes such a part of us that we no longer need the words and understanding of others.  The old time religion may have been good enough for our mother and father, and it may be good enough for any of us, but understanding what we say we believe and accept as the core values of our spiritual lives better serves us when it belongs to us.  

In the Clouds

It first appeared like a wisp of white smoke down in the lower end of the pasture where a running stream, wet earth, and cooling air mingled one with the other.   What hardly caught the eye gathered momentum and began to work its way slowly out of the low places across the hay fields and into the lower barren branches of the pecan trees.  I found myself transformed by this great white cloud that moved along the ground enveloping everything which found itself in its path.  And, finally, I left where I was and what I was doing to step over the edge and into the swirling mist.     

There are those who can scientifically explain what was moving up the hill and there are even those weather minded folks who could have predicted it.  I took no pleasure in either, but instead found great delight in experiencing it, feeling it, breathing it, walking in it, and being a part of of this reminder of holy presence coming upon the earth.  In the briefest of moments, a weather phenomena became a moment filled with the holy and there I was standing in the midst of it.     

I thought about those ancient Hebrew wanderers who found their way by following a pillar of cloud by day (Exodus 13:21) and those disciples of Jesus who found themselves immersed in a mountain top cloud filled with the presence of Moses, Elijah, and heavenly glory (Luke 9;34).  I have always been partial to what goes on midst the clouds that touch the earth.  As a boy I figured God watched by peering over the edge of those high fluffy clouds.  As a old man who only remembers being a boy, I still find myself looking more closely at what or Who might be around when the clouds come and begin to touch the earth. One never knows what glory might be about to be revealed.  

The Convicting Word

One of the dangers always present within the community of those who trust in Christ is the rise of an inner community of the spiritual elite.  The spiritual elite were present in Jesus' day.  They contested His every move, documented His every word, and in the end, saw themselves as being spiritually superior to the One who came from the Father.  And while the spiritually elite may not be so bold as to make such claims today, they are quick to point out how their level of spirituality surpasses the run of the mill saints like most of us.    

To be honest is to acknowledge that spiritual elitism is a danger for all of us.  It is easy to think more highly of ourselves than we ought, to see ourselves at a better place than the common sinner, and to figure that God's favor rest on us in a way it does not rest on most folks.  This unseen danger is always out there and unless we are constantly depending on the Holy Spirit, we are likely to be overtaken by it.    

The Holy Spirit who abides in us seeks to keep us honest.  He does not just seek to grow good things like love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness in us, but He also seeks to guide us into truth and to speak a convicting word when we are tempted to think more highly of ourselves than we ought.  (John 16:8,13)  What some might speak of as conscience is really the Spirit of God at work in us seeking to keep our feet on the path that takes us to a place of honest self awareness and a realization that without the power of God present in us, we will surely walk the road toward self destruction. 

Fertile Ground

The image of the fruit of the Spirit  (Galatians 5:22-23) is fertile ground for pondering and rumination.  Fruit does not just show up on the vine, or on the tree, one day.  Instead, it comes slowly.  There is ample evidence that something is changing, but the mature fruit does not simply show up one morning like the sunrise on the eastern horizon.  To expect our hearts to suddenly be loving, and joyful, and peaceful, and patient is to expect what should not be expected.     

One of the things learned through observation here on the farm during these retirement years is the way fruit begins as small as a mustard seed and is transformed daily toward ripened maturity.  Surely, this is creation's way of voicing what the Apostle Paul was lifting up for us to see when he wrote about the fruit of the Spirit.  It is also the way Jesus spoke about spiritual things as he taught about the Kingdom of God being present in the world in what is small and invisible.    

As much as we might like to think differently, we do not really become loving and kind overnight.  Neither do become patient and faithful without the painful process of growing and becoming.  Too much of today's spirituality preaches a "ask for it and get it" mentality instead of understanding that what begins in our hearts is nurtured and given life by the Holy Spirit until it becomes something that truly enables the Spirit of Jesus to be seen in us.  The spiritual fruit of the Spirit does not magically show up one day in our life, but is ever becoming in us as it grows toward maturity

The Seduction

Most would be spiritual leaders start out with a desire to serve.  Nothing is more important than serving God and serving the needs of humanity.  In  a short time the seduction begins.  The servant begins to think about being served.  Of course, it is not like going from A to B, but more like a journey which has so many twists and turns that the loss of the original vision is hardly noticed.  Perhaps, the genesis of the change is a growing and a wider sphere of influence in which the spiritual leader becomes aware of the power of power.    

Power is a seductive mistress.  As it is first embraced it is what enables the servant to have a wider base of service.  Others begin to depend on the leadership being offered.  The growing sense of power begins to send out subtle signs that the servant is always right and is indispensable to the life of the growing community.  By this time the spiritual leader still talks about serving God and others, but the real one being served is self, or ego.    

It is unfortunate that spiritual leaders, as well as all the rest of us, do not have someone who will be brutally honest with us about how we have lost the original vision of serving.  Actually, we do have someone, but the loss of the outward vision is symptomatic of the loss of the Holy Spirit as the primary influence in our life.   Instead of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) being evident in our life, others begin to see the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-20).  Unfortunately, we are usually the last one to see.    

A Big Decision

The listing in the fruit of the Spirit section of Scripture takes us away from a spirituality based on should to one based on becoming.  In the beginning most of us walk the journey with Jesus not so much by faith as we do by what we ought to do, or what we should do.  At the point of our departure from the old life and into the new, only a few of us have the spiritual insight to understand that we are stepping out on a journey of becoming what we do not know and arriving at where we cannot see.    

As we ponder this listing inside the Apostle's description of the life of those under the authority and influence of the Holy Spirit, it is obvious that we are a work not finished, but a work in progress.  We want the fruit of the Spirit to be so evident in our life that we often figure that we can produce it ourselves through a practice of spiritual disciplines and right living.  Of course, such can never be.    

We  become those who live by "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity,  faithfulness, gentleness, and self control"  (Galatians 5:22-23) only because we have come to a place of knowing that any spiritual maturity is more about the work of the Spirit than it is about we might be able to do.  The Spirit seeks to work in us in such a way that the Spirit of Christ not only takes root in us, but is expressed through all that we think and do.  Such happens only as we give permission for the Holy Spirit to with us whatever it is that He desires to do.  It is one of the biggest decisions of our spiritual journey.   

The Measure of Spirituality

The measure of our spirituality is not found in our well thought out reasoned response to circumstances and people around us, but in the unplanned spontaneous expressions which reflect the things of the heart.  Our ability to respond according to some notions about what constitutes a proper Christian response requires nothing of the heart.  It is simply an exercise which speaks of a determined disciplined effort which is within our power to execute.    T

The true measure of our spirituality is found in how we live in the unplanned moments, the unguarded moments, the moments when no one is prepared to give us a high five for good behavior.  What comes spontaneously from our heart is the real measure of our spirituality.  How we live and what we do when no one is watching says volumes about who rules in our heart.    

As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatian Christians about the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), He was not only pointing them toward a Spirit controlled life, a Spirit dependent life, but also a life where the will and agenda of the Spirit becomes more important than any expression of personal ego.  When the fruit grown from the nurturing of the Holy Spirit is growing in our heart, it will become evident in the outward expressions of our life regardless of the circumstances or the people with whom we are confronted.  We will become loving and kind not because of some personal decision about discipline, but because of our willingness to allow the Holy Spirit to express the heart of Christ through us.  

Where There is no Grace

When there is no "...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control"  (Galatians 5:22-23), there is no grace.  Grace is not an end result, but a product of a heart being transformed from within by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.  We cannot wake up one day and declare that grace will flow out of our life.  We may fabricate a mediocre substitute, but it will never be the real thing.  The real thing will always have the imprint of the hands of the Holy Creator.    

Grace comes from God as a gift for our living.  Those whose lives are being made new by the fruit of the Spirit are not only creating a kinder, more gentle, compassionate, and more understanding world around them, but they are also becoming a human vessel transmitting grace to others.  As we are given grace, so does our faithfulness to God mean the offering of grace to one another.     

I remember a moment many years ago which still shames me to remember.  I thought of myself as a loving person, but in the heat of a disagreement over an issue facing the church, I set out to verbally undermine the value of another person and what he was saying.  It was not a moment filled with much grace on my part.  Grace does not flow from our heart when we give lip service to love.  It only flows naturally when the Holy Spirit is given freedom to work His miracles within us.  

A Package Deal

Some folks come to Galatians 5:32 like a person standing at the produce stand.  Looking around there are bananas, apples, oranges, grapes, pineapples, and many other fruits that tempt the taste buds.  For the person at the produce stand, it is a pick and choose moment.  One can be chosen and another left on the shelf.  What is often missed in the fruit of the Spirit passage is that it is a package deal.  It is not pick and choose, but everything and more.     

It is easy to jump to the conclusion that it is a pick and choose moment.  We often read the word "fruit" to be "fruits" which leads us down the wrong aisle.  Each of the things listed is not a fruit of the Spirit, but a part of the package which God is ready to gift to to us.  Like one stain glass window with many mosaics, the love or peace being offered is a part and not the whole.  And the parts are not given separate from the whole.    

What the Holy Spirit is seeking to do in us is to transform our heart, the source of our outward expressions, so completely that it bears no resemblance to anything which has ever existed in us.  This is why the Apostle Paul would in another letter refers to the divine inner work by writing, "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation..."   (II Corinthians 5:17)  Make no mistake.  What the Spirit is about as He beings this work of growing fruit in our life is not a moment of making us better, but instead, a complete overhaul.  What we try to manufacture in us so that we will look good is produced by His work in such a way that is shows itself in a spontaneous manner.  

Heart Work

Some words within the Word surely take a life time to absorb to the point that they truly become a part of who we are.   And, the real truth is that some Words will always be more of an impossibility than a spiritual reality because we are too dependent on making it happen in our own strength.  One such Word is found in the letter to the the church at Galatia.  Toward the end of chapter five, we read, "...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."  (Galatians 5:22-23)     

These are not spiritual qualities which are enabled to grow in us out of sense of oughtness and determination, but out of our willingness to give the Spirit of God room to work in the inner part of our lives.  We often race into the verses figuring out ways we can live according to these words without accepting the fact that they grow in us because of One who is outside of us who desires to live within us.  In these troubling days there is such a need for these words to not only take root in us, but to grow in us.  

As we focus on others, their failures, and our rightness, we shut the door to the work the Holy Spirit can do in us.  What He desires to do in us is to create from within a heart that expresses itself in every dimension of life according to the spirit of Christ.  The hard attitudes and unforgiving spirits which we never see in Christ are not seen in us if the Spirit has been given control.  To see them living out in the world as personal expressions of  our inner being surely means there is heart work to be done.  

A Time for Everything

The Word tells us there is a time for everything.  "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under the heavens."  (Ecclesiastes 3:1)   Here is a Word which includes not some stuff, but everything.  When unwanted things come to us, we find it easy to moan and groan as we ask the ever present question, "Why?"  The truth is it is often an unanswerable question.  And, of course, there are those unquestionably good times which we wish would never end, but as all things do, they do end.    

No matter how long or short are our days on this earth, there is time for everything.  There is time for the good and there is time for the bad.  Even as there is sunshine and blue skies, so are there dark stormy clouds.  This is not some fatalistic, or pessimistic view of life, but one that speaks of the reality which touches us all.   

The constant in this world filled with ever changing circumstances is the constant nature of the God of creation.  He is in every present moment what He has always been and will always be.  He is faithful to love us and care for us.  He is faithful to make a way for us out of every trouble and He is faithful to share every joy which fills us.  He is with us, not some of the time, but always, even when we come to that moment filled with both joy and loss which takes us from the roads of this life into the pathways of eternity.  

Times of Trouble

We sometimes get so caught up in our struggles that we forget that God is still the One who is in control of our living.  It is always tempting to forget about His goodness when the hard times which are a part of life come down heavy upon us.   Jesus never pretended there was not trouble in the world.  In fact, He spoke of the reality that trouble comes to all of us even those who seek to live in faithfulness to Him.  It is not something we can avoid, but always something with which we live.    

What we do with our troubles to some degree measure who we are and enables us to know our ultimate values.  When they come we realize with certainty that life is not about depending upon self, but upon depending on God.  To look back over the years is to see that we have made it through the tough times, not because of our strength or being able to figure out the way forward, but because God stayed alongside of us.    

Knowing that we are not alone in our trouble may not change the hardness of it, but it does change our ability to stand.  Even as we are strengthened by those around us who dare to enter into our struggles and stand alongside of us, even more we are enabled by the presence of the Holy One who always comes to stand with us.  The recent remembrances of Bethlehem remind us that never are we alone.  God is with us!  God is always with us!  Even when we are feeling so overcome that we are sure no one is with us, God remains as the One who chooses to stay with us to give us the comfort of His presence as well as the light that leads us out of the difficulty.  

The Test of Time

It was a little more than fifty years ago that I was encouraged to get a copy of "My Utmost for His Highest."   While the author of the devotional material is Oswald Chambers, it was his wife who put the readings together in book form more than a hundred years ago.   When I picked it up and started my journey through its pages for the first time, I had no idea it would be a spiritual companion for the rest of my life.  Though there have been periods of time when my undisciplined spirit took over, the words have shaped my spiritual journey in unimaginable ways.    

One of the things I have come to understand about myself is that older writers seem to speak to me in a way unlike contemporary writers.  Reflection reminds me this tendency is nothing new.  As a young man starting out on the journey of faith, books considered to be spiritual classics found their way to the shelves where books were kept.  "Pilgrim's Progress"  by John Bunyan became a keeper.  Books by E. Stanley Jones, the writings of John Wesley, and the sermons of Charles Spurgeon found places as well.    

One of the things these authors and writings have in common is that they have stood the test of time.  They were not only read in the day they were written, but they have had a way of transcending the stigma of contemporary to become writings of spiritual value for later generations.  Writings do not lose their value simply because they are old.  Some older writings have proven themselves to have such guiding power that it seems they are surely inspired by the Spirit.  It would be a shame to live a life and miss some of these great spiritual giants simply because they do not live in the current day.  

Seasons of Recurring Rest

Even as Spring is used as an image of birth and new beginnings, so is Winter used as an image of the end of life.  As I came to the farm for these retirement years, there has been more attentiveness to the seasons than in those earlier years when I hurried from one to another always knowing that what was now would return again.  While I no longer live with the cocky confidence that I will be around for the next Spring or Winter, neither do I live with a sense of some impending finality.   But, what has also grown within me is the awareness that Winter does not speak as much of dying as it does of resting.     

To pay attention to the Creation during these days often filled with cold temperatures, graying skies, and biting wind is to see a landscape of barren pecan trees standing like naked skeletons and brown fields which seem empty of any life giving power.  The reality is that these barren trees and brown fields have worked from Spring until the heart of Winter to produce crops of nuts and grass and hay.     Soon they will start their work again, but in this moment they rest.  

Surely, it is a needed rest, one designed by the Creator.  Maybe retirement is a season of less work, but then again, maybe the real Word of God to be heard in this moment of creation is a Word which speaks of the need we all have for recurring seasons of rest in our lives.  Like all of creation we are not meant to live in a production mode every moment of our existence.  God intended for us to know the renewing power of recurring rest in our lives.  To live well is to embrace the rest even before we retire.      

Fresh Starts

While the new year is an invitation for a fresh start, it is not always easy.  Fresh starts are often hindered by the baggage we are unable to turn loose.  Sometimes we cannot turn it loose and sometimes it will not turn us loose.  As much as we might want to think turning the calendar page to January gives us a clean slate, we know such is not really the case.  It would be a wonderful thing if a calendar page had that kind of power, but our experience has taught us it offers a promise of deliverance from the past, but no real lasting deliverance.    

Fresh starts usually begin with forgiveness and grace.  Quite often the first person to whom we have to extend forgiveness is ourselves.  We tend to beat ourselves so often and so long that we soon begin to see a new beginning as an impossibility.  And, maybe it is impossible if we think that we have the power to deliver ourselves from the guilt of wrong choices that have dragged us away from life.  Once we come to terms with the reality of personal accountability, the road to the new beginning will open up to us.    

And as it opens we are going to find the God who created us extending a hand to pull us out of the mire which has seemed inescapable.  To seek God's help may seem like a wasted exercise, but He is the One who through His grace can set our feet on a road toward meaningful living again.  New beginnings begin with Him.  He is the Creator of new beginnings and will work such a miracle in anyone one of us who claims what needs to be claimed as the brokenness in our life and who seeks the forgiveness always needed and available from Him for fresh starts.

The Abounding New

What is new seems to be abounding around here.  Four new calves in the pasture is no small thing.  For nine months they have been anticipated and even now, there is hope for more to come.  And, today a new pair of never before worn blue jeans were pulled on the first time.  Of course, the calendar had its own message as one page was turned and another one came into view announcing something the world has never seen.  It is a day and a season for celebrating the new in our lives.    

By now the fireworks have mostly been used up, though, some leftovers will likely flare into oblivion with the upcoming darkness.  They, along with so many other things, will pass into the realm of things remembered.  Some of the things remembered from what is behind will never be forgotten while there are also those unforgettable things we wish could be forgotten.  Both are a part of who we are and both have shaping power over the new stuff which is unfolding all around us.    

More than it being a time for short lived resolutions is it a time for celebrating the newness of the moment.  Taking stock of the new which is unfolding in our lives can be an important part of this moment with which God has blessed us.  And as we take stock of what is being experienced as new, we are likely to find an awareness of gratefulness coming forth in our lives.  Whether it is something as new as a fresh start, or something as new as a different perspective of past difficulties, taking a moment to ponder it all may grant to us a blessing which comes as a gift of grace from the God who gives us so much.