Full or empty?

The love of God demands a response, so we attempt to reform ourselves.  But it is hard to change habits, of our natural inclination to be selfish, our pride, and our lusts,  Paul writes;

"I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do. And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it (Romans 7:18-20)

When we are working on ourselves, trying by our own efforts to remove from our lives the defects and sin, we fail and fail and fail.  It can be soul-crushing..  We can doubt our salvation when certain sins cannot be overcome, but the truth is that we were saved by the Finished Work of Jesus.  There is nothing we can do to add to or take away from the work Jesus did on the cross.  Yet it is hard to wrap our earthy minds around the extravagant love of God and the unwarranted mercy of grace, grace, grace.  The truth is we were never going to be saved by anything we could do.  God knew this, it was not a surprise.  Only our pride and our small earthly minds ever considered it to be anything different.  We would not have imagined such love, and certainly not grace if we were God.  To us it is an alien idea, that salvation from sin could have been so recklessly distributed and at such little cost to humanity.

So in our response to God we attempt to become holy because God is holy.  We have no idea how to do so.  We are like a milk jug that has a half inch of sour fetid residue in the bottom that we cannot get out.  No matter how much we bang, shake and overturn the container, we cannot empty this wretched, stinky remaining foulness.  It pollutes and makes the vessel useless in our mind.  God's way is not to empty, but to fill.  He says, let me fill you with more of me and like placing the milk jug under hot running water we are filled with God's thoughts, God's Word, God's feelings, even the Holy Spirit until the vessel overflows and carries away the murk and mess.

In the end, whatever has your attention has got you.  Therefore focus on more of God and not less of sin.

Finding Yourself

So who are you?

The answer to that question defies mere physical description.  It is more than a recitation of accomplishments, degrees, pedigree, career or possessions.  It is a matter of character, and character is a reflection of ones' moral thinking- it is the spirit of who you are and how you act upon the world.  We all develop an unspoken code of behavior.  Some of this behavior is selfish an effort to justify what we want reality to be, other parts are image management, informed by how we want others see us, for some spiritual awareness directs us.

As a young man, I was much too smart for God, no, that was just a psychological crutch for the unenlightened.  Such sophomoric agnosticism is typical in our ultra-independent society so I was hardly alone in my blindness.  It's really quite embarrassing to reflect on this period when I was so falsely self-assured, trying to "find myself".  Intellectually dishonest is the nicest thing I can say about that stage of my life.  Alas, we all struggle through stages of willful ignorance, confused by the uninformed masses and the boldness of the blind.  We learn "to gain your own voice, you have to forget about having it heard." (Allen Ginsberg).

All of our faux intellectualism is an effort to justify ourselves. Our sciences a facade to explain away what God already knows. Our posturing is an attempt to elude a God and usurp his sovereignty with our own earthbound rationalizations. But we cannot run far or fast enough to evade He who is truly on the Throne.

We don't need to seek out a guru, self-help book or latest fancy of the masses to find ourselves. When we are still and opened, our voice presents itself and comes in tune to the true God. That God is not us, and when our pride is stripped away we can find our place, but we cannot find ourselves for we were meant to be selfless. We are not without our own voice, personality or giftedness but more dependent on each other than we would like to admit.

Learning To Follow the Holy Spirit 6

The Spirit is Freedom

“For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.” (2 Corinthians 3:18) 

David writes...

Restore to me the joy of your salvation; and uphold me with your free spirit.  Psalm 51:12 

Listen to the beautiful picture of the messiah:

The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me, because Jehovah has anointed me to announce glad tidings to the meek; he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and opening of the prison to them that are bound.  Isaiah 61:1-3

That is a perfect picture of freedom.  The Lord is freedom embodied, which makes sense because he is the Holy Spirit of God in human form.

Jesus tells us that freedom is in the Spirit:

The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life..  John 6:63 

Paul writes of Spirit fueled freedom, 

And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. Romans 8:2

Paul counsels Timothy that the Holy Spirit gives us freedom not fear:

For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.  2 Timothy 1:7 

Paul tells the church in Corinth that living by the Spirit, not the written law is why they are ministers of freedom, "He who made us worthy to be Ministers of The New Covenant, not in The Scripture, but in The Spirit, for The Scripture kills, but The Spirit gives life." (2 Corinthians 3:6) 

Is it hard to understand that the Holy Spirit is for us to be free?  Has religion and rule-keeping clouded your ability to accept - "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1)  The human heart without the Holy Spirit cannot conceive of an existence where rights and wrongs and behaving correctly is not the path to Heaven.

Learning To Follow The Holy Spirit 5

To Hear and See God
This thread runs consistently through the scripture that when the Holy Spirit speaks, you are hearing God.  So say, I have never heard God's voice, but they do say, "I feel the Holy Spirit is saying..."  This is a misunderstanding.  To obey Jesus, to follow the Holy Spirit IS to hear and obey the voice of God.  To see Jesus is to see God.
"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.  John 16:13
Even Jesus' disciples found the idea of unity with Father and Spirit to be hard to grasp...
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”  Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?   Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. John 14:8-10

This idea that the Holy Spirit of God can dwell in us, move us and speak through is crucial to understanding Jesus.  It is essential to learning to follow the Holy Spirit... 

"But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. "For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.  Matthew 10:19-20

Jesus teaching to abide is a message to allow the Holy Spirit of God to dwell in you

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.   “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  John 15:4-5

Learning to Follow The Holy Spirit 4

Teachability

"But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you."  John 14:26

Throughout the bible, the words, "And the Spirit of the Lord came upon _____."  often refers to an unlikely individual.  The Holy Spirit uses the available tool.  Just a few examples... 

Numbers 24:2 "When Balaam looked out and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came upon him"
Judges 3:10 "The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, so that he became Israel's judge and went to war. The LORD gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into
the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him."
Judges 6:34 "Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him."
Judges 11:29 "Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites."
Judges 14:6 "The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done."
Judges 15:14 "As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands."
1 Samuel 10:6 "The Spirit of the LORD will come upon you in power, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person."
1 Samuel 10:10 "When they arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him; the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he joined in their prophesying."
1 Samuel 11:6 "When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he burned with anger."
1 Samuel 16:13 "So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power. Samuel then went to Ramah."
1 Samuel 19:20 "so he sent men to capture him. But when they saw a group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came upon Saul's men and they also prophesied."
1 Samuel 19:23 "So Saul went to Naioth at Ramah. But the Spirit of God came even upon him, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth."
2 Chronicles 15:1 "The Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded."
Ezekiel 11:5 "Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon me, and he told me to say: "This is what the LORD says: That is what you are saying, O house of Israel, but I know what is going through your mind."

There is an old Chinese saying, "When the student is ready, a teacher appears."  The Holy Spirit is looking for the fertile soil of a heart prepared to receive. 

1 John 2:27As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.
There is no manipulation that makes the Holy Spirit appear or formula to being teachable.  Biblical examples indicate that a soft heart is required but often when the Spirit speaks to us we often recoil or even disbelieve and doubt the source of these whisperings. Do we do this out of  fear or because what we receive is not easy to reconcile to our own views?  Consider Jonah fleeing from taking his message to Nineveh or Saul on the road to Damascus.
You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.  Acts 7:51
In Ezekiel, God makes a "new deal", 

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26


"Someone whom God has given a new heart behaves differently. Saul is an example of this in 1 Samuel 10:1 and 9. God had chosen Saul to be the first king of Israel. Saul was a nobody, but God chose him anyway and sent the prophet Samuel to anoint him king. “Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, ‘Has not the Lord anointed you ruler over his inheritance?’” Samuel made several predictions to prove to Saul that God had sent him, and verse 9 says, “As Saul turned and started to leave, God gave him a new heart, and all Samuel’s signs were fulfilled that day.” The new heart God gave Saul transformed him from an average nobody to the king of Israel. Not only was his status changed, but his entire outlook was transformed by the power of God.
The human heart was created to mirror God’s own heart (Genesis 1:27; James 3:9). We were designed to love Him, love righteousness, and walk in harmony with God and others (Micah 6:8). But part of God’s design of the human heart is free will. That free will carries with it the opportunity to abuse it, as did Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:11). God desires that we choose to love and serve Him. When we stubbornly refuse to follow God, our hearts, which were designed to communicate with God, are hardened. God compares rebellious hearts to stone (Zechariah 7:12). A heart of stone finds it impossible to repent, to love God, or to please Him (Romans 8:8). The hearts of sinful humanity are so hardened that we cannot even seek God on our own (Romans 3:11), and that’s why Jesus said no one can come to Him unless the Father first draws him (John 6:44). We desperately need new hearts, for we are unable on our own to soften our hard hearts. A change of heart toward God requires a supernatural transformation. Jesus called it being “born again” (John 3:3)." (1)

(1) from https://www.gotquestions.org/new-heart.html

Learning to follow The Holy Spirit 3

Preparations

As I write this there is a Category 5 Hurricane Irma taking aim at Florida.  They say it is the strongest storm ever recorded.  People are urged to evacuate. Many are making preparations to ride it out.  This includes gathering many kinds of provisions, reinforcing and securing anything of value, communicating with family, getting important documents and cash close at hand, and prayer.

Lately, I have been feeling unprepared.  When bad things happen, you often don't have a chance to give last minute instructions.  There is no time to save money when your company closes the doors unexpectedly.  How would you cope if your wife announces she's leaving you?   Does anyone know your wishes should you be incapacitated?  Do you know the problems you cause if you don't have a will?  If everyone was without power for 2 weeks, how would you survive?

That nagging at the back of your mind when you hear these questions?  That is not fear.  It's a confirmation from the Holy Spirit to trust God and perform your due diligence as he directs and provides.  As the Arabic proverb says, "Trust God but tie up your camel."

God has given the people in the way of Irma time to evacuate.  Some can't, some choose not to.

We can save for retirement, some choose not to.
We can work regularly at our marriage, some choose not to.
We can assume that the next paycheck will always be there, some choose not to.
We can plan to leave our loved ones to figure out where we put our important papers, some choose not to.

Maybe I should have called this one "Stewardship".

Following the Holy Spirit does not mean we are absolved from responsibilities for preparation.    Being prepared gives us freedom, so long as you don't take your eyes off God and put your trust in provisions.

Learning To Follow The Holy Spirit 2

Learning from Sin

We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do. 16And if I do what I do not desire, I admit that the Law is good.  Romans 7:14-16 Berean Study Bible 

John 15:15
No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you.
Romans 7:19
For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do.
Galatians 5:17
For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to one another, so that you do not do what you want.

"Don't go through your day burning, that's not how the Holy Spirit can teach you."  My words to my son as he recounted an injustice that had him both frustrated and angry.  Turmoil is fertile ground for the enemy, but crisis is often the opportunity for God to get glory.  Beyond our emotion, when there is no hope- God can make a way.

Anger steals your wisdom because it slams the door in the face of the Holy Spirit.

“If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 

When the truth comes into the light, it often comes kicking and screaming.  Especially when it is the truth about our sin.  We are defiant, defensive, incensed, livid, injustice has been done to us.  That is the first reaction.  After that burning fog passes we will have blame, shame at our seething, guilt, recognition of our wrong... But first is belligerence.

"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us."  (1 John 1:8-10) Berean Study Bible

Learning to follow the Holy Spirit is clearing our slate on a regular basis.  Examining our hearts and  making amends by admitting our sins.  Can we learn from our sin if we don't confess it, see it for the transgression against God that it is and take actions that align with our convictions?  We should be serious about confession.  Once is just not enough, and neither is rote prayer.  A relationship is an ongoing conversation of reconciliation with the Holy Spirit. 

Learning To Follow The Holy Spirit 1

16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality,impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. (Galatians 5:16- 25 NIV)

I thirst to follow the Holy Spirit in my life.  As a man of flesh, I fall ignobly short   As a novice I have found it strengthening to mentally recite the words of Galatians 22-23 (which I memorized some time ago) when I am aware of my own temptations.  Most times I miss the clues that I should be on guard and I fail- my flesh having it's way.

At times I hear brilliant things whispered to me that I know are the Holy Spirit, and I am grateful and recognize that this a Divine Word.  Other times I hear and believe I have had a great thought on my own, giving no credit to God.  Worst of all, sometimes I am impatient, angry or selfish and can't hear beyond my own wretched desires.  Lately, I have felt that the Holy Spirit wants to instruct me.  The word that came to me yesterday was Preparation.  It had to do with a panic attack I had over a job situation.  But there have been several crisis situations that have occurred lately that have underscored this Preparation thought this summer.  I won't go into them here and now, but suffice to say, they were game changers.

It came to me in my bed this morning that I must set aside time to meet with the Holy Spirit to set up my day and again at night to review, confess, and learn from my day.  Call it an exercise for an indeterminate period.  I was jolted awake by the idea and compelled to put some ideas down in blog form and it seems this is how I should record my learning.  

Holy Spirit come, guide my day.  Help me turn to you for answers, be prompted into action, and seek your inspiration and creativity.  Express yourself through me.  Form my words, inform my thoughts, and teach me.  Help me to show God's love and wisdom through my life.

Heavy on my heart is the need for confession.  That there are things that have done I need to ask forgiveness for that day.  That I have taken God's grace too much for granted and not learned nearly enough from my sin.  It makes grace cheap.  Part of my hope is that Jesus' sacrifice would move me to be more like him.  I hesitate to use the churchy term "sanctification", but to be "holy because God is holy".   I can't follow God better without addressing obedience (doing what God says)...

15If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever—…John 14:15-16 Berean Study Bible 

John 14:21
Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him."
John 14:23
Jesus replied, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make Our home with him.
John 15:10
If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and remain in His love.
1 John 2:3
By this we can be sure that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments.
1 John 5:3
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome,
2 John 1:6
And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments.

Religion is too much work.  God doesn't want slaves, he wants a relationship.  Let's not make this about trying to earn our way to heaven.  Jesus already took care of that.  Do this out of love for God's holiness, Jesus' sacrificial love and being teachable by the Holy Spirit.

Spiritual Selfishness

I don't believe in the "Post-Christian Era".  Post-Christianity belief is that we have passed from a society where Christianity is relevant into a time when the influence is waning.  I do believe that many Christians have lost their way and feel they can be successful in living the Christ-life without the church.  This self-ish-ness doesn't jive with the bible, so maybe folks don't know the heart of Jesus on this:

"that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—  I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity." (John 17:21-23)

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.  For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.  Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.  And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.  If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?  But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.  If they were all one part, where would the body be?  As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”  On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,  and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty,  while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it,  so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.  If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."   

1 Corinthians 12:12-27

 Can you love Jesus and hate the thing he loved most?  We all can get church-burned, but check your heart before you look to become a voice crying in the wilderness.

Put Your Hope In God

Trust and Hope are at the heart of faith, but how do you measure them?  How do you know you are growing in trust and hope?  In a human relationship it seems more concrete, but when we deal with God It seems harder to gauge.   What ways can we develop the hope and trust we have in God?

We hear the expression "put your hope in God" a lot but it rings hollow because we know our inability to walk the talk too well.

Hope is a level of courage, even encouragement, that we draw from our belief in a person or object, often because of trust based on past experiences.  

I believe that my car will help me get to work because it has done so dozens of times before.
I trust that you will keep my secret and you have always displayed confidentiality.
I have faith that if I continue to exercise, my body will change for the better.
I have hope that we will be married "til death do us part".

All well and good...even tedious.

I am not talking about tame, lukewarm hope and trust, I mean ALL IN.  What does FULL trust in God lead us?  Where do all our hopes take us from where we are presently?  Can we even imagine?

I would wager we cannot imagine, and if we could, it would cause us a great deal of soul-searching to count the cost of this kind of commitment.

What if we give up faith in our own power (our jobs, our relationships, our desires and ambitions) that is all our striving to be what WE want to be, to achieve and to have- Forgetting all worldly security, and walking faithfully as he guides and provides.

"It is harder for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God"

Does Jesus expect all his followers to be homeless, destitute vagabonds?  

No, but he does expect you to release the trust and hope you have in the things of this world.  To let go of the pride and independence you have because of what you feel you have accomplished alone (you did not) and what you have.  If you really feel that you have been blessed and it is all a gift from God then you should not care if God requires you to get rid of it to be used by him again, should you?

"Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature.  So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way.   And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him,[a]and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”   So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully.   But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.”

 Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.”

 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham;  for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

What is half of what you own in cash value?  Think of giving that to the poor.  I imagine paying people back we had wronged fourfold might bankrupt most of us.  So what is the message?  

We don't want to hear it, because it will cause us to turn our world upside down.  I will cost us more than we are willing to pay.  It is Abram and Issac on the mountain, Moses leaving to return to Egypt to free the Israelites,  it is a sacrificial response to God's request.  Could you lay your son on an altar and draw the knife?  Could you leave your wife and head back to a likely death sentence?

So here it is: "No one is able to serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and he will love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and he will despise the other. You are not able to serve God and mammon."

(Mammon is often rendered as money, but that is inadequate- it means "wealth regarded as an evil influence or false object of worship and devotion" )

And we knew this, but we do not want to do it. That is the problem. We already know we cannot serve both as masters, both cannot share the throne, so rather deny ourselves we refuse to choose. In that, we have made a choice- mammon. It is a intellectual dishonesty, a spiritual compromise designed to sauve our self-centeredness.

Something has happened in my mind and heart recently that has me looking at the things in my life as pretty empty and meaningless. Where I use to think in terms of getting more, I began to think, "What is the point?" as I found myself less and less enamored of having my next big obsession. I find myself today (Christmas day) not having a single present to open and feeling content. I have not obtained a full trust and hope, but I stepped closer.  I heard it said once that we must love people and use things.  That seems to be a starting point mentally for me.  I know I use to love things and use people pretty regularly.  That happens less frequently now, and with the idea of two masters rolling around in my frontal lobe I find it being the bouncer at the door of my thoughts.

Next time you have a moment of recognition that things do not lead to satisfaction and they stand in your way, don't push that idea aside...

Being in Debt To One Another

“Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back” (Lk 6:30).

I made a personal decision that I would not lend to anyone ever. 

It has set me free to be more generous in my heart. 

When someone asks to borrow from me I readily give it not expecting it back, be it a book, money, a coat or a CD. I consider it gifted. There is no disappointment if I never see it again, or feeling that someone is in my debt (that is awkward for both parties and ruins a relationship). I don't think of possessions as mine but as a gift from God I TRY to hold things loosely and value people over things.

Being in debt is a form of slavery.  I don't want to be responsible for your bondage.

I personally owe a friend money, and I am grateful that they helped me out when I was in a bind but it creates a shame in me and a perceivable resentment in him.  I don't want to do that to others. 

It is hard to admit that sometimes we need help from others, that we are not independent.  You need help with a jump for your car, you need a ride home, you need to borrow a cup of sugar, you need a couch to crash on tonight.

It is hard to ask for these things...

and hard to receive- even when it is offered unsolicited.

Do you feel the same tension of obligation and gratitude?

The verse tells us we are not to withhold anything:  

“Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back” (Lk 6:30).

This discipline of generosity has room to be developed in every heart.