What if the
Spirit speaks to us not directly in the moment, but has already spoken to us by
the transformation of our life?
What if the
decisions we have to make day-to-day and the controversies we have to establish
an opinion on are not led by a "Guide by our Side" who is whispering
instruction, but from a teacher who has already given us the algorithm to solve
every practical equation we will come across in our life. The Bible never
specifically mentions abortion or pacifism, so how can we establish a
biblically-grounded opinion about these things?
When we
have experienced a life transformed by the Spirit, the need comes to act out
the principles of Christlike-ness in modern issues. The Holy Spirit speaks
through our transformation. By overhauling our old life, He gives us instruction
on how to live today.
We do not
act in a way that pleases God so that we will be transformed or live up
to the standard of transformation, but because we have already been
transformed.
There is a
triple cooperation between the Holy Spirit, God’s revealed will (Scripture),
and our cognitive functioning, where all work together to guide our
reasoning by the established pattern of a Christlike life. I think today in our
individualistic culture, we are so concerned in nailing down the specific will
for our life that we remove the focus from God’s eternal revealed will in
scripture. We put the siding up before the walls!
Practice
humility. Take care of yourself physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Get
on your knees and pray. Study Scripture not for the sake of answering questions
but for the sake of finding God. Love people. Serve in your community. Protect
the weak.
When we are
pursuing all of this – a life fully devoted in every aspect – will we
fully be led by the Spirit. The work of obeying God creates in us the cognitive
habit of instinctually pointing our opinions, thoughts, and actions in the
direction of God. When we fail to do what God has already asked, we spend our
time grabbing for things in the dark, wondering why it’s so hard for us to see
what he wants us to do; God’s revealed Will sets the foundation and structure
of thinking to find the specific Will for us. You see, when we try to push all
of the work of forming opinions on controversial or complicated issues off onto
the Holy Spirit, without putting much effort into actually trying to
pursue the life the Holy Spirit is pointing towards, our opinions become
pseudo-spiritual, led not by Not-God, who is usually a murky substitute,
wearing the nametag of God but being only that person’s guised will.
This is a
complicated idea – so complicated, only a story can really accomplish
portraying it.
There once
was a man named Self.
Every day,
Self was fed three square meals a day (plus snacks!) by his friend, Other.
Other did not charge Self anything for this meal, but only asked that Self
cleaned up the house day-by-day, to make it easier for Other to come in and get
around. Other had a helper, Conscience, who would help Self clean up the house
(but he was never the starter for this work; he always waited for Self to start
cleaning up before he would get around to cleaning up.) For a long time, Self
maintained the house well, Conscience helped him, and Other came in and served
him whenever he needed something to eat. The three of them lived in harmony –
Other would give Self the perfect meal every time, because he was able to move
around the house to get all the necessary ingredients to make the meal.
But
eventually, Self began to get tired of cleaning. “Surely skipping a few days of
cleaning won’t be a big deal.” He said.
And indeed,
it wasn’t – Other continued to come, and Self continued to be fed. A thought
began to form in Self’s mind: “Cleaning up my house isn’t really the important
thing here – the important thing is that I love Other and he loves me! I don’t
need to keep cleaning up my house. He’ll keep coming and serving me
nonetheless…”
And indeed,
he did. Other continued to come to the house every day and make his way
carefully through the growing mess of the house, cooking up many different
dishes, and serving them to Self faithfully. But every day, he would point out
the different things that Self needed to address in order to make his job
easier. Conscience was seen around the house less and less, but Self didn’t
seem to notice - he continued to simply sit around the house, waiting for the
next meal and convincing himself that it wasn’t really necessary – Other was
just trying to be hard-to-get. He’d cave in the end.
But the
longer Self went without doing what Other had asked him to do, the harder it
got for Other to even get in to his house! He tried not to damage anything, but
Self was making it very hard to do so! Trash was everywhere, mixed in with the
important items! Other sometimes had to push things out of the way just to get
into the kitchen (every once in a while, things would break, and Self would get
mad at Other for not being careful enough).
Finally,
the day came when Other could not even open the door to get into the house –
Self had passively barricaded him out by not doing the simple thing Other had
asked him to do – live in the house in a way that invited Other in. Other
pounded on the door, but there was so much stuff, good and bad, between him and
Self that Self couldn’t hear him anymore.
Hours went
by, and Self got hungry.
Days went
by, and Self was starving.
A week went
by, and Self was crying out for food; but he still did not address the mess
that his house was in.
Finally, in the hour that Self felt sure he
would die, a rich aroma reached his nostrils.
Sweet, almost
sickening, the smell of a rich dinner was coming from his kitchen! Other had
finally broken through and was cooking him dinner! Oh, Self was proud of
himself – he just knew that Other wouldn’t leave him alone! How silly was he
for thinking that Other could possibly be so mean as to leave him on his own!
He knew that Self depended on him for food – he said he would always be there
to give him a meal – and Other was a man of his word!
But in his
excitement of finally getting food, Self failed to wonder why this Other asked
for the lights to remain off, or why he wouldn’t let Self get too close to him.
In fact, so excited was he to see Other’s face, and so long had it been since
he saw it, that he failed to notice the strap around the head and the polished
plastic of the face of the Other.
This was
not true Other, but a masked Conscience! He looked like Other to Self, and he
sounded like Other to Self, and his food tasted just as sweet as Other’s, and
Self didn’t have to clean up his house for him to come in – so he must be
Other!
Self sat
down to eat his dinner, confident in the fact that he had been righteous all
along to suffer through a week without food before Other gave in. Conscience
smiled behind his mask, knowing that he had truly found his reign now. Other
waited at the door, just waiting for Self to invite him back in.
I do hope
you understood the meaning of this story. Of course it’s not wholly
theologically accurate, and of course it’s a little clumsy, but I really do
hope that I have shown what I mean when I say that a life lived in a
transformed way acts as the conduit for the workings of God, and his will in
your life.
If you are
waiting for the Holy Spirit to tell you something or answer those questions you
have about what you should do or where you should go, perhaps you might do well
to go out and live your life as God has already told you in Scripture.
And maybe,
just maybe, those questions you have for God will be answered along the way…
--Malachi
לא נזבנו רוח-אתה;לא נשכחנו דברי-אתה
