THE OVERTURE
Your feet imprint the dirt path as you take each step across the plain. A dust devil swirls and lifts, then propels its load toward you. Jerking your arm up to
protect your face has little effect. The sand is all. Filling your mouth,
nostrils. Blinding with grit. Choking you with thirst.
Driven to meet wild
beasts. Hunger, Thirst. Loneliness. And after forty days and nights of this,
comes temptation by the devil.
Apparently the Holy Spirit
has no hesitation getting to the heart of the matter: Will you be true to the
Lord your God, even when life gets impossible?
Because when you give your
life to Christ, the Holy Spirit enters your being as the Father’s driving power.
The consequences are
disconcerting. Uncontrollable, even. Frequently you are driven to face the
force of a sandstorm. And stopped in your tracks.
This is not a life of
obvious glory.
Father, you say. How can I
be in your will when my life is falling apart?
Finally, you wonder: Lord God,
what do you really want from me?
Ah, replies the Holy
Spirit. Thank you for asking. Please hear what is in my heart for you:
Ho, come! Thirst for me.
Learn to know me as I know you. For if you surrender in your weakness, and love
the Lord your God, I have the power to bless you with wholeness (Isaiah 55:1-2;
60:22).
Wholeness?
Yes. Wholeness.
Through my refining fire,
grow more like Christ. More your own true self. Mature in loving God and others
as you love yourself (Luke 10:27).
You pause. Then: I think I
understand, Lord. You want me to confront myself, to assess my beliefs, and
improve my relationships with others, and with God.
You recognize the
challenge. You see there will still be tribulation. How else can one turn away
from the human temptation of self will? Of sorting out how to live in a fallen
world?
Yet you recall: When Jesus
rebukes the devil, when he rejects the external temptations of glory, at last
the angels come. The angels come and surround him. They minister to his needs
and comfort him (Matthew 4:11).
 |
Sent by the Father, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit, now part
of your spiritual core, asserts power on your behalf.
All the while driving you
deeper into the Trinity way.
The Triune God. Who will
be taken seriously. Even in the 21st century.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.