333 Words

333 WORDS….

There is a life in the Spirit. Only our Lord Jesus lived this life fully. The rest of us must be content with ongoing improvement. Progress, that’s our goal.

The Man Christ Jesus was a perfect man, living perfectly. When Jesus was walking on the road to wherever, He was where He was supposed to be when He was supposed to be there. He walked in the Spirit. They were together.

For discussion sake, and to allow for human frailty, let’s define ‘life in the Spirit’ as being influenced and directed chiefly by the Holy Spirit. Even using this relaxed definition, life in the Spirit is a rarity.

We do not seek to be Spirit-controlled, and the Holy Spirit has no such intention. Contrary to popular thought, God is not a controller, and thus doesn’t have ‘everything under control’. God, in His sovereignty, gave man a free will; He will never trespass that free will. That’s never as in never.

The Holy Spirit was sent by Lord Jesus from the Father. He leads into all truth, the big ones and little. Trouble is inevitable to those not governed by this precious Governor. Deception and confusion come when we trust in another. And in several anothers we do trust.

The Lord Jesus speaks through the Holy Spirit to those having “ears to hear”. He teaches the teachable, relates to the abiding, influences the surrendered.

Only the devoted can discern between the voice of the Lord and a ‘good’ idea. Others are confused by reason, circumstances, church leaders, religious ambitions, good intentions. We are swayed by those to whom committed.

Life in the Spirit is essential to proper exercise of gifts and talents, essential for laying up treasures in heaven, essential to finishing one’s course. And such a life is available only to the Christ-centered. The Spirit does not shout to the distant, but whispers to those nearby.

Life in the Spirit necessitates death to self-rule, self-dependence, self-whatever. How can two be lord of one?