Reflection

Needing More Than Commands

Details: Hits: 19254

grapevine2_500 A Christ-Life Through Spiritual Alignment

What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary. But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions.

A Christ-Life Through Spiritual Alignment

Details: Hits: 19192

A Christ-Life Through Spiritual Alignment

Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question? The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. Romans 7:15-25 If I go through a rough patch of road littered with potholes, I shouldn’t expect my car to continue driving smoothly or my steering wheel to remain steady. And yet I do expect to be able to make it through each and every day with little attention paid to being in synch with God. As Paul makes clear in his letter to the Romans, it is one thing to want to be alive to God, and another to act this out each day. How am I to live devoted to Christ if my own self wars against the desire? Process spirituality is about committing my whole being to a daily body-mind-spirit alignment.

I cannot rely on my human understanding or effort alone to enable me to deal with problems in a manner that glorifies God. My spiritual steering wheel is still jerking in my hands if I align myself by using only willpower and a few minutes of prayer and scripture study. I was not made to endure the world alone; I was created to walk in partnership with the holy of holies. I need to submit myself each and every moment to the presence of God, my master mechanic, coming before Him wholly and humbly intent on surrendering who I am and what I understand to His will, His direction and His grace. I am in need of his professional tools to calibrate my life so it doesn’t become a broken heap after every 3 miles of living.

His alignment requires me to engage in a daily process of submitting myself to the direction of the Holy Spirit, who guides my review of His word (for daily updates) and ensures my systems are monitored through prayer. Process spirituality involves my ongoing consecration to Christ, living as if He is the only one who has the skills to keep me going in each and every circumstance He places me, while the Holy Spirit maintains a smooth and steady steering wheel, enabling my actions to be the product of God’s love.