It is Sunday morning. I awaken at 5:00, thinking about getting ready for church. I am not at peace. I don’t wish to go to church feeling as I do; but it’s Sunday morning, and going to church is what I do on Sunday morning. My friends will expect me to be there and think that something is wrong if I’m not.
I go within to hear from the Spirit why I’m feeling as I do. Before long, I hear the still small voice speaking, and I know that I am to listen and write what I am hearing. I begin to experience peace. I know that I’m not going to church today because the Spirit is leading me to write. I realize why Jesus said He did only what He heard His Father say. There is no other way to live in the kingdom of God which is characterized by righteousness, peace and joy. That’s why Jesus commended Mary for listening and rebuked Martha for doing that which didn’t come from listening (Luke 10:38-42)..
I saw it in all its simplicity. If I am to walk in the “light” (Spirit realm), I too have to do only what I hear my Father say, not what I or someone else thinks I should do or is the “right” thing to do. It’s not about loyalty or reason; it is all about listening and obeying.
If I recognize that I am one with my Father who is living His life through me, that I am not a “human” personality trying to earn God’s love and acceptance, then I know that He puts His desires into my heart and energizes me with His Life to act in accordance with those desires. For it is He who is performing that which He has given me to do (Job 23:14). It is not burdensome (“my yoke is easy and my burden is light”—Matthew 11:30). It is “not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord” (Zechariah 4:6).
It became abundantly clear to me that this is what it means to “walk in the Spirit,” (as Paul says) or “walk in the light” (as John says), what it means to live “in” this world but not be “of” it. I knew I was entering into a deeper understanding of
Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
I just listen and do whatever I hear, whatever the “human” cost to myself or others. I feel the desire to do and can actually sense the life of God energizing me to do it (as I felt to write this morning). I don’t make any judgment as to whether what I’m doing is good or evil—for that is eating of that tree which always takes me out of the Spirit back into the realm of humanity. It is not I who am living and doing, but rather the Christ in me. And that I cannot and must not judge.
I began to see that this applies to every area of my life, not to just what might appear to be “spiritual.” I can apply this to eating, exercising, relationships, entertainment, cooking, shopping—any decision at all that I must make as I live my life “in” “this world.” As I submit my life to the government of God, not having a will of my own, but rather yielding myself to God’s will, I can with complete confidence follow the righteousness, peace and joy that characterize the kingdom of heaven.
Late afternoon
I knew even before I finished writing that I would be going to church after all. I understood that what I had heard was not that I was not to go to church, but that I was to be willing to not go if the Christ in me wanted to do something else through me during that time. It is not at all surprising to me now, in the light of what I’ve just written, that a couple of old friends visited the church this morning and sat directly in front of me. I had seen them a couple of times during the last several months and thought about inviting them over for a meal. Today that desire just dropped into my heart as I was standing there and I followed through by bringing them home with me for a “whatever is in the refrigerator” meal. We had a time of rich fellowship, freely sharing our lives and leaving with the desire to do it again. I had to die to some ego concerning what I was going to feed them and the clutter in my house to act on my desire; but even that was bathed in grace when they remembered they had to go feed a friend’s cat before coming, giving me the opportunity to get a quick meal together and pick up some of the clutter. But I had to be willing to carry on even if this hadn’t occurred.
I know this is a very simple illustration but yet a profound parable of how to live my life in this world while retaining my citizenship in heaven. I write this down as an example of walking as Jesus walked (see Walking as Jesus Walked), walking in the awareness that it is the Christ in me doing the works that He chooses to do. My only responsibility is to listen and act on what I hear, not concerning myself with the outcome.