Spiritual Maturity

Paul said, "We speak words of wisdom to those who are [spiritually] mature," and "the foolishness of God is greater than the wisdom of men."

God works from within to make us spiritually mature and wise according to His own nature, and not according to the wisdom of the world.  We cannot force wisdom but must allow it to gradually unfold within us --the Spirit teaches us all things as we are able to grasp them.  And we ourselves can neither program nor plan how the Spirit will work in ourselves or in others.  We must only allow Him free access and free reign to do whatever He wills in us.  To that end, we remain in prayer in order to know the mind of Christ and the direction of the Spirit within us.

"Let me teach you," says the Lord; "let me guide you with Mine eye....be not senseless like the horse or the mule; with bit and bridle their temper is curbed, else they will not come to you."

A child guided by the parent's eye does not need "bit and bridle" to be controlled; one look is sufficient because the child loves and wants to please the parent.  It is only the headstrong and self-willed child who wants to do what he wants to do, without regard for the parent's wisdom. 

So, too, if we walk with God and let Him guide us with His eye, we have wisdom and spiritual maturity.  Isaiah 30:20 says this:

No longer will your Teacher hide himself,

but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher,

While from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears:

"This is the way; walk in it,"

when you would turn to the right or to the left.

In Jer. 31:33, God describes a new covenant that He will make with the house of Israel, where "no longer every man will teach his neighbor how to know the Lord," but "they will all know me, from the greatest to the least," because He Himself will write His law (instruction, in the Hebrew) in their hearts.

So spiritual maturity means moving along the continuum from external observance of the law from fear to listening to the deep, still voice of the Lord teaching us from within our hearts, being guided by His "eye."

Wisdom 2

Wisdom, the Gift from God, is knowing what to do with what we know.  We may all hear and see the same information, but use it in hundreds of different ways.  Some do nothing with what they know; artists combine new knowledge or experience with what has gone before and come up with a "new creation."

The truth of God is at first beyond experience, but Jesus says, "If anyone wants to know if my words are true, let him do what I say, and he will find out if the word is true."  We think we "see," and understand, but we do not actually experience the truth until we decide to walk in it.  We trust Jesus enough to "try it out," and then we begin to "know" what is true and what is not.

This is why "we submit every thought to Christ Jesus," in the words of St. Paul, so that we may be brought to the truth that is deeper and more sure than our eyes can perceive.  If we trust that the Spirit of God will lead us into all truth, then we trust less in the information acquired by our eyes and our experience.  Rather, we listen and await the truth brought to us by the One living inside us.  We see the world around us, but our reality lies within us. 

What happened in reality was that Lazarus died and was buried for three days.  But Jesus brought to the scene a much greater reality---that those who believed in/ trusted Him would not die but live.

The Curse of Cain

After murdering his brother, Cain cried out, "My punishment is more than I can bear:  Today, you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from Your Presence.  I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and everyone who finds me will want to kill me."

Cain's curse, which he himself recognized, was a complete reverse of the original harmony, or balance, created by God--a deep connection between God and mankind, between man and the earth, and between man and woman/other men.

When Adam walked with God in friendship, the earth produced abundance in accord with the blessing of God, and when Adam saw Eve, he exclaimed, "This at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh..."  There was a deep-down everlasting freshness between man and the earth, and between man and woman.

With Adam's alienation from God came also alienation from the abundance of the earth (now, thorns and thistles will grow along with the fruit of the land) and alienation from Eve---the woman you gave me enticed me to sin. (Now it's God's fault.) 

By the time of the second generation, the alienation has been passed on and increased: man against God, the land against man, and man against his brother.  That is the problem with sin; what is "tolerable" in one generation increases to the point of intolerable in succeeding generations.  How does one stop the process?

In Christ Jesus, the curse is nailed forever to the cross and destroyed:  alienation against God is patently forever forgiven; alienation of man against his brother is destroyed---Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do; and the thorns on the head of the Savior are taken with Him to the grave.  The curse of Cain is reversed forever.

The prophecy of Isaiah 55 says this:

Yes, in joy you shall depart,

in peace you shall be brought back;

Mountains and hills shall break out in song before you,

and all the trees of the countryside shall clap their hands.

In place of the thornbush, the cypress shall grow,

instead of nettles, the myrtle.

This shall be to the Lord's renown,

an everlasting imperishable sign.

When the "second Adam" was taken from the ground, a "new race" of people began again.  Mankind's inherited alienation from God is replaced with the continual indwelling Presence of His Spirit.  Alienation from the land is replaced with overflowing abundance, and, according to Paul, the Christ has destroyed in His own body "the dividing wall of hostility....  No longer Jew and Gentile; no longer male and female, no longer servant and master---but all are one in Christ Jesus."

He has reversed the inherited curse of alienation.  This is indeed "Good News!"

On formulas and windmills

One thing I've learned along the way is that there are no "formulas" in the spiritual life---there are only uniform results or effects of the Spirit Who moves where He wills and does what He chooses"

You do not know where the wind comes from nor where it goes; so it is with the Spirit of God (Jesus to Nicodemus--John 3).

None of us "understand" (to control or manipulate) the movement of the Holy Spirit--He enters by wisdom into dark corners with His great illumination.  We can only ask and seek and await His sudden appearance.  Once we experience a flash, or movement, of the Spirit, like Peter at the Transfiguration of Jesus, we immediately want to build a "tent" where we can capture and continue to live in the indwelling Presence of God.  The "tent" is our "formula" for "making it happen" again, or to keep the Presence with us forever. 

But the Spirit of God does not dwell in tents constructed by human hands.  He goes where He wills.  As a community, we can continue coming together in prayer, seeking God's direction for all of us, being open to the move of the Spirit among us---but it is more like a windmill harnessing the movement of the wind for energy than a "tent" or formula that tries to contain and control the Spirit.

But God is faithful to those who await Him; He completes the work He begins and does not leave or abandon those who trust Him.  Once we begin to trust and submit to the work of the Holy Spirit in us, once we begin to welcome His action in our lives, we do see uniform results---purifying, cleansing, illuminating, teaching, and revealing truth.  We cannot predict exactly how the Spirit will accomplish His work in us, but we can learn to recognize the infallible signs of His presence in any group or individual ---see Galations 5:22.

If there is any "formula" at all, it is just openness, trust, and prayer, knowing that we ourselves do not know "how to make it happen," but knowing that God cannot fail to do the work He has always done in those who hope in Him---Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. 

Our best "formula" is the beatitudes --- the new Torah, one that cannot be codified or canonized.

An explosive force

"Not by power nor by might, but by my Spirit," says the Lord Almighty (Zech.4:6).

Everything in the spiritual life comes to us by and through the Holy Spirit, not by and through our own efforts or goodness.  If we truly knew and believed this, we would stop "trying" and simply ask the Holy Spirit to enter and to do the will of God in us and for us.

There is a simple prayer that anyone can say to discover the power (dunamis, in the Greek) of the Holy Spirit:

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful,

and kindle in them the fire of your love;

Send forth your Spirit, and we shall be created,

and You shall renew the face of the earth.

Jesus told the Apostles when He was ready to ascend to heaven, "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised....for in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit....You will receive power/ dunamis when the Holy Spirit comes on you..."

In the Greek, the word for "power" is dunamis, the same root of our English "dynamite."  Strong's Concordance gives the following meanings for dunamis:

force--specifically, miraculous power-- ability, abundance, meaning, might, mighty deed, mightly, worker of miracle(s), power, strength, violence, mighty (wonderful) work.

Knowing the meaning of this word in the Greek gives a deeper understanding to Jesus' words, "The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent bear it away."  On the one hand, He could have meant that evil is stealing the kingdom of heaven away from mankind; on the other, He might have meant that those who have the dunamis/power/strength of the Holy Spirit are taking the kingdom by "force."

In any case, the image of dynamite is a good one---the power of the Holy Spirit can blow away mountains, as in Zechariah.  It can soften hard hearts, strengthen weak hearts and hands, and empower people to tear down and to build up kingdoms.

If all of us would take seriously in our own lives the last words of Jesus to the Apostles:

Do not [begin your work] until you have received the power of the Holy Spirit,

we would discover the truth behind the words of Zechariah:  "not by power, not by strength, but by My Spirit," says the Lord of hosts.  Maybe the only way we can have the courage to ask for the "dynamite" Jesus referred to is to come to the end of our own strength and to experience the frustration of trying to do things in our own power.

The Journey of Faith

Come to a land I will show you...

The spiritual life is often described as a journey.  Each day, each new circumstance is the source of new and deeper revelation.  In the spiritual life, we "progress" from a place of "already knowing" to a sense of childlike wonder and awe, a willingness to be taught anew each day and an expectation of continual discovery. 

At the end of his life, Thomas Aquinas, the great intellect and author of the Summa Theologica, said, "Everything I have written is as straw," compared to the revelation he received before his death. 

Like Thomas, we must be willing to lay down what we knew before in the light of new realities.  Jesus told Mary Magdalene, "Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet gone to the Father."  We cannot "cling to" the revelation of yesterday, because today He is once again about to take us further on our journey---to a place we could not have reached yesterday, until we had come to the place where we stand today.

Faith is never set in stone; it is a living, loving relationship that is ever new.

Fire and Ice

I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and what would I but that it be kindled?

We must ultimately realize that doctrine and theology does not save---the words are only an attempt to analyze and explain our experience of God's love, shown to us, incarnated, in the life of His Son.

It is fire from the passionate heart of Jesus that sweeps across the world.  The tongues of fire at Pentecost distributed to his followers a part of his burning love for the world.  Wounded by man's lack of trust, crowned with the thorns of the field, scourged with whips of fear and hatred, nailed helplessly to a cross, He still loved the sons of mankind.  That is the love He shares with those who love Him.

He sets us on fire with His passionate love.  He wants to be with us; He wants to know and partake in each thought and feeling of our lives.  He is hurt by our neglect and indifference; He still groans under the weight of our hatred for one another:  "What you do to the least of mine, that you do unto me."

We must catch the fire from the heart of Christ toward the wounded, the broken, the lonely, the scared, the forgotten, the downtrodden and oppressed.  We must allow it to burn in us until we can no longer contain it.