Afterthought

Do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."" (James 4:5-6 NAS95S)

Observation: God is jealous for my heart. His longing is to indwell me. To fill me. To consume me. The question is, do I desire His Spirit as much as He longs to give it to me? In Luke, Christ said:

""So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. "For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. "Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? "Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"" (Luke 11:9-13 NAS95S)

This challenge of Jesus... To ask for the Spirit... is the same thought expressed here in James. James says it this way:

"You have not because You ask not" (James 4:2).

And this invitation to ask comes in the context of lust. Lust is what happens when we desire without asking. Lust is what happens when we seek to make it happen, rather than looking to our Father to make it happen. Lust is about making personal provision, rather than seeking God's divine provision. Lust is what James describes in these verses:

"Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." (James 4:13-14 NAS95S)

O that we understood our frailty! That we comprehended our incompetence, and realized our utter helplessness. Maybe then we might ask. Maybe then we might says as James invites us:

""If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that."" (James 4:15 NAS95S)

Application: It is so easy to live life ahead of God. So easy to say... "Let's have a quick prayer," or "God is good, God is great, thank your for that food we ate!" In other words prayer is an afterthought... seeking God's will is an afterthought.

Prayer: O Lord Jesus I don't want Your will and the infilling of Your Spirit to be an afterthought anymore. Like what I read in Tim Gillespie's blog the other day, I want to be covered, and cloaked, and filled with Your presence:

I think there is a danger of Jesus becoming the given of the Christian experience.

We are all here in church, so it would seem that we have all assented to the fact that Jesus is the center of all of what we do. However, without the continued connection to the person of Jesus, not just the idea of Jesus, all of this is for naught.

Perhaps it is not enough for Jesus to be at the center of what we do. Perhaps the idea of a Christo-Centric community is the wrong model to use. I suggest that we use new language. I suggest that rather than having a Christo-Centric idea of community and church that we have a Christo-Present understanding of the our lives as Christian.

What is the difference? Let's use a couple of different metaphors. The first being a football huddle. In a huddle all the players are looking in to the quarterback to give them instructions. At the end of the huddle they "break" and go to do their respective jobs. The anchoring point is the knowledge that they have of what they were told. While not a bad way to live, I think there is another metaphor that speaks to Christo-Presence in a bit more powerful way. I like the metaphor of the mist in the forest. To have a Christo-Present community is to live in the midst (or mist, if you will) of the presence of Christ that permeates everything. We see the world thru the mist (Presence) of Christ. All of our relationships, our purposes, and our decisions are affected by this presence. All of our efforts are subject to the worldview that Christ gives us as we look through and into His presence to one another, the world around us, and to the Kingdom of God. (TimothyGillespie).

O Jesus make me damp with the mist of Your presence. Drench me in the downpour of Your Spirit. Teach me to pray... "If the Lord wills..."