A SPIRITUAL PURSUIT PAGE 34

A Spiritual Pursuit

“Do not be anxious about anything,
But in everything, by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving, present your requests to God,
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7

Life moves forward…as it always does!  But, we’ve all been around long enough to know that now-and-then our present circumstances press in and cause us to falter.   We look toward the future and don’t see a clear way to it and our inner fears constrict.  Our past haunts and easily tempts us to turn from faith.  Regret calls our name and tells us to bow our head.  Shame calls out ….and tells us to kneel at its command.  Emotional pain comes upon us and forces us to drop to our knees.  Pride swells up from within and with that our hearts harden and can barely beat.  Circumstances sometimes plunge us into the depths of despair.   With our hands covering our face we find bitterness has blinded us from all else.  Life is temporarily lost to the peace that is mercifully ours to claim. 

 Scripture verifies that we are not alone in our troubles….2 Corinthians 1: 8-10 says:

“We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure,
so that we despaired even of life.  Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death.
But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.  He has delivered us from such a deadly peril,
 and he will deliver us.  On Him we have set our hope
that he will continue to deliver us…”
 

This scripture is reverberating about the past troubles of the disciples and is written by Paul. With candor it explains that even under the pressure of death we are to rely on God.   An interesting sentence is the second to last one.  It references two different tenses; the past and the future.  It states that “He has delivered” and then Paul follows up with “God will deliver”.  The former is based on life-experience and is stated as fact….”He has delivered us from such a deadly peril”.  And the latter is based on faith regarding future events…”He will deliver us”.  I love the confidence that comes from this passage.  There is no doubt in the writer’s mind that God takes care of His own…nor should there be any doubt in ours!    

Let’s bring this subject back down to earth.  In the infamous book by M. Scott Peck entitled The Road Less Traveled the very first sentence is, in fact, the statement “Life is difficult”.  I would be doing a disservice if I did not give you the 1^st two paragraphs from Page One of this best-selling book.  It says;

“Life is difficult.
This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths.  It is a great truth because
once we truly see this truth, we transcend it.  Once we truly know that life
is difficult-once we truly understand and accept it-then life is no longer
 difficult.  Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no
longer matters.”1

I find this so fascinating.  Dr. Peck was a psychiatrist who believed in God and also believed, as I do, that our mind and our spirit are one in the same.  He points out a truth that most of us don’t cognitively recognize because the world and its speechmakers promote this life as something different that it truly is.  We are taught through many sources that this is “the good life” and generally we accept this as truth.  And yet, mentally we pause.  If we’re attuned in the slightest we sense that something is askew.  We know that this life has its difficulties and that they come with some consistency.  This inner discrepancy is known as cognitive dissonance-or a state of conflict resulting in contradiction.  With this contradiction in play we focus in on Dr. Peck’s excerpt above.  It is so simple and yet so profound that it provides a wide-open avenue to peace and reconciliation.  The premise is based on the fact that once we know and acknowledge the truth that life is difficult, we rise above it!  That is amazing!  This logically shows the tenacity of the human spirit!  

God has been teaching us how to transcend our troubles since the fall of man.  This is psychological and spiritual calling that leads to acceptance and therefore peace.   The following is what Christ says regarding our lack of peace in this disenchanted world.  A salutation is not written…but if it were it would say “Friend, look up”.

 “Peace I leave you.  My peace I give you.
 I do not give to you as the world gives.
 Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
John 14:27

Whether you are familiar with John 14:27 or not you can see that it offers encouragement-it suggests that our struggle in this world is a mental game with peace as the end goal.  Our mental life is important for it empowers and propels us onward.  If we’re not on top of it- our mind can cause us to stumble and fall.  If we read the 1^st paragraph of this writing again we’re reminded how our mental game can bounce from one thing to another and soon we’ve been beaten down!   Because of this exact reason…Jesus warned us to be leery of what the externals of this life have to offer- for this world purposely distracts and then mentally manipulates.

This life is difficult!  Hopefully we’ve now made peace with that truth.  So, let’s change our perspective to the spiritual and now focus in on the fact that Christ says “I do not give as the world gives”.  Again, this propels us to the spiritual side of things.  He is asking us to reflect a bit as He leaves the door open for us to ponder His words!  This statement is comforting (think compassionate).   It is also motivational (think authoritative).  But then again it is also a warning (think cautionary).   Most importantly, it is educational for it purposely implies there is another way…God’s way!  With this, my heart lightens…for it is an additional burden for me to believe this world has it right.  Looking around I intuitively know that it does not! 

Jesus is telling us very succinctly that the spiritual, eternal life God has for us is very different to what this world gives and that we must chose to see things in a transcendent way!  As Christians, we are wise to look at our lives through the lenses of the spiritual lesson…not the literal problem.  When troubles come, as they always do, we’re naturally inclined to ask with frustration “What now Lord?”.  As a Christian, we should humbly ask, in a whispered prayer, “Lord, what now?”  With this life-giving choice we extend our trust heavenward and grow with each lesson as we move into the spiritual safety of the unseen power of the living God. 

In John 14, Jesus- as always, is presenting himself as one who understands our worldly dilemma and the universal void in which we find ourselves!  He knows that life wants to mentally drown us in disappointment.  He also knows that if we want to survive it will be mental and spiritual pursuit.   This is how scripture comes alive….and encourages us.  We take the ancient manuscripts and listen with our ailing hearts…and the historical documents and spiritual antidotes heal us.  We’ve been rescued with breath again and our heart begins to beat.  Our spiritual lungs have room to breathe and they expand.  We gulp the air of this truth and find life again.  Truth always saves.

“But He caught me, He reached all the way from sky to sea.
 He pulled me out of the chaos, the void in which I was drowning. 
See they hit me when I was down, but God stood by me.
 He stood me up on a wide open field; I stood there saved-surprised to be loved!
 God made my life complete when I laid all the pieces before Him.”
Amen and Amen!
Psalm 18: 16-19
-The Message Bible

Song Recommendation
Hold Fast
By:  MercyMe

1-“The Road Less Traveled” by M. Scott Peck. Copyright 1978 A Touchstone Book; published by Simon & Schuster, Inc.