Pain

I am stuck at home in bed this week because I can barely walk. It all started from an intestinal infection and a round of cipro antibiotics that have an unusual side effect of causing ruptured tendons.

This past Sunday morning I noticed my legs were hurting and by mid morning they hurt so bad I could barely walk. By Sunday evening they felt like I had run 100 miles and had a nuclear bad build up of lactic acid. By Monday morning the pain had settled in my left leg. The muscle was so sore I could not touch my leg and it was knotting up and trying to cramp with the slightest movement. As the week has worn on I have talked to a number of different people with some suggestions on what to do. One suggestion that sounded very good at first was a muscle relaxer or topical pain ointment. However after thinking about this for a while it occurred to me that if I was not able to feel the pain I would use my leg more than I should which could potentially lead to a damaged tendon.

This caused me to start thinking about the irony of pain. Pain hurts and we want it to go away but it is also pain which protects us from even more problems. Much of our life is spent trying to avoid pain- physical pain, emotional pain, and spiritual pain. We medicate to avoid pain. We engage in dangerous behavior to squelch pain. We indulge to subdue pain. The irony is that pain that is not recognized and dealt with leads to much greater problems. It allows us to pretend that there is not a problem that needs to be dealt with.

We can take pain pills, drive a fast car, drink or watch or smoke something, shop, give our kids or spouse whatever they want but failure to feel the pain will simply prolong the inevitable and quiet often make it worse. We live in a society that promotes happiness right now instead of dealing with the pain. We want to eat wrong, live wrong, spend wrong, behave wrong, and yet have no consequences. And when the consequences catch up we want to blame someone else.

Maybe we should not be so afraid of pain. Maybe we should instead learn to respect pain for what it is- a red light on your dashboard saying there is something wrong that needs immediate attention. Maybe we need to stop figuring out whose fault it is and simply take steps to make things better.  

The Work of the Holy Spirit

I have encountered many views of the Holy Spirit throughout my life. When I was a kid I learned at church that the Holy Spirit had stopped doing any work in the world after the apostles all died. This view was consistent with an East Texas preacher that informed me in a most unkind manner about 12 years ago that God does not work in a specific way with individuals and that the Holy Spirit is simply the printed word of God- the Bible. However God has been gracious enough through the course of my life to allow me to learn a different story...

I have learned many things about the Holy Spirit in my life:

• I must continously work to hear the voice of God's Spirit.
• I cycle back and forth between intently listening and just barely paying attention.
• As life gets easier I listen less to the Holy Spirit.
• When I listen less to the Holy Spirit I have difficulty giving God control of my life.
• When I listen more God brings opportunities into my life to serve Him.

When I was a kid I was taught all of the things the Holy Spirit can't do. However I have learned through both study and experience that the Holy Spirit can do anything that is needed. I have watched in awe time after time as the Spirit works. I have experienced:

• The Spirit leading me to a specific person.
• The Spirit guiding my words.
• The Spirit giving me insight.
• The Spirit bringing peace, joy, and comfort.  
• The Spirit leading someone to the church where I was serving.
• The Spirit leading me to a specific church.  
• The Spirit placing the right person at the right time to serve as an instrument of God.
• The Spirit revealing specific things about a specific person so that sin can be confronted.
• The Spirit bringing physical healing through the power of Jesus.
• The Spirit confronting and reassuring.
• The Spirit prompting earnest prayer to God.
• The Spirit prompting a prayer language.
• The Spirit providing discernement to recognize what God was doing.
• The Spirit giving guidance about which way to go.

Have I figured everything out about how to be led by the Spirit? No way! It is an ongoing journey that has many hills and valleys. My goal is the the command given in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, "pray continually".

How do I pray continually? It's not going be a head bowed traditional looking prayer. Continous prayer in some way describes a continous connection with God, a continous openess to the leading of the Spirit. It describes a willingness to slow down enough to allow God through the power of the Spirit to be a part of all I do and say and think.

The most startling thing about the presence of the Spirit in our life is confirmation of our salvation, confirmation that our sins have been washed away by the blood of Christ. When I was growing up I was taught that baptism is confirmation of our salvation. However that is not correct. Baptism is the external act symbolizing the spiritual significance of the salvation we have entered into purchased by the blood of Christ and received by faith through the grace of God. It is possible to be immersed in water without receiving the Holy Spirit. It is possible to be dunked in a baptistry with special words spoken before we are plunged under the water without opening our heart to allow the Spirit of God to dwell in our heart.

What is the key to salvation? It is opening your heart and your mind and your soul and your strength to being filled by God's Spirit. Far too many people try to live the Christian life through their own strength by their own might. This produces nothing more than an uptight self rightous Christian in name only. But someone who opens themself to the filling of the Spirit of God will exemplify love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and self control.

How can we evaluate how well we are doing at allowing the Spirit of God to control our life? Answer this question: To what extent does your life exhibit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, thankfulness, and self control?

Does this mean that when I got incredibly mad at that idiot driver in Houston traffic yesterday, passed them, and cut them off that I gave up my salvation? Well... Salvation is not dependant upon your immediate actions. However when you drive like this (because I never would!) it makes it tougher for you to hear anything the Spirit is trying to speak to you plus the chances of being a witness for Jesus Christ to the person you just cut off are really pretty slim.

As I said earlier... my life, to be totally honest, is at best a pendulum swing between doing a good job of opening myself to the leading of the Spirit and the other side of that pendulum which is not too attractive. When I was growing up I was taught that I was saved when I did what was right and lost needing to ask for forgiveness when I sinned. Well... that is another thing I realized I learned incorrectly. I am not lost until I ask for forgiveness. If that were the case then the need to bring in a priest after someone died to perform last rites and ask God to forgive any last minute sins they forgot to confess would be needed. But that isn't the case! We are forgiven of sins when we receive the gift of salvation through faith expressed through baptism. When I sin I need to allow the Spirit to convict me of sins and offer thankfulness to God for the forgiveness of my sins that I have already received because I certainly do not deserve this gracious gift he has given me.

For... you see... thankfulness, even thankfulness for the forgiveness of my sins is a gift of the Holy Spirit.

God is amazing and He desires me to be filled with His Spirit. That's cool!