We mostly spend our lives
conjugating three verbs: to Want, to Have, and to Do. Craving, clutching, and fussing, on the
material, political, social, emotional, intellectual—even on the
spiritual—plane, we are kept in perpetual unrest: forgetting that none of these
verbs have any ultimate significance, except so far as they are transcended by
and included in, the fundamental verb, to Be: and that Being, not wanting,
having and doing, is the essence of a spiritual life. (The Spiritual Life
by Evelyn Underhill)
To want, to have, to do, or to be. To which of these will the majority of my energy go today? And which of them is really worth my energy and attention anyway. I have a suspicion that unless all of the others (want, have, do) flow out of that deep inner place of being--particularly being with Jesus and being in Jesus--then all of them will amount to nothing of Kingdom value or Kingdom significance in the long run. All must flow from that place where Jesus resides deep in my soul; call it dwelling, call it abiding, call it whatever you wish, but the bottom line is that it is all about being.
Jim, thank you for this. I am undone, as I feel the work and the conviction of the Holy Spirit in me upon reading this. This post of yours led me to this by Andrew Murray, from Holy in Christ, which has made a good mess of me this morning:
ReplyDelete"The Holy Spirit. All true knowledge of the Father in His adorable Holiness, and of the Son in His, which is meant to be ours, and all participation of it, depend upon our life in the Spirit, upon our knowing and owning Him as abiding in us as our Life. Oh, what can it be that, with such a Thrice Holy God, His Holiness does not more cover His Church and children? The Holy Spirit is among us, is in us: it must be we grieve and resist Him. If you would not do so, at once bow the knee to the Father, that He may grant you the Spirit's mighty workings in the inner man. Believe that the Holy Spirit, bearer to you of all the Holiness of God and of Jesus, is indeed in you. Let Him take the place of self, with its thoughts and efforts. Set your soul still before God in holy silence, for Him to give you wisdom; rest, in emptiness and poverty of spirit, in the faith that He will work in His own way. As Divine as is the holiness that Jesus brings, so Divine is the power in which the Holy Spirit communicates it. Yield yourself day by day in growing dependence and obedience, to wait on and be led of Him. Let the fear of the Holy One be on you: sanctify the Lord God in your heart: let Him be your fear and dread. Fear not only sin: fear above all self, as it thrusts itself in God with its service. Let self die, in refusing and denying its work: let the Holy Spirit, in quietness, and dependence, in the surrender of obedience and trust, have the rule, the free disposal of every faculty. Wait for Him -- He can, He will in power reveal and impart the Holiness of the Father and the Son."
Great words. Love that! Thanks Sharon.
ReplyDeleteOur only desire and our one choice should be this: I want and choose what better leads to God’s deepening His life in me. ~St. Ignatius