"The Spirit of the Moment"

    Of the poet, it is said that he possesses the insight to "capture the soul of the moment."  He sees beyond the happening to the heart, and through the event to the nuance, meaning, and significance that call to places within us far deeper than sensory experience and cognitive understanding.

    It might also be said that God gifts born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to capture the spirit of the moment.  That is, anywhere and everywhere we may remember the wondrous truth that "in Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).  Such inner vision requires the faith that acknowledges the Truth, and then acquiesces to the submission of heart, mind and body referred to by Scripture as worship.  We may or may not experience great emotion as we capture the spirit (or perhaps more accurately, as the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, captures us).  Nor do we always in the moment think profound thoughts of God, truth, reality, life and eternity.  Indeed, nothing may seem to happen as we remember that time and space offer open portals through which the trusting heart glimpses, and at times, seems even to gaze upon the Eternal.  This is fine, because just as the poet sees and describes far more than happenings, the Christian testifies of God's being no less than His doing.  "Before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58).  It is enough that we remember and affirm within our hearts that we live in Christ, He lives in us, and that this blessed truth of grace comprises the very essence of our existence.  "To live is Christ" (Philippians 1:21).

    This moment provides such opportunity as we consider together the potential that anywhere and everywhere our Lord's promise can fill and fulfill our hearts: "The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23).  We were made and birthed anew in Christ for this, and while our present existence limits our experience and clouds our vision, we may all certainly grow in our apprehension of the reality in which we live, move, and have our being.  Yes, we may capture the spirit of this moment as the portal it provides invites us to behold eternity and its God...

"While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.  For the things which are not seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal."
(II Corinthians 4:18)

"I am the resurrection and life.  He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.  And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die."
(John 11:25-26)
 

"Educational Pain"

    My father died of a heart attack not long before my third birthday.  My only memory of him involves an episode when I crawled underneath the table that served as the support for our old-fashioned 1950s television.  I had spotted the electrical cord of the TV plugged into the wall and decided it would be fun to play with.

     Strong hands pulled me from beneath the table, and proceeded to apply, shall we say, an educational motivation to my backside.  My father wanted to ensure that never again would I expose myself to the danger of an electrical outlet.  He did so in a manner that got my attention, and I can unreservedly confess that I've had a healthy respect for electricity ever since that painful, but illuminating moment!

    Some might think it sad that the sole recollection of my father involves this difficult experience of corporal discipline.  I don't share that perception.  Indeed, I think of my dad and smile when I remember that he loved me enough to administer not only the gentle caress, but the firm chastisement.

     "For whom the LORD loveth He correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth" (Proverbs 3:12).

     In our present existence, we require God's loving correction as well as His loving encouragement.  A life of mere pleasantries provided by His hand would leave us devoid of lessons that can only be learned when our Heavenly Father determines or allows educational pain to direct or redirect our feet along the path of righteousness.  "Before I was afflicted, I went astray.  But now I have kept Thy Word" (Psalm 119:67).  He loves us enough to hurt us when necessary, and while I am sure He takes no pleasure in applying the rod, sentimentality does not defer the Lord's devotion to our best interests.

    My father loved me.  He delighted in me.  Both the testimony of family members and the memory of the pain my dad inflicted bear witness in my heart of genuine devotion.  Even more, our Father in heaven loves and delights in His trusting children in Christ.  His goodness revealed in joyful bestowals of grace confirms this blessed truth over and over and over again.  However, His goodness revealed in the determination and allowance of difficulty bears witness no less that we are loved beyond all measure and degree.  Let us offer the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for both the tender caress of gentleness and the firm chastening of discipline.

"If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?"
(Hebrews 12:7)

"With An Everlasting Love"

    The singer of old intoned, "Love is gone. Written on your spirit this sad song, love is gone."  She referred, of course, to the romantic love that does often seem to come and go.  Fickle is the human heart in such matters, especially in a generation that perceives connections more in terms of chemistry than commitment. 

    Thankfully, another love can be written on our spirits with indelible devotion, affection, and faithfulness.

    "I have loved thee with an everlasting love" (Jeremiah 31:3).
    "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us" (Romans 5:5).

    When the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ enters our hearts through faith, He comes to stay in an "everlasting love" that will never wane.  Our experience of such goodness ebbs and flows, of course, and God's application of love will sometimes challenge our very concept of His heart and way.  Nevertheless, the born again believer will never find written on the spirit that God's love is gone.  The Spirit of Christ comes to stay when He enters our hearts, and "shed abroad" love fills our innermost being regardless of our perception and reception.

     This we must believe about the God who so loves human hearts that He seeks to make them His home.  This includes your heart and mine if we have believed.  The One who cherishes us most dearly cherishes us most nearly.  Through the Holy Spirit, God imparts His devotion not simply upon us, but within us.  He enters our spirits, shuts the door, as it were, and forever thereafter we may sing, "Love is here.  Written on our spirit this joyful anthem of grace, love is here."   Of no other love can this be said, because there is no other "everlasting love."  By definition, such devotion and commitment requires the life eternal found only in the Christ who is, who was, and who always will be.  Thus, the love of being loved and responding in kind will be with the trusting heart forevermore.  This is love, the love of God which enters the spirits of those who believe in the Lord Jesus with the promise...

"I will never leave thee nor forsake thee."
(Hebrews 13:5)