To See or Not to See, That is the Congestion

[HKHaugan]

To See or Not to See, That is the Congestion

100% of everything we do is activated by what we can’t see. Evaluation, choice, decision is an invisible process that puts our bodies into action. The reasoning we do, the thinking that consumes every moment is an invisible undertaking. Then we use the word inspiration to describe what motivates our thinking and our thinking into action. Again it’s invisible. Think about that word ‘inspiration’ for a moment. It is an unseen happening within. Notice that it means being inspired, inspirited, nudged by a spiritual value. That is the spiritual part of us. It is the place in us that responds to something spiritual. Inspiration is a spiritual kick-start by a spiritual entity that engages our mind and instigates action.

The question is who and what do we trust for our inspiration, our spiritual kick-start? Who walks or can walk without hesitancy through the unseen reality that always confronts us every next moment of every day? Every next moment presents us with the choice between right and wrong, good and evil, the reality of the unseen. Knowing our complicated imperfections, our limited incomplete knowledge and frustrating interpersonal differences to whom or what do we turn for accuracy in the unseen process of decision-making?

Inspiration can come from many sources. They might be good and they might be evil. They can be true or false, honest or superficial. Sometimes it may be our response to an impressive personality, something someone said, a thought that pops into your head, a casual remark that had real meaning for the moment, a picture, an image, an emotional surge of some kind. Whatever it was it touched you in a way that made you respond within, in the heart, in the spirit. Was the source of the inspiration completely dependable and perfect? Upon what do you base your discernment?

The plague in the unseen dimension is sin, that which spiritually separates us from God and leads us into a lonely frightening path of survival, living only for the gratification of every next moment and the refusal to deal with the fact that death lurks in the shadows of our future. Everyone is born a sinner.

For sinners without the Lord there is only the aloneness of self, belief in one’s own ability to sort out life, the pressure of fear and the protective device of pride that motivate the mind and heart. Survival through secular values of personal success provides the self-centered inspiration to think and act. Sinners without a Lord are simply driven by the need for emotional, social and interpersonal security. Their choices are made based on what seems to work in the moment to achieve those goals. They become the attitudes and opinions of others. Their strategies are rationalization and self-justification as they attempt to meet their needs for meaning, significance and self-worth. What sinners without a Lord can’t grasp is that their needs are spiritual and can only be met spiritually.

For sinners who believe in the Lord their inspiration is not depending on self but on the Lord and His Word. Our identity, meaning, self-worth, accomplishment and security are spiritual issues that can only be spiritually accomplished in a relationship with Jesus. Sinners who believe in Jesus trust the Holy Spirit to lead them as they sort out their living experience. They turn to Him first. They see in Him the life that survives sin and death. They see in Him what it means to be human and that is a spiritual image of God.

They recognize sin for what it is, self-centeredness, that is the assumption that in our aloneness we can think and act apart from God and handle life, which is spiritual, on our own. A believer recognizes this tendency is innate, we are born with it and it makes us vulnerable to any spirit that promotes self apart from God.

Therefore, a believer walks through a series of spiritual exercises. He recognizes sin and its specific impact on his life. He sees it as the spiritual barrier to a relationship with God who alone can fulfill him. He realizes the presence of God, repents, requests His forgiveness, receives it, returns to Jesus for reforming and reshaping by the Holy Spirit to be like Him. It is this process of walking with the Lord on a daily basis that is our renewal and our restoration to what God originally intended for us. This is the process He requests of us when He tells us we must take up our cross and follow Him. He leads us through the invisible. Without His Cross that bridged the gap between God and us we would all be lost forever.

Navigating the invisible is the business of being human in this world. This is why the basic theme in the Epistle to the Hebrews is His priesthood. It is this process that Jesus as the only High Priest brings actively into our lives. He is the only one who knows what lies in the invisible reality. He is the only one who can be there for us to help us, guide us and free us from the sin that has us in its chains. He gives us His Word. The Spirit uses it to help us evaluate where we are then to choose and decide to act based on His presence. His one perfect and complete sacrifice of Himself on the Cross makes and ensures Him to be the only priest of the way, the truth and the life who can help us navigate in the unseen. More to come………