BIG things are the small things we
never think are important, but are. The biggest things are always incredibly
minute. Read the quote below and interact with the wisdom-of-obedience it
commends us to:
“If,
then, you wish to live a good life, keep watch over your will continually in
great and small things alike — both in those things which are in your own
control, and in things which are not — lest it swerve in any degree from the
right way.”
— ANSELM (1033 – 1109)
The right way:
God’s will is the right way. There is nothing more important. There’s nothing
else important. The right way.
***
When we abide in
him as he abides in us — imagery of Jesus speaking through the words of John
chapter 15 — we see that we’re led by the Holy Spirit to do things a certain
way. This certain way is always respectful of others and courteously discerning.
We might pray, “What would Jesus do?” But, equally, we could, by prayer, attend
mindfully to the will of God in our circumstance simply by imagining the Holy
Spirit there inside us, actually present with us. We would hardly do an
abominable thing if we knew someone were watching; imagine how additionally studious
we’d be if we knew God sees all, from the inside — from within as only we can see.
We carry about
ourselves this treasure in our
earthen vessel. We’re broken and so apt to stray. Yet we have this precious
piece, a parcel of God, inside us who seeks us, seeking us to abide, to listen,
to do as we’re led. God permeates us perfectly by his Spirit.
This treasure that
is the Holy Spirit leads us in the right way — and many possible junctures of
rightness are possible.
We may or may not
do the right thing whether we’re in control or not. Our will must join with God’s
if we’re to do the right thing in little and large matters; in matters within
and out of our control.
The outworking of
our faith bears little consequence other than our obedience to God’s will. Our
sensing of and our obedience to his will and not our own is our life in sum. We
have no fruit to show otherwise.
***
The fruit of
maturity of faith hangs, ripe for the picking, from the tree of the Doing of
God’s will.
The fruit of the
Spirit is always good to the taste, a blessing, right for every time and
circumstance.
The fruit of the
Spirit abides, accords, applies to the right way.
The fruit of
maturity of faith is picked at just the right time and way, destined for just the
right thing.
Becoming aware of
and doing God’s will: our sole role.
© 2015 Steve Wickham.
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