Which End of the Pencil - Part 3 of 3
Part III Spirituality and Sharpeners
A quick reminder from Part I: I have found the following interacting model the most useful in differentiating between body, soul, and spirit:
Body – the five senses that inform us about our environment, what we see, hear, taste, smell, and touch, and the various organs that maintain our organic and physical life
Soul – is part mind (our ability to think and have thoughts), emotions (how we feel), and will (our ability to make decisions). M.E.W. for short.
Spirit – a deeper part of the person designed to have communion with God, ourselves, and others
We are all a combination of all of these parts working together. Think of anyone you know, and you’ll probably be able to identify their centre of gravity. The analytical thinker, the one who is more emotionally driven, another who is ruled by their senses, or the spontaneously wilful. And then there are those who seem to be spiritual.
Why a picture about running? Read on…
Here’s what the Bible says about spirituality:
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you
I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh
And give you heart of flesh
I will put My Spirit within you
And cause you to walk in My statutes’ Ezekiel 36v26
Jeremiah prophesied much the same in his passage foreseeing a ‘new covenant’ - in fact the term ‘New Testament’ refers to this ‘new covenant’ that Jesus spoke at the Last Supper: ‘After supper, he took the cup and said ‘This is the New Covenant in my blood’. The passage sheds a great deal of light on the details of this ‘new covenant’.
So…we all have a spirit. But it may be poor condition - stony and not ‘alive’ in the sense that God has made it for – communion with God. But Ezekiel promises us some sort of heart transplant, and to give us a new spirit, and the Holy Spirit.
That is true spirituality. Christianity properly understood is a spirit-Spirit operation.
It is a divine-human relationship not a set of moral or ecclesiastical rules. It’s not how any prayers you say, or worship music, or bible verses, or baptism, or ‘ministry’, helping others, or church attendance. You might do all of these things but doing these things won’t make you a Christian. The only question is whether you have opened your heart to His heart operation.
That is true spirituality. Christianity properly understood is a spirit-Spirit operation.
Back to unsharpened pencils. Imagine a new pencil lying on the desk in front of you. There is no end and no beginning. They are inseparable. But to make the pencil fulfil its function you must take a blade to one end and sharpen it.
The Bible speaks as much about God coming to us as about us seeking God. It’s like that in any friendship and relationship, it’s difficult to pinpoint who starts a friendship, it often seems to be simultaneous.
If we think of God coming to us, we might think of God seeking Adam and Eve in the garden. He didn’t stay away ‘in heaven’ disapproving of their sin, He came looking for them. Or we might think of Jesus named ‘Emmanuel’ God with us who said things like ‘It’s not the well who need a physician but the sick. I did not come for the righteous but the sinners’. But if we think of man seeking God, we might remember Moses at the burning bush, or the disciples leaving their nets to follow Christ, or Blind Bartimaeus crying out ‘Son of David have mercy on me’.
The deepest form of meditation then is between you and God, between God and you.
My heart was grieved
And I was vexed in my mind.
I was so foolish and ignorant
I was like a beast before You
Nevertheless, I am continually with You
You hold me by my right hand
You will guide me with Your counsel
Some pointers from my meditations on these verses.
You might have noticed this starts with my/our condition. You can’t commune with God unless you open your heart with all its griefs, sorrows, longings, hopes and dreams. It’s difficult not to feel foolish and vulnerable. But true meditation will bring you to the point where there’s only one word in the universe that matters ‘Nevertheless’.
That’s the turning point, the hinge.
It sounds close to madness to say God has spoken to me. Decidedly un-British!
We don’t mind being called ‘children of God’ but here the picture is us becoming like a little child and offering up our right hand. If you’re meditating you might act this sort of thing out, put some flesh on the bones. And then we reach the summit. It’s the true place, the true destination which is, in fact the true starting point – my spirit communing with His Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit as I not only hear His counsel but yield to it knowing it is from God who is love.
Now you have started.
It sounds close to madness to say God has spoken to me. Decidedly un-British! Un-CofE! But what else is spirituality if not that? The interaction between His Spirit and mine?
In my limited experience, what often happens is a deep sense of peace arrives, sometimes unexpectedly. Or it may be a conviction to put something right. Or to contact someone. Or a fresh attitude is formed inside. Or something finally makes sense. Or we’re reminded that Christ took all our griefs and sins on the cross, that we’re forgiven. Very occasionally it is something very specific.
I will share one such experience.
I had injured my right knee quite badly. If I ran for a hundred yards or so the pain would be unbearable. Sometimes walking in the hills, the same pain would reduce me to limping and very short strides. My early morning routine for many years has included reading the bible and prayer. One morning, I was praying but not specifically about my knee. All I can say is that I heard a voice (not audibly, but inside, like a strong thought, it’s hard to describe) that said just one word ‘Run!’ I think it was repeated twice. It was said with authority, like a command, but not threateningly. A day or so later I found a path to try running. I ran for about a quarter of a mile, free from pain. Then two miles. Then five miles, ten, and, in the end, half-marathons. I’m still running twenty-five years later.
The Psalmist’s heart was full of grief. His mind was vexed. But, in the end, He was trusting God to guide him with His counsel. Whatever our hearts are full of, meditation (slightly different to prayer, which is mostly to do with asking) can lead us to a place of trust: that all we have is freely given, including God’s counsel.