December 23, 2010
High Water
My cousin is driving to California, determined to be there in time for Christmas. Considering the current flooding in southern California, the phrase ‘come hell or high water’ comes to mind. We really are creatures of chance. It’s one thing to suffer the physical consequences of determination, but I cringe when I recall times of misguided spiritual determination. Sometimes we’re not far removed from the high-water folks of Noah’s day.
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Gail;
-----Thought of that perception should be startling. The confining effect of our physical nature overwhelms the release Christ gave our spiritual nature when we are not humble. Everything we do in life is done through our bodies. The food and other provisions we need are acquired only by the work of our hands. The information we use for thinking and feeling only comes to us through our five physical senses. Even though we read and hear and ponder the spiritual reality laying beyond our sense’s reach, the empirical experiences of the physical life can overwhelm that realization.
-----Yet, the more real of the two is the spiritual reality. At times it has had major effects upon the physical one. The Great Flood, the plagues upon Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, the etching of the ten commandments into stone, and the birth of a humble child to a young virgin are just a few examples. The life, death, and resurrection of that child, His Spirit indwelling us who believe, and the Words that Spirit inspired to be written for our reading are ongoing intersections of that spiritual reality with this physical one. These effects have to do with each of us directly, not being confined to the past as mere historical events (the Christ child’s body of two-thousand years ago is alive and well today in its resurrected form.) And these will continue through every moment for every believer until the end, “...when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.” (I Cor 15:24)
-----Of these three, the only one we can touch with our hands and see with our eyes is the Bible. Even though this book rolls off somebody’s printing press inked onto paper, we must not become guilty of perceiving it as just a book - simply a physical object. It is a set of basic ideas passed from God’s very own mind for our thinking. Like a thumbtack pins a note to the wall, that truth pins spiritual reality to each of our physical lives.
-----I have a very good friend who often expresses all the wonderful paths man has to reach God by disengaging the physical aspects of life and melding into the spiritual. I was talking with a Jehovah’s Witness a couple weeks ago who was anxious to convince me the Trinity was basically blasphemy. And I actually fellowship at a church which pours water over the head instead of immersing and ordains women into their eldership. Some of my very good brothers and sisters think tithing is everything. Others think everything is about missions. But the Word of God is the point concerning everything we lay hand upon and give thought to. And the Spirit of Jesus Christ is everything about how that effects us. If we are not affected by humility enough to allow I AM to be to us Who He is, we may find ourselves anywhere from a little washed up to completely washed away.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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