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One of my favorite TV characters was the Church Lady on Saturday Night Live. Her facial expression had all the warmth of a descending hatchet and appeared as though it was ultimately achieved through a lifetime of sucking on green persimmons. To many of us, enthusiastic about matters of faith, she represented an outmoded type of churchianity that was, not only amusing but, wholly foreign to us. It was simply unattractive as its adherents slavishly sought to suppress their innermost desires while attempting to obey and conform to rules of living that only made life more burdensome.
By contrast, the Gospel of Jesus strengthens us through the constant spiritual renewing of our minds and hearts. As we become increasingly responsive to Divine Leading by the Spirit of Truth, our inner soul transforms us, much like the small amount of leavening by which the whole loaf becomes leavened. When we are endowed with the power to advance the perfect will of God, we experience a new way of living that is joyous, gracious and, most importantly, acceptable in his sight.
When Jesus said “my yoke is easy and my burden is light, he was not minimizing the importance of the work. He was instead highlighting the fact that we would be working in concert with a great number of celestial associates and earthly cohorts that could make any heavy lifting seem light when compared with going it alone. When we are admonished to become equally yoked, we should also give some thought to being usefully yoked.
Coordination is an English word that stems from the Latin term ordo meaning order. Our dictionaries define coordination as “the organization of the different elements in a complex body or activity so as to enable them to work together efficiently”.
The Body of Christ is understood by analogy to the human body. When things are working as they should, we enjoy good health. When they are not, we group our various ailments into the all inclusive category of dis-ease. One of the books I always recommend to people dealing with cancer is titled The China Study. The book summarizes a huge research project focusing on cancer and nutrition. The study was conducted by individuals with a sincere reverence for the scientific method. The book’s conclusion also just happened to dovetail with my highest and best understanding of intelligent design when the authors summarized their findings with the statement: “Give the body what it needs and it will do the right thing”.
What can we, as individual human beings, contribute to the Body of Christ on earth so that it will more efficiently and effectively exude the health and happiness it exemplifies, thereby becoming even more attractive to our friends? The answer is not likely to be found in either green persimmons or recitations, but rather through the sincerest form of prayer. It is not obtained by denying ourselves and praying “Not my will but Your will be done.” It is though the sincerest form of appreciation in which we proclaim “It is my will that Your will be done.”
Now just how do we discern that will? We’re not infallible. We sometimes get it wrong. But we do have some big clues and rules of thumb. For example we know that the attributes of God are more likely to be seen through our highest and best understanding of His truth, His beauty, and His goodness. The central truth of the Jesusonian Gospel is that “The Kingdom of God is within you”. The beauty of hisministry is to be seen in his exemplary life with beautiful symmetry together with the quality of coherence conveyed through his teachings. Jesus always highlighted goodness and was also quick to point out that “there is no one good but God.”
If we are ever confused about what constitutes Truth, we should proactively distance ourselves from those who exhibit a reckless indifference to the truth. If we have been corrupting our sense of beauty through a failure to evolve beyond our animalistic instincts, we should proactively cultivate an appreciation of higher spiritual values. If we routinely conflate malevolence with benevolence, we can and should choose those good things that will favor ushering in an era of light and life over any sustained orgy of darkness and death.
We all have our Deuteronomy moments wherein God presents us with the ultimate choice. He said: I set before you life and death. Therefore choose life. We don’t evolve independently of time and so our life and death choices are, to some extent, incrementalist. The super-saturated sugary snacks in the Type II Diabetes aisle at the grocery store together with the tar and nicotine available through the assisted suicide department at the drug store clearly represent such an incremental approach to life versus death.
While sowing seeds of self-denial has value in the personal quest for a quality life, there are also choices we can make that don’t cause us to feel like we’re giving up all the things we like best. There is something truly exhilarating about maintaining a steady climb out, letting gravity and inertia have their way with the poor habits we’ve left behind. The Fruits of the Spirit are sweet.