Tidbits for Thought

SPIRIT LED

John 14:15-17 “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I

will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with

you forever-the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because

it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives in

you and will be with you.”

When God made man, He gave him a multitude of gifts: The gift of

the senses…. sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste……. physical gifts

such as arms, legs, hands, feet. Mental gifts……thought and

reasoning. The gift of emotions……. love, gratitude, joy, humor,

compassion, and empathy, just to name a few. He also gave us the

incredible and almost unbelievable gift of choice. When Jesus left this

earth, God gave us another fantastic and unbelievable gift…. the gift

of His Spirit to help us use, for His purposes, all of the other the gifts

that were gifted to us.

When God dispensed the great gift of choice, He took an almost

unbelievable chance on mankind that cost Him more than we can

know. He gave man the opportunity to accept and worship Him as

Creator or to neglect and deny Him as a myth or fairy tale. While He

gave us the gift of the Spirit to live with us, walk with us, and guide

us, He still honors our free will and freedom of choice in every

circumstance, even though those choices might be separating us from

Him. Our choices might see us ignore the hurting and the poor. We

might fall into the trap of “self” which is destined to lead to

unhappiness in our lives and the lives of those around us. When we

ignore the prompting of the Sprit, our lives become a cesspool of sin

and a perfect storm of uncertainty.

However, when the Spirit is prompting us to live with God as the very

center of our lives, we can choose to use our eyes to see everyone we

meet in a new and refreshing way, the way that Jesus sees them. We

can choose to open our ears to the pain and confusion in the voices of

people seeking meaning in their lives. We can choose to let our hands

reach out to touch and soothe the poor and hurting. We can choose to

fill our hearts with compassion and love and concern for the lost who

are wandering around the world with no clear direction or purpose.

With God at the center, every choice we make, even the simplest and

most mundane acts of life, can take on a new meaning. The worry and

frets of our lives can take a backseat to the joy of living the life that

Jesus modeled for us. Equally important, when we choose the path of

Jesus, the incredible joy that is evidenced in our lives cannot help but

attract others to that lifestyle.

I am not sure if there are enough words in the dictionary or that anyone

on earth has the skill to use those words to fully express the never-

ending joy that might be found in choosing to live a life completely

centered on God and the path of Jesus……a journey of which each of

us are capable ………if we make that Spirit-led choice each and every

moment of each and every day. Think about it!      ~ Aron Smith