Well, we come to the last day of this issue on ‘The Nature of the Spiritual Journey’.
Selwyn has spent the last two months covering eight spiritual experiences and lessons. He says: “There are unquestionably more, but certainly not less than eight.”
His summary of the eight spiritual lessons, follows: “In our movement towards God we will encounter a holy God; through suffering, our sensitivity to the needs of others is deepened and widened. In close relationships we learn the art of loving others more than we love ourselves. … Jesus always kept eternity in view. Do you? Can we live with mystery, trusting in God and not dreaming up our own solutions, even if we have to wait until eternity? Can our lives be characterised by a lifestyle of repentance (changing our mind to match His will) as we continuously return to Him through the door of repentance? Do we rejoice that throughout our entire journey we are accompanied by a passionate God who desires an intimate, vibrant relationship with us? And lastly, do we recall that we are all involved in a rescue mission? Do we share what God has so graciously shared with us?”
These thought provoking question are worth dwelling upon during this day. February 29th is a day that we don’t often see – it’s like an extra day that we have to catch up on the things, left undone – it’s a day, we can spend taking stock of our spiritual life. We can treat it as a day during which we can sit down next to God, and in prayer, go through our present situation asking for His help to highlight those areas of our lives; where an ‘answer’ to any of the above questions, was hard to find.
It’s important to keep in mind that we cannot explore these spiritual issues using only our own resources and strengths. These are areas that require God’s involvement – only the Holy Spirit and an honest searching heart, can find and identify the essential next steps in our spiritual journey. If we don’t spend some time with God exploring these issues, we don’t simply stand still; but as time progresses we are actually moving away from God. Do you agree?
I also liked Selwyn’s final comments, (I’ve changed the order of his words and some of the content, to place more emphasis on the higher priorities, as I see them): Do we realise that what God wants, first and foremost is our worship – our works follow; He first – seeks our love; and then, our servant-hood will grow out of this loving relationship? Our eyes should be focused on Jesus, our Shepherd, He will lead us along the narrow path towards home. God is committed to saving us – He seeks out the lost; can we commit ourselves wholeheartedly to Him? He died on a cross to save you - will you agree to the death of your old, self-centred life – to follow Him?
In summary, we can take hold of the words in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, chapter 3, verse 18 (NIV): “And we, who … all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory … ”
These words tell us that God is doing the transformation (we don’t initiate the spiritual experiences), He is showing us the way – all we need to do – is to take hold of His hand, and follow! How great is that!
[What did you learn over the last two months while going through this study?]