Adrift On a Sea Of Spiritual Confusion

October 9, 2015

Adrift On a Sea Of Spiritual Confusion

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.”

Matthew 7:7

At times in our life, we will want desperately to receive, to find, and to have the door open for us. Alas, in some of those times our experience will be more like the person in Jesus’ parable on prayer who hears their neighbor respond to their request for help, “‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night” (Luke 7:7). I suspect many of the people closest to the center of the Oregon college shooting last week have found themselves floundering in a just such a sea of spiritual confusion.

Our mortal flesh desperately wants to be in control of our environment. We want to have answers, and we want to be able to give an explanation, from a spiritual perspective, for what happened. We must resist such temptations. Let us resist the temptation to pretend we have answers when, in fact, we do not. Let’s resist the temptation to be like the prophets who said, “Thus saith the Lord” when the Lord had not spoken.

What then can we say or do? First, remember that much of the temptation to find spiritual answers is fueled by the nature of our mortal flesh to want tangible proof, or evidence, for the things we believe. But as Christians, we walk by faith, not sight. Sometimes, all we need to do is rest in our sure knowledge of God’s love. We can rest in our faith that God is not through with this world yet; Christ is coming again to establish his everlasting Kingdom on earth. We don’t need to worry about when Jesus is coming again, rather let’s remember his last words to his disciples, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:7-8).

As we rest in the unfailing love of God, and as we are obedient to Jesus’ words, the life of Jesus is made visible in our mortal flesh. (2 Corinthians 4:11 NRSV) When we find ourselves on the sea of spiritual confusion, may the world see Christ in us!

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.