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Sirach 6:14-16 A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; he who finds one finds a treasure. A faithful friend is beyond price, no sum can balance his worth. A faithful friend is a life-saving remedy, such as he who fears God finds; for he who fears God behaves accordingly, and his friend will be like himself.
Sometimes when we listen to or read a certain scripture passage, we hear it in a new way. That happened last Sunday as I listened to a reading from the 8th chapter of Romans- one of my long-time favorite chapters. Beginning at verse 9: “But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” (NAB) Or written in another translation (NLT) “But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)”
This is going to drive my spellchecker crazy, but I want you to hear it from the NAB as I have often heard it. I heard, “ifonly the Spirit of God dwells in you.” What I heard last Sunday was, “if onlytheSpirit of God dwells in you.” Small difference, I suppose, but enough to make me think long and hard about what that means.
What would it be like, I wondered, if inside of me was not the sinful earthling I struggle with day after day, but instead everything inside me was The Spirit of God? All the selfishness, the sinfulness, the anger, the doubts, the very things that separate me from God – all would be banished if I let go of that spirit of corruption Paul is talking about and instead embraced The Spirit of God. It is something to which many of us aspire, and in which all of us fail – most of the time anyway.
Once in a while, The Spirit prevails over our flesh – the descriptive term Paul applied to living completely in and of the world. We’ve often heard our pastors say to “be in the World, but not of the World. We accomplish that when we let our spiritual life take precedence over our Worldly life; when our actions are motivated by love – of God and neighbor – then we are not “of” the world, not merely flesh. We are “of” The Spirit.
We also all know that we cannot do that on our own. We depend on The Spirit to be able to access the Grace to be Holy. That is why we have that constant warfare between the flesh and the spirit, between our sinful nature and our holy calling. Left on my own, I have to admit I often find it easier to give into the sinful nature into which I was born, and forego standing against the World with The Spirit. Wouldn’t it be great if there were more help for each of us to do that? Well, I have found a source for just that kind of help!
You. Yes, it is you who help me most when I can’t set aside my selfish, sinful ways. I remember you, and that makes it easier to prevail; not just to endure the ways I fail, but to prevail against failure itself. It does not happen often enough, but it does happen more when you and I stand together. I have learned that I can depend on you to remind me to pay attention to what The Spirit is saying rather than what The World is saying.
And so we can see that indeed a faithful friend is a sturdy shelter, a priceless treasure, and a life-saving remedy. When we consecrate our lives – set them aside to be purified and made holy vessels for God’s purposes – we defeat those things which keep us “of” The World even though we are still “in” The World. Of course, you can see that it is not us that brings about this defeat of sin, but The Spirit. When we selflessly act in Love rather than selfishly act outside of love, then we have only the Spirit of God in us. That is easier to do with Good friends, friends whose own holiness is visible to us more often than their failures to be holy.
When I fully consecrate my life to The Spirit, it is not possible to divide that consecration so that I can hoard away areas of my life that are just for my Worldly pleasure. It is all or nothing. If I consecrate all of my life, that includes you; you most certainly are part of my life, and a big and important part at that!
So, Beloved, I choose these passages today so that you will know more intimately why I say that I love you. You are part of what makes it possible for me to live in and make use of the Grace of God.
I came into this world as a son, and despite some intensely negative episodes where I let my parents down, I always new that as a son I was loved. Later I added the role of brother, and there again, I often failed to act upon the love I felt for and from my siblings. Still later I was able to add the role of husband. It is a role I cherish, even though I am often not the good husband I can and should be. And even later still, I learned the joy of being a father to our children. Once again, I often failed to live up to the holy responsibilities of parenthood. And yet, in all these roles every time that Love prevailed so also did The Spirit prevail – or is it more likely the other way around? Yes, every time I let The Spirit prevail, Love prevailed.
It is the same process with friends, “for he who fears God behaves accordingly, and his friend will be like himself.” Beloved, thank you for helping me live out this song:
Take my life and let it be
Consecrated unto Thee.
Take my moments and my days.
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Let them flow in Ceaseless Praise.
Share-A-Prayer
My colleague, LL, told me that her husband M is very ill with chicken-pox. M is 51, a terrific dad and wonderful husband. As an adult, this virus is especially dangerous. Please lift up M and his family in your hearts and minds and pray for successful treatment of this infection with minimal suffering and side-effects.
Continue in your prayerful support of missionaries, and all the humanitarian helpers in all the areas of the world where tragedies have taken many thousands of lives. Pray also for those who are suffering the horrors of war, terrorism, famine, and disease. Pray for our leaders in every walk of life, but especially for those who lead us in our Spiritual lives. And of course, Beloved, pray for one another – for each and all of us – that we will always find in one another a sturdy shelter, a priceless treasure, and a life-saving remedy in whom only The Spirit of God dwells.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service, Beloved.at your service, Beloved.
