Holy Spirit Come

Post a guard at my mouth, God, set a watch at the door of my lips. (Psalm 141:3)

Before thermometers were a common thing in every medicine cabinet, parents used to "test" their children for fever by placing their lips on the forehead of the child. It seemed like an odd way to do it since we have seen people repeatedly use their hands laid across the forehead to "evaluate" the feverishness of another. Using one's lips to judge 'fever' was a pretty doggone accurate process! More accurate than the hand. The lips have a great many "sensitivity" receptors which allow them to be pretty accurate at interpreting what touches them. The "sensitivity" receptors of our lips should actually work both ways - affected by what leaves our mouths, and by what touches it! Maybe this is why our psalmist prayed for God to post a guard at his mouth - the entry and exit point for many a good or bad thing in his life! He is actually probably asking God to "tune up" his "sensitivity" to what both enters and leaves. I think we all need to pray this prayer at times. We need to "increase" the "sensitivity" of our lips - not just so we "feel" things better, but so we are able to evaluate things with more "receptors".

Two of the top areas of "sensitivity receptors" in our bodies are the lips and the fingertips. My mom suffered from having lost the feeling in her fingertips, not to mention her vision, so was it any wonder she used her lips to assist her in identifying something she may not have been sure about? The little candy wrappers with the twisted ends were a challenge for her. She used to put the first end in her lips and then pulls with the fingers of one hand. In turn, she managed to open it. She had "adapted" to using what remained consistently "sensitive" even when her other nerve endings failed her. Did you know your brain has dedicated more area to receiving the messages from your "sensitivity receptors" on your lips and from your fingertips than any other "receptor" area of your body? This means we have dedicated more "brain power" to interpreting the sensations from those two types of "receptors" than any other. Sometimes I think we rely solely upon our "brain power" to do the interpreting of what it is we are receiving and sending out. I learned a little song a long time ago. It goes something like this:

"Holy Spirit come. Make my ears to hear, my eyes to see, my mouth to speak, my hands to reach, and my heart to reach out and touch the world with your love."

I wish I could give credit for these lyrics, but I honestly don't even remember the title of the song, much less the author. These words have stuck with me in good times and bad. They have been sung over and over as I rely upon God doing just what these words imply - making me more sensitive to the things I need to be sensitive to and less sensitive to the other stuff. We all have "sensitivity" receptors in our lives. One of the purposes of these receptors in our physical bodies is to keep us from harm. The receptors actually warn us to things like hot, cold, bitter, or sweet. In a spiritual sense, we have been given similar "sensitivity" receptors in areas such as our emotions, mind, and spirit. It is good to post a watch over these in order to avoid undue injury. Without being aware of what "comes" and "goes" in our lives, we would be opened to all kinds of harmful stuff.

A couple of these "sensitivity" receptors God has given to us in a spiritual sense might not be evident at first, but they are there nonetheless. Maybe we hear words with a little "twang of jealousy" spoken. Our "ear" receptors have the ability to "filter out" the words to see the real intent of the one speaking them - to divide, to disgrace, or to destroy. Our "heart" receptors have an ability to reject or accept the words spoken - but first the "ear" receptors must do their job! If only one set of our receptors is working, we have a skewed perception. It is good to use the "sensitivity" receptors of our lips to judge how well the other receptors are working in our lives. What comes "out" of our mouth is a good indicator of how well the other "receptors" are doing at protecting us from harmful input. When our ears have filtered out destructive input, our words are likely to reflect back words of grace to the one who spoke with the "twang of jealousy". When our hearts have not succumb to the emotional roller-coaster of latching onto the emotion behind the words heard, our speech will likely reveal words of forgiveness, not judgment. The truth of the matter is - we need our "sensitivity receptors" to be touched by the Holy Spirit. Once we become familiar with the "sensation" created by his touch, we will not be as susceptible to allowing other things past the "receptors" of our ears, eyes, mouth, heart, or hands! Just sayin!

What's that filter for?

I am going to issue a challenge this morning - just a little one to ask each of us to consider something we may not have really considered before. How would others describe you? Who would they say you are? Would they describe you by your title, such as a great pastor, a good teacher, a talented musician? Would they describe you as the one who is aloof, too sensitive, or kind of timid? Would they say you were the one always bragging about your greatest accomplishments? There are lots of ways to describe someone, aren't there? Yet, the toughest thing to ask someone is to be genuine about who they really think we are! It might not be as comfortable as we'd like to think!

When Jesus arrived in the villages of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “What are people saying about who the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some think he is John the Baptizer, some say Elijah, some Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” He pressed them, “And how about you? Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:13-15 MSG)

How others see you is important. Who they see you as in "reality" is very revealing - maybe a little too revealing! Quite some time ago, I realized I was putting up a good front in life - always showing others what I was comfortable allowing them to see about me. I never wanted them to know the 'real me', maybe because I wasn't very proud of some of the things I struggled with, such as my temper, my fears, or my insecurities. Many times we want the closeness of a 'real relationship', but we don't know how to get to the point of actually allowing others to see us. Maybe we really need to take a lesson from Jesus here - people will see us through various filters - because they somehow apply those filters to help there own true selves from being seen by others!

Jesus ask who others say he is and he receives a variety of answers, doesn't he? Some see him as the one prophesied about so long ago - the one who would 'precede' the coming deliverer of their nation. Others see him as a great prophet, while others see him as a religious zealot kind of bent on dividing a nation. It is amazing that all these people could see the exact same life lived out in front of them and then come to such different conclusions about who he is. They witnessed his miracles and some said he was a prophet, while others said he was of the devil. They saw his humble beginnings, born the son of a carpenter, and viewed him as unable to truly understand or teach scripture, yet he was 'spot on' each time he shared any of the Old Testament truths with them.

Others see us through filters - the filters that help them, not necessarily us. Filters are meant to block something out. We use a filter in our coffee pots because none of us likes to chew our coffee! We use filters in our air and heating units so dust is captured and not recirculated through the air. We use a filter in our dryers because lint isn't becoming on our clothing. Filters remove something that is definitely there, but we don't necessarily want to deal with. We don't want the grinds in our coffee, nor the dust or pollen in our air. We don't want these things - so we create filters to block them from 'getting at us'. In reality, whenever we 'filter' our lives, we are just saying we are trying to keep others from dealing with the unpleasant stuff in us that really is there, but we aren't comfortable having anyone else deal with it other than us!

Since we apply filters in our own lives, we often 'apply' those filters in the lives of others, seeing them as we have 'filtered' them to be. This may not really help us in the long run because it could just be the things that are filtered out are really the things we need others to help us deal with and remove for good! Jesus didn't apply filters - he lived openly and he saw others in the same way he lived his life. Maybe it is time for us to do the same. Just sayin!