Don't hammer that screw

If you ever have a hard time understanding some spiritual truth, or truth in general, you aren't alone. There are hundreds and hundreds of us in the same boat! We are always on the lookout for the next scam these days, simply because the untrue has become so prevalent. We find it has become insanely easy to sway people into buying a product, or in believing we mean the best for them if they will just give us a little bit of their time and money. The truth is in there somewhere most of the time, but we just have a really hard time seeing it. No, Microsoft has not employed hundreds of people to call our homes from unknown numbers to tell us they have detected something terribly wrong in our computer because of messages it has been sending them! No, the IRS is not about to issue a warrant for our arrest for tax fraud. No, the city of New York is not in possession of warrants for outstanding crimes we have committed and we don't need to contact the 'unknown' caller to pay those fines! These are scams. The truth is there, though  -  someone wants our identification, access to our personal information, and/or our money! That is the truth! Truth might attempt to evade us, but we have something to help us uncover it - the Spirit of Christ within!

The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can’t receive the gifts of God’s Spirit. There’s no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit—God’s Spirit and our spirits in open communion. Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God’s Spirit is doing, and can’t be judged by unspiritual critics. Isaiah’s question, “Is there anyone around who knows God’s Spirit, anyone who knows what he is doing?” has been answered: Christ knows, and we have Christ’s Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:14 MSG)

Capacity for truth is all we need. Capacity is created when the stuff that no longer needs to occupy space is removed. Believing all manner of untruth only takes up valuable space that truth is just waiting in the wings to occupy! The moment we invite Christ into our lives, there is an open invitation for his Spirit to begin to uncover those pieces of untruth we have embraced and that continue to bombard us for 'space' in our lives. The task then becomes the letting go of those pieces of untruth or the resistance we apply to keeping them out in the first place! Spirit is known by spirit. We need a lot of help in this matter because we find it a whole lot easier to just accept stuff and not put it to the test, my friends. The more capacity (room) we create for truth, the more we will be on solid footing in our lives. Truth isn't just 'nice stuff' - it sets us on solid ground and helps to guide our actions so they produce right outcomes. Christ knows we need this 'solid footing', but he also knows we sometimes need to understand where the 'footing' has not been laid quite correctly. 

One of things I think we resist a little is letting go of what we have come to trust in, although faulty and a little less than reliable at times, whatever it is 'works' at least some of the time, so we hold onto it. We don't want to release it for the total truth because we already have a 'workable solution' to some issue in life. Let me just say I can hammer in a screw if all I have is a hammer, but the threads of that screw aren't meant to be 'driven in' with the force of a hammer. The 'bite' really is firmest when the screw is pushed in with the circular motion that follows the direction of the threads! The threads make a bite into the wood and then there is a connection that is smaller and firmer than if we had hammered it in. The hammer caused the screw's threads to create a much larger hole than intended, leaving the 'connection' much less secure than it should be. The hammer accomplished the work, but not one that will last the test of time and trial!

When we let go of what works some of the time for what will work time after time into eternity, we are making wise solutions. When we empty out to be filled, we are operating in wisdom, for we know God intends to pour in his spiritual truth wherever there is 'capacity' created. Just sayin!