When I warn you Be careful what you want, I am really
warning myself. When you progress
spiritually, you want others to make the progress you think you have made. You can become so enthusiastic that you
actually do the devil’s work rather than God’s.
This is a common marker of a
soul that is newly converted to Christ.
As a soul is rescued from the chasm that once separated it from its
deepest desire to enjoy intimacy and belonging to the God of the universe, it
can become overly enthusiastic to the point of being arrogant and
dogmatic. This is an understandable
experience, and with slight direction from a spiritually mature person can be
channeled. It’s the mature soul who
wants truth to transform lives that can become a nuisance. Teresa of Avila explains it this way:
At the beginning of
the spiritual life a common temptation is for us to want everyone else to be
extremely spiritual. It is not wrong to
want this, but it may not be right to try to make it happen. …I discovered this
for myself. When I attempted to induce
others to pray, they would listen to what I had to say. When they then observed that I, the great
practitioner of prayer, lacked certain virtues, they would be led astray.
In our efforts to follow Christ
and see Him transform the lives of others, it is vital to look to Him and
follow His leadership style. His style
is to live out the truth perfectly and rely on the presence of God in the souls
of men and women to connect to His teaching and follow His ways. I can’t live out the truth perfectly, but I
can ask the Holy Spirit to help me in this area. I can keep my hands out of the souls of men
and women I want to live holier and spiritually healthier lives and, like
Jesus, trust that my work is done. When
I attempt to go too far and meddle in souls, I end up doing the devil’s work.
That is why I say to myself and to you: Be
careful what you want. It is good to
want souls to come to the love, joy and peace of experiencing a deeper
connection to God. It is not so good to
want to fix what you see is wrong. The
best way to fix this problem and find balance is to remember the words of Jesus
in Matthew 7:1-6: Do not
judge, or you too will be judged.
For in the
same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it
will be measured to you. Why do you look
at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank
in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, Let me
take the speck out of your eye, when all the time there is a plank in your own
eye? You
hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see
clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Do not give dogs what is
sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them
under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
You and I have enough sin in our
own souls to keep us occupied. Jesus
gives this advice to show us how to protect our souls. Too much meddling and you will end up being
trampled and torn to pieces. Teresa of
Avila gives some great practical advice: Try
to focus on the best in others and the worst in ourselves. This will blind us to their defects. Eventually, we may even think of them as
better than ourselves. Now that is
advice that will transform a soul—your own—and isn’t that what you really want?
Copyright
© 2013. Deborah R. Newman www.teatimeforyoursoul.com All Rights Reserved.
Comments
Post a Comment