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Scripture ~ I Thessalonians 5.23-24 (REB)
May God himself, the God of peace, make you holy through and through, and keep you sound in spirit, soul and body, free of any fault when our Lord Jesus Christ comes. He who calls you keeps faith; he will do it.
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God, through the Spirit of Holiness, wants to do a work in our lives that we cannot do ourselves. If we could do it, such would not be a work of God. So a good prayer is, “God, do in and with me what I can not and could never do apart from you.”
The passage for today speaks of such a wonder that we could never alone accomplish. Therefore, Paul refers to the agency as “God himself, the God of peace” and “He who calls you keeps faith; he will do it.”
What is this God will do? Make us “holy through and through,” keeping us sound, or whole, in “spirit, soul and body,” and “free of any fault.”
From psychology we know that there are depths to our character and motives untouched by consciousness. Grace touches these depths and purifies them, even without our conscious awareness, and turns them progressively toward the Light and Way of Christ.
Contemplation is relinquishing conscious effort in prayer to relax into the mysterious operations of Grace. The Silence is not a vacuity; rather, it is abandonment full of trust that the Divine transforms who we are in our whole beings: spirit, soul, and body.
Spirit, soul, and body speak of the subtle to the material aspects of our being. Contemplation exposes our whole being to the consecrating and purifying work of the Holy Spirit.
Of great import here is that contemplation is not an escape from the flesh. Contemplation entails exposure of the body to the transforming, sanctifying, and deifying inspirations of the light of the Living Word.
What is an evidence of this transformation of the whole self? The consecration shows itself in a change in aspirations. Slowly, we find ourselves less attracted to what we were attracted to, and many of our previous attractions come to lose all influence upon us.
This consecration does not apply only to what we might call harmful or sin. The Spirit transforms our affections so that we begin to lose interest in good things that were once our enjoyment. We begin to will to fill time and energy investing matters of finer quality and more important value.
I will give one example. Imagine a man who spends weekends watching sports. Watching sports is not wrong. Still, through contemplation he comes to desire something better. He wills to spend time with his wife and children more on weekends. He reduces time before the television. Soon, he aspires for the weekend to arrive so to enjoy time at home or away with family. Finally, that there is a game does not interest him. He might like to hear the scores, but his heart sways not from being fully present with family. He may even come to wish he had sooner realized choosing this family time over sports time was a much better and more enjoyable use of his life. His family becomes stronger, not because husband and dad quit a sin but because his affection turned toward a more noble, healthy, and loving choice.
This Thessalonians passage is remarkable in affirmation of the mysterious and thorough action of the Holy Spirit in our lives. So remarkable is it, Oswald T. Chambers wrote of it: “We should more frequently allow our minds to meditate on these great, massive truths of God.” Yes, indeed, let us soak our minds meditating on such sublime truths! Amen.
Suggested Reflections
1. How has your affections been changed over time through your walk with Jesus Christ? Point out one area this has been the case.
2. Do you sense God leading you from a good thing to invest time, attention, and energy in a nobler manner?
The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God,
and the Communion of the Holy Spirit
be with you. Amen.
*My book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love , can be ordered on-line through major booksellers or at most bookstores. For orders directly from me, write to brian7777@earthlink.net .
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