Where do you LIVE?
“But the Spirit gives LIFE ”
It’s annoyingly easy to become overwhelmed, isn’t it? To get bogged down in all the things we think we should be doing? Meal prepping, deep cleaning, hitting adoration more, serving more, worshipping more, praying the rosary, praying the chaplet, praying all the novenas, praying in general - just to name a few…
Or, conversely, we pile on the pressure about things we SHOULDN’T be doing. Wasting time, spending money, going ham on chips and salsa, scrolling social media, sinning in general, etc...
All of that expectation is OVERWHELMING. We know that by ourselves, we can not do all of those things well. And, truthfully, no one is asking you to, except you. Somewhere along the lines of being a good Christian, most of us fall into the oh-so-common trap - that “having it all together” is king, that “rocking at life” is king. And it’s not. It’s perfectionism, and it gets in our way.
Perfection is not king; Jesus is King.
We need to let the right King be the King! Jesus and the Spirit of God and our Father ARE KING. And we have a really, really good King. He doesn’t want us to be overwhelmed!
The Father wants us to live FREE, to live intimacy.
God offers us life in the Spirit, to get filled up with His Spirit and to live from that place!
We’re invited to live from life in the Spirit.
We get to lay every burden, every question, every care at the foot of the cross. We get to lay everything down before Jesus, our King, and God, our Father. And when we don’t, we get overwhelmed. And that sucks, because, usually,
Overwhelmed = leaning on yourself more than leaning on God.
In the first reading today, Paul talks about the letter and the Spirit. Leaning on your own strength looks a lot like living by the letter - seeing all of the rules and trying to follow them legalistically. But, leaning on God looks a lot like living in the Spirit - growing in intimacy, learning from love, and deepening holiness through calling and close-ness.
If we live by the letter of the law without the Spirit, then we’re missing the point of the law. The letter of the law is not a list of things we avoid because God pulled an, “I said so” and is a major fun-sucker.
The “rules” of our faith, the letters of the law, are meant to protect us, to keep us safe, and to propel us closer to the Father…
SO THAT we can live freely from the Spirit.
Paul says, “The Spirit gives life.” So let’s not be people who simply follow the rules and check items off a list. Let’s be people who function from LIFE. Let’s function from life in the Spirit!
When we live from the Spirit, we don’t need to live by a checklist of things we should and shouldn’t do. We are free to be inspired by what God is offering us. We are free to be transformed by the Spirit that gives life, to live connected.
Sure - there will be times when we are called to push ourselves, to fight for growth in our spiritual life, but it will come from a place of love and calling and deeper desire. Yes, there will be times when we’ll be asked to press into discomfort and to be pruned, but it will be driven by the Spirit - to bring freedom, to bring life!
When we live in the Spirit,
Our best will blossom from a place of love and intimacy with the Father.
I ask - where do you live? Do you live in the Spirit? In the freedom of Christ? In the victory that Jesus purchased for you on the cross? Do you live overwhelmed? Bogged down by the letter of the law without the Spirit of love?
Father,
I ask You to send your Holy Spirit to move in each of us. I pray Your Spirit would transform our hearts and, consequently, our lives. Father, I pray that we will be renewed - that we would be women who don’t just live a legalistic life, but that we would be afresh with the Spirit of God and transformed by Your Holy Spirit. I pray we live deeply connected to You so that we have the courage and the boldness to take up the crosses and dreams and missions You call us to pursue.
Holy Spirit, Advocate, Friend - we invite You.
We need You. Come and move in us.
