Firmly Plugged In

this body
composed of mass
and energy
(some intrinsic,
some renewable)
is a powerhouse
limited

it also houses spirit
breath of life
infused by God
and joined to body
to make
me

when I attach to him
his power
charges me
body and soul
with divine energy
with intimations of Eden
with power to act
with him

unplugged 
I peter out

This last week of “vacation” has been the opposite of what I had planned (more time at the lake, deep in the forest, isolated). People have been the theme, back here in Detroit. I can see why the Lord changed my plans and brought me back home, where I could practice hospitality and be a part of many truly meaningful conversations.

Nevertheless I have worked hard at maintaining my focus on lectio divina and contemplation of the Word. Maybe it was because my own energy felt like it could run out that this verse hit me in a new way:

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly– mere infants in Christ. (1 Cor. 3:1 NIV)

The rest of the chapter is about the spiritual immaturity of the Corinthians—they could not handle deep teaching, just “milk” like babies in the faith. This means that “people who live by the Spirit” are mature, spiritually, able to digest hearty spiritual food. Most other English translations call them “spiritual people”. The Greek lexicons explain that these are people who possess the Spirit of God and are influenced by him. The immature ones are those still dominated by the “flesh,” their human nature.

So I take the application, “to live by the Spirit,” and understand the submission to God’s spiritual direction that is required. In the poem above, I had called it having the “power to act with him,” Totally attached to him, it is like being plugged in to the source of energy that motivates me to think and act in alignment with his purposes. I am not petering out, like a watch slowing down as its battery runs low. Instead, attached to him, firmly plugged in, I am being empowered to actually do what he has made me to do, what he is guiding me to do.

He kept me going this week, as he has in other intense periods. He has directed me to do and say some things that had not occurred to me as being in the program for these days. He knew! He brought me here, and made me more alert to his prompting by highlighting those words for me: live by the Spirit.

I urge you, as I urge myself: let’s stay attached to the Source of Life, our Counselor and Comforter! We receive the gracious favor of this intimacy when we give ourselves to him, committed to him as our Rescuer and King. This walk of faith does not stop with just belief in him and in salvation. That is the beginning, the immature baby stage when one needs to be fed simple truth, “milk.” Once we are truly his, attached to him, we can live by the Spirit, constantly growing more mature as he teaches us his deep truths and guides us to accomplish his purposes.

May it be so!