Radical Enough: March 22

You are in the spirit. You have the power of the holy spirit dwelling inside of you. You have the resurrection power of Jesus Christ in your heart and in your life right now. Not just sometime in the future, but right now, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is dwelling within you. Put aside that inward focus. Put aside the ego and the flesh, and ask where is God calling me to be right now? Where is the power of the spirit leading me today? [00:37:46] (59 seconds)  #InTheSpiritNow

Paul is saying, stop and examine your life. Examine how you're living. You have the spirit. Don't just look inside. Don't just consider, am I safe? Am I alright? But am I living in a way that impacts and influences and makes it easier for my neighbor to be safe? Am I living in a way that makes it easier for my neighbor to know that they are loved? Am I living in a way that spreads life and peace to everyone that I meet, not just to me? [00:28:59] (34 seconds)  #LoveYourNeighbor

The spirit of life and peace, the spirit of the resurrection of Jesus Christ asks us and tells us the same thing. Remember who you are. Remember whose you are. It's not enough to just have the sense of tranquility about my little life right now. We are called to be a people of peace, a people working in this world for transformation, a people spreading the resurrection power of Jesus Christ to everyone that we meet. [00:35:53] (45 seconds)  #PeopleOfPeace

Often, focus on Lent as just what is happening inside of me. But Lent also asks us, what am I doing in the world? How am I helping the world be transformed in the image of Christ? How am I spreading the love of God to everyone? How am I empowered by the Holy Spirit, emboldened by the resurrection power of Jesus Christ right now, expanding my view, facing the hard questions, facing the hard things, putting down the things that are expected, and picking up the joy, the life, and the peace of Jesus Christ. [00:36:37] (58 seconds)  #LentInAction

But that's what this is what Paul's getting at. This is what Paul means when he says, the flesh is death, but to live in the spirit is life and peace. It's a orientation. The flesh that Paul's talking about is our own ego, our own inward focus. How am I safe? How am I comfortable? How does this affect me? How does this impact me without a consideration for those around us, for those in our community, for those whom God also cares for? [00:28:19] (41 seconds)  #ChooseSpiritNotFlesh

When we talk about the flesh, when we talk about ego, when we talk about being self centered, we're talking about having a sense of envy, a sense of jealousy. When we look at our neighbors and go, well, they have this. Therefore, I should have this. When we look at our neighbors and we go, well, why can't I? This self centeredness is only really considers other people when we're comparing ourselves to them and saying, I want what they have. How can I get it? [00:30:31] (43 seconds)  #OvercomeEnvy

To break out of just looking at ourselves, to break out of this idea that the best safety is what's safe for me. Instead, say that the best safety, the best life, the best comfort, the best love is what's best for all of us. Salvation has a social and a present significance more than an individual and future one. [00:33:36] (38 seconds)  #SalvationIsSocial

When Paul says the spirit is life and peace and you are in the spirit, Paul is saying that to live in God, to live in the Holy Spirit is to have this deep, deep abiding wholeness, this deep enjoyment of life that puts aside the concerns of the flesh, that puts aside these concerns of our egos, that puts aside these kind of self centered understandings of the world. [00:29:49] (42 seconds)  #AbidingWholeness