God's Story, Your Story by Max Lucado

Author:Max Lucado [Lucado, Max; Matlock, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-310-72547-3
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2011-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

When God’s Spirit directs us, we actually “keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). He is the drum major; we are the marching band. He is the sergeant; we are the platoon. He directs and leads; we obey and follow. Not always that easy, is it? We tend to go our own way.

Some time ago I purchased a new cartridge for my computer printer. But when I used it, no letters appeared on the page. It was half an hour before I noticed the thin strip of tape covering the outlet of the cartridge. There was plenty of ink, but until the tape was removed, no impression could be made.

Is there anything in your life that needs to be removed? Any impediment to the impression of God’s Spirit? We can grieve the Spirit with our angry words (Ephesians 4:29–30; Isaiah 63:10) and resist the Spirit in our disobedience (Acts 7:51). We can test or conspire against the Spirit in our plottings (Acts 5:9). We can even quench the Spirit by having no regard for God’s teachings. “Never damp the fire of the Spirit, and never despise what is spoken in the name of the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 5:19–20 Phillips).

Here is something that helps me stay in step with the Spirit. We know that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23 NASB). God’s Spirit creates and distributes these characteristics. They are indicators on my spiritual dashboard. So, whenever I sense them, I know I am walking in the Spirit. Whenever I lack them, I know I am out of step with the Spirit.

I sensed his corrective pull just yesterday at a Sunday service. A dear woman stopped me as I was entering the church building. She didn’t agree with a comment I had made in a sermon the week before and wanted to express her opinion… in the foyer… in a loud voice… ten minutes prior to the service.

What’s more, she pressed the nerve of my pet peeve. “Other people feel the same way.” Grrr. Who are these “other people"? How many “other people” are there? And why, for crying out loud, don’t “other people” come and talk to me?

By now it was time for the service to begin. I was more in a mood to bear hunt than to preach. I couldn’t get my mind off the woman and the “other people.” I drove home from the morning service beneath a cloud. Rather than love, joy, peace, and patience, I felt anger, frustration, and impatience. I was completely out of step with the Spirit. And I had a choice. I could march to my own beat, or I could get back in rhythm. I knew what to do.

I made the phone call. “I didn’t feel like we quite finished the conversation we began in the foyer,” I told her. So we did. And over the next fifteen minutes, we discovered that our differences were based on a misunderstanding, and I learned that the “other people” consisted of her and her husband, and he was really okay.

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