Christian Living

FRI., DEC. 26, 1986, 9:42 AM
ABACO, BAHAMAS, SILVERWIND

One of your proper goals for this earth life is to live it in as Christian a way as possible. Now remember that this isn’t exactly the same as a spiritual way. That distinction and the delineation of each should make for a good Teaching on this drip-drip morning.

A Christian life has a strong element of spirit to it. The essence is that God has created you, has affirmed His love and concern through the life, death and resurrection of His Son (and Himself), and has unleashed Me, the Holy Spirit, into the earth to teach, to counsel, and to help in the affairs of people, especially those who call upon Me. There are many other spirits around and about in the earth, all part of My creation. To know all this, accept it, and live with this as fundamental truth is the foundation of Christian living.

However, life in the earth is physically tangible, requires use of the intellect, is potentially full of and affected by emotions, and is lived, normally, in social relations with others, some of whom are Christian and some not. This is not a mistake or a failure on My part. The well-developed spirit does not oppose these other dimensions, but unifies, balances, and coordinates them, facilitating your functioning as a whole, full person. Occasionally I still call some Christians to withdraw from “earthly” matters, but this is for some special purpose. Most of you are called to live your life “fully in the midst.”

Mostly this means that the Christian life will have the effect of a catalyst. It will be a life of joy. It will be characterized by service in as many ways as possible. It will be a life of love… love that be felt and expressed as coming from relationship with Me, the Holy Spirit. Paul described this in a good way, telling you that love is kind and gentle, does not seek its own way, is forgiving, is appreciative… and that it never fails.

You heard a sermon recently that spoke to the relationship between love and charity. Charity is giving, whether or not the recipient deserves what is given. Love means giving, and should be extended to those, even, who are not attractive to you. Unconditional love is charity. It is easiest when you can truly see others as creations of God, loved fully by Me. That isn’t often easy.

Probably the hardest aspect of the Christian life (for it never can be finally resolved) is the conflict between the keeping of standards of conduct (which are sometimes quite high), most of which I introduced or “ratified” as being important… and the feeling and expression of unconditional love. If you hold too firmly to the standards it is very difficult to love the one who falls short, and can’t or won’t improve. If you love, and accept others because of that love, you seem to be condoning all of their worst behaviors, and you can be rejected by other Christians for such disregard of the Lord’s teachings. Each extreme is important, so there must be eternal (well, relatively) balancing.