Teachings

FRI., AUG. 12, 1988, 6:18 AM
FARM, STUDY

As you have composed this current Ruminations it has been a time of reviewing Teachings and being impressed, yet again, by the scope of these written meditations. The latest challenge to their validity (are they really what they are purported to be?) is presented in a friendly fashion by one who likes you but is honestly skeptical. Your reaction has not been severe. After this number of years you simply feel the truth of this process, and one skeptical comment is not going to counter this continuing experience.

Why these Teachings? They are a spiritual discipline for you, and every person who is drawn toward Me, through spiritual development, needs one or more means of discipline that encourage more growth. Some people pray regularly. You don’t. Some people read My Word regularly, even studying it with focused attention. You do this very seldom. Some folks keep the Sabbath with much more dedication than you do. You were not looking for a spiritual discipline, but I knew you would respond to this invitation.

You have about the right mixture of orthodoxy and freedom in Christ to attempt and accomplish this discipline. I had to make it difficult enough to stimulate growth but easy enough so that you would continue. I have provided the balance between Teachings that are personal and those that deal with current issues or Biblical themes. You obviously have to know something about the topic, for this is not to be an example of My capacity to do miraculous, magical tricks. You are not a prophet to whom I give messages about matters unknown to you. You are a teacher, and I am helping you with your own spiritual development and with materials that can be useful in helping others.

So, yes, they do provide you with up-dates on My thinking about ancient issues and insights into My judgments on “modern” issues. I am a Teacher, and I want you, and other humans, to learn and to know some of what I know. I am interested in many of the issues about which you teach, and I am especially interested in having spirit accepted as a part of the healthy individual, even in secular interpretations. Your natural interests were developing in this direction, so I invited Myself in as a partner. And you have accepted Me. We are working together to reestablish the spiritual as a legitimate dimension of what most people call health.

Why you? Why not? Given My nature as revealed most fully (but not completely fully) in Jesus, the Christ, it is not possible to predict whom I would choose for such a task. I choose whom I choose. I don’t have to explain or defend My choices. I could say you were potentially as good as any other “candidate.” I would prefer to say that I knew you would be perfect for the task. Your writing style is unique but still quite communicative. Your professional standing was just about what I wanted.

Another reason… I like to experiment. There’s not much written about Me, the Holy Spirit, in the Scriptures. But if I came as wind and fire I certainly shouldn’t be seen as a stodgy conformist. Some of My experiments fail, because they are true experiments. I do not force what I want to happen, and what I wanted to happen, didn’t. I have leaned on you a bit more than I normally do, but you have responded well. This is a good result of a spiritual experiment.

And, of course, I have done this in the spirit of fun. Despite what I’ve said, you are an unlikely selection, doing an unlikely thing in your culture. It’s fun. I enjoy it. And you should, too. Say, honestly, that you continue to do these writing meditations because you can feel the spirit of fun that I exude, which does not, in any way, negate the seriousness of many of the themes. “This is just the Holy Spirit having fun.” It isn’t Biblical, but it should be. There’s an element of fun in most everything I do.