Often I think of how this water will one day find its way to the ocean. I like to imagine the journey from stream to river over waterfall into the ocean.
This morning I was reading 1 Peter 1 & 2 "…who have been chosen …through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience…" I always enjoy the reality of being chosen by God. Who doesn't want to be chosen?? It is even better when paired with the concept that He (the Spirit) is working hard at my obedience and my sanctification.
Somehow I find myself forgetting I am chosen and wandering into the idea that it is my hard work that will get me sanctified. It is a sneaky forgetting…a quick silent wandering away from truth that snags me. I don't recognize it fast and I seem to "slip" into a lie that I have to do the work, forgetting that He already decided I was His and He already sent the Spirit to guide me into obedience.
Water just runs to the ocean. It does not work hard…it is simply in its nature to find the lowest point and rush there. Given time it will naturally journey to the ocean. I wonder today how much more peace I could live in if I trusted the work of the Spirit and the choosing of God? If I recognized that I am just like the water…rolling, falling, running towards the ocean not because it is my nature but because He chooses me and He leads me…He sanctifies me.
The truth of His choosing and His working can release me to be at peace and to trust. The reality of His active work sets me free to cooperate with Him.
When it is about Him I believe Jeanne Guyon who tells me that I am to rest in His spiritual torrents of love. I can relax as He draws me ever onward towards the oceans of His presence. It is not about my work but about His work.
I did not choose me.
I do not sanctify me.
I rest and I rush.
May you relax in His choosing today. May you rest in His working. May you find yourself in the torrents of His love running down the hills and rushing over the cliffs of life towards His presence.
May you rest and rush today!
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