Before You Go

Before you go this weekend, Paul Williams gives you a bluegrass gospel hint about the thing you've just gotta take with you.

Yay, weekend!

I mean, even if you're working, the weekend is a good thing. Weekends leave a lot of people with a lot of time to fill up, and that's good for business, right?

It's the huge amount of dead, empty time that's not so great. With time on our hands, we get anxious on a primal level. Will the weekend be good? Will it fulfill our expectations? Will we impress people with our Monday morning tales of how we spent the weekend? This repressed anxiety dogs us whether it's our job to help others fill up their time, or we're the ones with time on our hands.

This is where bad memories of old-school Christianity kick in for some of you. "Ohhh, brothers and sisters, the weekend is full -- I say, full -- of temptation. The devil is lurking around every corner, in every bar and nightclub, in every glittering dress shop and fancy restaurant. You better stand fast in the Lord, or Satan will claim you for his own."

Bwah hah hah hah!

Reading of the latest "Christian" celebrity rant against big-name sins (Why give specifics? They're all so tiresomely similar.), it occurred to me that most Christians have the facts, but they don't have the truth. See, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba!, Father!'" (Romans 8:14-15)

You're not led by the Spirit of God?

Oooh. That's a problem. See, when God isn't navigating, that anxiety about filling up time comes rushing to the surface. The fun, flirty conversation with your newest admirer gets backup from a chorus of other voices: What if I don't win this person over? What if this person doesn't friend me? What if this person doesn't show up to my next thing? What if this person doesn't buy what I'm selling? What if this person doesn't believe in me?

And you end up doing all kinds of things you wouldn't normally do, don't want to do, have always hated yourself for doing just to win this person over, just to prolong the interaction, just to drown out the voices of those who spend their free time telling you you'll never be good enough.

Planning on going shopping this weekend? When God isn't navigating, that amazing new item isn't just a new item anymore. It's the Holy Grail that's been waiting just for you. If you don't have it, you won't triumph over the person who will be consumed with envy when they see you owning it. You won't be able to forget your humdrum responsibilities for the few hours after you buy it. You won't get that jolt you get when you add to your collection.

And you end up doing all kinds of things you have always hated yourself for doing, things you'll have to worm out of later (say, when next month's bill comes) just to get that new ... whatever. Shoot, you'll probably buy another new whatever just to forget your unpaid bill for another few minutes. Maybe you'll just buy dessert, which carries its own baggage -- or makes you carry it, anyway.

Maybe you read these examples and scoff. That kind of frivolous nonsense is for other people. You may play hard, but you work harder. You're going to clean the house from top to bottom, and woe betide anyone who gets in your way. When God isn't navigating, your daily responsibilities aren't just things to check off your list anymore. They're the way you tell yourself that you're better and cleaner than other, weaker people. They're the only way you show people how much you love them. They're the way you show other, weaker people the only right way to live.

And you end up doing all kinds of things you have always hated yourself for doing, things you'll be ashamed of later (say, when one of those other, weaker people does something that helps you) just to get the house in tip top shape. Then, somebody will relieve themselves of a speck of dust, you'll tamp down your rage over their lack of appreciation for your hard work, and the cycle will start all over again. When you realize that your rage is written all over your face and all through your body language and your tone of voice, you'll probably clean the house again just to get away from the negative self-talk in your head.

Like I said, if you're not being led by the Holy Spirit, you've got a problem, and you're hoarding people, things, admiration, good deeds, and experiences -- anything to distract yourself from dealing with the problem.

Jesus talks about this kind of hoarding in Luke 12:16b-21, "The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."

All the people, things, admiration, good deeds, and experiences you have -- whose will they be? You can guess whose they'll be when you die, you can make a will and hope for the best. But whose will they be tomorrow when people turn away from you to admire the next big thing? Whose will they be when, as things do, they age and deteriorate? Whose will they be when the memory of your experiences fades? Whose will they be when others' memories of your good deeds gets trampled in the daily grind?

Doesn't that scare the liver out of you?

Really? Then why are you so busy telling yourself that you'll just go out and get more people, buy more stuff, earn more admiration, rack up more good deeds, have a new experience?

If that's how you react to the suggestion that the stuff you spend your weekends chasing is going to disappear, you are scared.

What do you do now, dedicate your life to God by sheer force of will?

If you didn't grow up in church, that idea conjures up pictures of media Christians, spewing hatred and demanding that people do things "God's" way.

If you grew up in church, you understand -- if only on a gut level -- that dedicating your life to God by sheer force of will only brings cosmetic changes, and that all your fears and all your baggage come right along with you to this "new life in Christ Jesus". 

Ooookay, now what?

Let's go back to Romans 8:5-6 to find out: "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace."

Peace down the road after we die? Peace that we earn after we've spent our lives being dogged by fear and anxiety, no matter whether we serve ourselves or serve God? Forget that.

I agree, and so does God. "[T]he fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." (Galatians 5:22-23)

With attributes like that, you don't have to worry about whether this weekend is going to bring you what you want and need, because you already have what you want and need. When you exhibit the fruit of the Spirit, people respond to you because they want what you have.

But I want ...

Of course you do. I'm not saying these things to you because I'm some superior being who's transcended the wants and needs of lesser mortals -- not by a long shot. But our wants and needs bring us to the central question of this post: How do we fill this weekend without acting out of fear and doing all those things we've always hated ourselves for doing?

Paul answers it this way, in Romans 12:2, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

Folks, he doesn't mean what is good and acceptable and perfect according to the Almighty's Great Big Book of Rules and Regulations. He means what is good, acceptable, and perfect for your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. He means testing everything you want and need to see whether those things will help you or hurt you in the short run and the long run. He means listening to the Holy Spirit, not some media-fabricated version of God's will for you -- drab, dreary, joyless, critical, punitive, and restrictive.

When you live your life that way, you give in to fear, and "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba!, Father!'"

No worries, right?

"Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!" (II Corinthians 13:5)

"Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil." (I Thessalonians 5:20-22)

Note that Paul says, "Test everything," and not "Go all legalistic on me and do whatever you want as long as there's not a verse in the Bible specifically prohibiting it." When you live your life that way, you give in to fear, and "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba!, Father!'"

Why is it, then, that the prospect of testing everything fills you with fear and negative self-talk?

Because you aren't filled with the Holy Spirit yet. When you have the Holy Spirit, the act of testing everything brings you the fruit of the Spirit -- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

You're not led by the Spirit of God?

Oooh. That's a problem. Thankfully, it's one that God can solve for you. Read yesterday's post to find out how.

And have a good weekend. But, when it comes to the Holy Spirit, as they used to say in American Express commercials, don't leave home without it.

Here's Paul Williams and the Victory Trio with "Holy Ghost Excitement In My Soul".

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