atom splitting in nuclear fission 587169643 5792680a3df78c1734990723Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Romans 8:8-9 (NETFull)

Every Tuesday was bulletin day for our pastor. He tapped out articles on a master stencil in his typewriter and then hand-cranked his worn mimeograph printer. I was aghast at his archaic method and volunteered to set up a word-processing system for him.

It was an act of bravery for someone who grew up with horses and gaslights to take computer lessons. My pastor wrote notes on each step from switching on the machine to printing a document, but his rote learning never allowed him to intuit the programer's logic. Years later, he called me whenever he'd navigated the screen menus into a corner and couldn’t figure out how to get back.

In the same way, disciplining my corrupt mind with rote laws doesn’t keep me out of corners of sin. The change won’t penetrate deep enough for me to understand God or please him. I need his heart and not just the rules. That’s why he made me the new temple of his Spirit. The forgiveness and eternal life offered through Christ are huge but they are only the doorways that make it possible for the Spirit of the Most High to move in and guide me forever.

True faith bubbles up from within. Jesus compared it to yeast, wind, and an artesian fountain but it’s also like nuclear fission. Fission causes an unstoppable chain reaction of splitting atoms. We can no more stop a Spirit-filled believer from sacrificial obedience than we can contain an atom bomb once fission has begun. There will be a joyous, God-pleasing explosion of loving kindness.

Prayer: Come Holy Spirit and burst out from within me.