Responding Rather Than Reacting

Proverbs 16:2

All a person’s ways seem pure to them,
    but motives are weighed by the Lord.

I read this Proverb and I am struck by the simplicity of it, yet….the question seems larger than the Proverb. When we are trying so hard to “get it right” and we feel that we are operating out of a pure hea t- and we aren’t -what hope do we have in “getting it right”? Yes, we need a Savior, but…how does this translate into my every day, my moment by moment?

We could all approach the same situation with a different perspective.  Each one of us has a lens, or a filter, that we view life through. This lens is formed day by day, experience by experience, and it shapes how we view our world. It molds into our relationships and into our reactions.  Every situation we encounter is filtered through this lens as the sum total of our experiences on earth.

The lens that we filter through can’t always be trusted.  As an example, our lens can be one of a victim and all situations that filter in will be seen through the standpoint of a victim. The lens can be one of jealousy, and all information processed will be through that filter, and processed according to the filter’s impression of the event in question.  

We try to walk out this Christian walk and we try to do the best we can, but our reactions keep tripping us up. We are in the same old reaction before we even have a chance to sit up and look around.

Let’s think about responding, rather than reacting. Let’s think about slowing down and allowing the Lord in to test the motives of our heart.  The Holy Spirit is guide and counselor, when we invite Holy Spirit into our filter- we can see clearer- without the shadow of our own experiences clouding our view. To hold our tongues and our temper and to seek His ways.   The Holy Spirit is not a prankster that wants to trip us up – He is our Holy Spirit- one third of our triune God.   The Holy Spirit was promised to us by Jesus and He is:

The Spirit of truth and omforter:

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; He is the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it does not see Him, neither do they know Him: but you know him; for he dwells with you, and shall be in you. (John 14:16-17)

He will guide us, in spite of our filters, into the deeper mysteries and ways of God:

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹ For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. ¹³ This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 1 Corinthians 2:10-13

My original question is answered through this reflection. We do need a Savior, and our Savior has given us the Holy Spirit to abide within us.  When we slow down and respond to what is being thrown at us, we have a chance to allow the Holy Spirit to direct our thoughts and our plans.  We invite the mysteries of God into our everyday experiences and allow Him to shine through.

Let’s pray together:

Holy Spirit, we invite you into our everyday circumstances, we invite you into our ordinary- to teach us truth and the mysteries of God in our everyday interactions.  We bow our hearts and our wills with a Holy Obedience to the ordinary