I like to do these silly exercises where I ‘train’ my brain and my senses. One of them being I would rather have the entire place dark or eyes closed and I’d try to navigate my way through a room or my bag or closet by memory of the position of things or relying on smell, touch or sound to find something. If you haven’t already caught on, I’m quite a strange fellow. I like to use the word interesting but we know it’s strange. Around midnight one night, I was looking for something in a section of my closet in dark and as I passed my hands through the clothes I’d say to myself what particular item or clothing I was touching. I was getting them right and very pleased with myself. After tossing things around and making a mess, I still couldn’t find what I was looking for. I decided to give up the sense training and put on the lights which was only an arm’s reach away. When I did, I found the thing lying right in the front and I had missed it. The Holy Spirit drew my attention to a couple of things from that experience and that’s what I’d be sharing today. 

Before I go into the things He shared with me, I just want to mention that the Holy Spirit is interested in every little detail of your life. He’s interested in you, how you function, what’s on your mind or heart. He will use any opportunity to teach you something new, you just need to be sensitive enough to His voice and His promptings. He loves to talk with you (original Kasapole). He loves to have your questions answered and your doubts cleared. He loves to keep you company. The Holy Spirit is simply the best teacher you’d ever have. Life is so much simpler with Him! I really don’t know how I tried to do life without Him. Most of the times, pride won’t let me act on His prompting right away (we are working on it) but He remains patient with me. People think of Him as some strict headmaster who comes to restrict us, scold us and lay out a gazillion rules we need to follow. I know this because I used to be one of those people but that’s so far from the truth. Yes, He will rebuke us when necessary, remind us of what’s right, He’d correct us or instruct us but where the Spirit of God is LORD, there is so much liberty! (2 Corinthians 3:17) There is so much room for total expression as we are being transformed into the image of Christ.

First thing He brought to my attention was the fact that many of us are like me in that scenario. Leaving the lights off and passing our hands through the clothes while making a mess looking for something we can only find with the lights on. We tend to forget that we are in this world but not of it. We call ourselves Christians, people of a new race, people of the the kingdom of Christ but we still try to squeeze in the ‘pleasures’ of this world. The world is in the dark and we are right in there with them. We are relying on our ‘senses’ like I was, to navigate through this world when we need to be relying on God through faith. We are living life out of memory and not out of inspiration. We remind ourselves of how it worked for someone before us or how it’s working for someone now and we follow suit. Just like I was pleased with myself being able to identify my clothes in dark, we are pleased with the worldly things we are finding or achieving. What hit me hard was when He asked me if I was fulfilled after being able to identify the items and clothes like I wanted to, my answer was no! No, I wasn’t fulfilled because yes I was acing my ‘sense test’ but what would that matter if I couldn’t find the very thing I was looking for. Sounds familiar right? 

We are in this world and being distracted by it. We are congratulating ourselves on passing a mark or accomplishing things the world deems important or necessary but are we fulfilled? I think not! Why? Because just like me in that scenario where I couldn’t find the thing I was looking for despite the milestone I passed being able to identify other items, we are excelling in a lot of areas and making ‘names’ for ourselves and reaching heights the world will applaud but we will only be truly fulfilled and content when we set to do the very thing we were sent here to do. The very thing we were built for, the very thing where all our strengths, weaknesses, gifts and struggles make faith. What was the point of being excited about being able to identify everything else except the one thing that sent me on that journey? 

Another thing He brought my attention to was the fact that many of us would rather struggle on our own, we would rather trust in our own abilities, strengths and have things turn over and be all messy. Then, we run to turn on the light once we’ve exhausted our options and drained ourselves. The same way I trusted in my own senses to find what I was looking for when the lights were right there the whole time whereas the light would have saved me a whole lot of time and a whole lot of energy. Jesus is our light (John 8:12) and He makes things easier and paths clearer. He’s right there hoping we realize our folly and just come to him to direct us to the truth. He’s hoping we’d realize that we will never be fulfilled or satisfied on this journey without Him. Yes, we will accomplish seemingly great things, we will wow ourselves even but we will still be left craving something that only Him can give. Jesus isn’t one of the ways to true contentment, He is the only way. There is nothing good outside the will of God, for every good and perfect gift is from Him (James 1:17).

Also, because I chose to lean on my own understanding, I made a mess out of the closet (one that I would have to clean up soon) and all this I could have avoided if I had just hit the lights. This is us! Through our lives, we choose to do things our way or well the worlds’ way. We choose to trust in the wisdom of the world and then we later decide to turn on the lights; invite Jesus to step in. Jesus can easily put your life back in order and restore things back to you. He can easily lift you up from the miry clay, set your feet upon a solid rock and secure your steps from then on (Psalm 40:2), but now you have to go through healing process to give and receive forgiveness of the mess you made, receive His forgiveness of the people you hurt and decisions you made on your path in the dark. I always say the easiest thing is for God to forgive you, but can you forgive you? Yes, you can alright, it would take time. Meanwhile, all this could have been avoided if you just surrendered your life wholly to the King of Glory. It’s like going on a journey you’ve never been before with your GPS off with the excuse of ‘how hard can it be to find?” I’d just follow the signs on the road’ or ‘I’d just follow people who seem to be headed there as well’ then after getting lost a couple of times and wasting time, you decide to turn on the GPS to use when you could have just done that right in the beginning.

Don’t cry out to God only when you’ve tried to do life on your own and failed. Don’t turn to the light only after you’ve made a load of mess being in the dark too long. Don’t lean on your own understanding when you’ve not seen the bigger picture as He has. Don’t be me! Don’t be so stuck on proving some thing to yourself that you stay on the wrong path for a long time. Don’t let pride keep you on the wrong path because of how far you’ve gone. Don’t be so lost in chasing after the pleasures of this world to miss your purpose and come to the end of your life unfulfilled and craving something only Christ could satisfy. Seek Him while He can be found and call on Him while He’s still near. (Isaiah 55:6)  

Turn the lights on!