The Simple and the Sublime
The Simple and the Sublime
The Biblical examples of deliverance for children are simple. One parent persistently asked Jesus to deliver his/her child and He did. Boom!
When Jesus sent the disciples out, they cast out demons in His Name. Matt 10: 9-14, Luke 9:1, 49-55; Acts 19:13; Matt 12;27; Luke 10:1-23; John 10:22-42. Their only training was spending time with Jesus, listening to Him, watching Him, developing a relationship with Him that resulted in their increasing faith and confidence in Him and His powerful Name.
Beginnings and the basics of Christianity are simple: Trust in the Lord and you shall be saved; lay hands on the sick and they will recover; cast out demons in My Name; give and it shall be given to you. These are not complicated instructions, and they are fully powerful because of the Holy Spirit of God. They do not require advanced degrees or great study or even lots of maturity. A child can do these things! We must remember and keep to the simplicity of the Gospel. Spiritual power, authority, and effectiveness depends on God and our following Him. It does not depend on your own intelligence, spiritual maturity, wisdom, etc. If you lean on your own abilities, you can have some success, but you run the risk of ending up in the category of the successful, whom God tells at the time of Judgement, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” Matt 7:21-23.
Once we are firmly on the path of following Jesus, walking with Him becomes an adventure - the greatest adventure! Proverbs 25:2 (NASB) says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter. The NLT puts it this way: “It is God’s privilege to conceal things and the king’s privilege is to discover them.” Followers of Jesus are called, “kings and priests.” Romans 12:1-2; Rev. 1:6. We are kings (and queens!) and we get the privilege of discovering God’s hidden treasures.
Ephesians 3:10 (NLT) says, “God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display His wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”
God uses the Church to display His multi-faceted, manifold, many varied Wisdom to the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. I love this! God uses us to demonstrate His wisdom to powers and principalities. Mind-blowing!
This is the sublime.
Sublime (Merriam-Webster)
a: lofty, grand, or exalted in thought, expression, or manner
b: of outstanding spiritual, intellectual, or moral worth
c: tending to inspire awe usually because of elevated quality (as of beauty, nobility, or grandeur) or transcendent excellence
Four of the Spirits of God are: Wisdom, Knowledge, Counsel, and Understanding.
God has revealed much wisdom, knowledge, counsel, and understanding to His people over the years, and we can avail ourselves of it, while continuing to pursue, dive in, and discover for ourselves the hidden mysteries of God.
This is not in contradiction to the simplicity that God calls us to. We get to enjoy and rest in the simplicity of following God, while also enjoying and pursuing His sublime treasures!
