11 February 2015 - don't leave me breathless

Hear me, all of you, and understand.
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;
but the things that come out from within are what defile.

It isn't the existence of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which is the problem. There are many external factors that may be in play. The fruit might look shiny and delicious. We might be genetically predisposed to want that sort of fruit. Circumstances may leave us hungry and this fruit may seem like the best and easiest choice. But "everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile". So what is it about this fruit toward which we seem inexorably pulled? It seems that eating it will defile us, because "the moment you eat from it you are surely doomed to die." Yet it cannot be that the fruit is evil in itself. 

It is "what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him." It is in the choice that we are defiled. From within our hearts come disobedience to the order the LORD God gives us. It is at the deepest level that we choose to decide for ourselves what is good and evil over and against the reality God gives us. Everything that the LORD makes is good. But we choose lesser things and exult them over the more precious. In unchastity and adultery we choose pleasure over persons. In theft, envy, and greed, we choose material possessions over others. Property and pleasure are good, to be sure. But they are lesser goods!

God breaths the breath of life into our nostrils and tells us to cultivate and care for the world. But we are not to do so apart from his plan for it. He is not only the source and origin of all things but he is the one who sustains them. Only in accordance with his divine plan can creation thrive and flourish.

If you take away their breath, they perish
and return to their dust.

It is Jesus himself who holds everything together. "And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together" (cf. Col. 1:17). We must love him and put him first if we want all things to work together for our good (cf. Rom. 8:28).

Yet we do choose the lesser good. We do it all the time. We choose the more immediate over the more sustainable. We choose the quick pleasure over that which will allow us to thrive. What are we to do? We sympathize with Paul:

For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? (cf. Rom. 7:22-24).

Yet the psalmist knows that even if we hold back from the sustainer of the world and his breath is withdrawn from us we may hope to breath it again.

When you send forth your spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.

We need his Spirit to renew us. All that defiles us can be washed away by his power. We need to take Paul's advice to Timothy. He tells us, "I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands" (cf. 2 Tim. 1:6). The Spirit is not only the origin of our new life but he makes it possible to live it from day to day. But only if we live in reference to him. We are content with warm embers but the Christian life is only possible if he continues to burn as a flame. This is true because we believe that "if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies" (cf. Rom. 8:11).

We must live with the Spirit as our main point of reference, our guiding star, and the deepest basis for our decisions. This is only possible if we nourish our relationship with him through prayer. This is what it means to fan the flame. When we do this we let go our imagined right to decide good and evil for ourselves.  Rather than snatching apparent good things for ourselves we are able to trust in God to provide the good things he has for us.

All creatures look to you
to give them food in due time.
When you give it to them, they gather it;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.

With this attitude we cannot help but say, "O bless the Lord, my soul!"