Greetings
Yesterday I had an epiphany moment. As living sacrifices, we ought to be living. So let’s consider some aspects of living over the next few days. Although not the primary characteristic of being alive; breathing is one element of all living things. Today’s Holy Nougat helps to put this in perspective.
“Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” Genesis 2:7 NIV
In this excerpt from the second creation story, we get the very clear sense that is humans gained life through God’s breath entering our form. While some may argue the case; we do know that generally speaking, one is dead if not breathing. In recent days, this has been the subject of the war on racism; so many of us are familiar with the sociological and biological process.
From a spiritual perspective, the breath of God poured into humanity on that first day of our existence was not just any breath. It was God’s own Spirit. Just receive that gift of life for a minute – God’s Spirit entering our body, enlivening us! How awesome is that! Should we follow that line of thinking for a bit, we realize that God’s Spirit DWELLS within; it’s just a matter of being conscious.
Consciousness comes when we recognize that God truly is our ‘breath of life’. That we can’t live without God in the inside. Fully inhaled, energizing and sustaining us through the different seasons of life. We breathe God in and allow the toxic elements out. The toxic element can be best understood as sin. As a living sacrifice, we are thus breathing in the Spirit of Life – Eternal Life
We need good breathing habits to ensure the quality of life. Likewise, we need to be careful about what and how we inhale spiritually as this can ruin the quality of our sacrifice. Inhaling toxic fumes of envy, cheating, lying and anger for example might lead us to offering God dead, decayed or dying sacrifices.
Many Eastern religions invite breathing exercises and use them to ‘activate’ spiritual consciousness. That is an offer for recycled spiritually when we already have access to the real deal. And ours comes with abundant and eternal life warranty!
For us, the breathing exercise we truly need is prayer and meditation. Prayer to ask God to activate God’s Spirit already within. And meditation on God’s Word to ensure that our ‘air’ is pure. The rest is obedience to God, which, when exercised daily, reduces our susceptibility to viral infections of sin.
Today, may our lungs be open to a fresh infilling of God’s Spirit!
Breathe!
In Christ’s love and grace . . .
