I can if I want to.

The question is - why do I want to?

Ya know what I'm saying? The MOTIVE of my heart! Ugh!!! so not good so many times! And in that knee jerk frustration REACTION of my skin, and bone, and muscle I want to scream, "OK! BUT I CAN IF I REALLY WANT TO!"

Indeed. I can. But I don't. Not that I don't want to...I SO DO! But there's a part of me that would never fully enjoy that choice.

'"I have the right to do anything", you say - but not everything is beneficial.' I Corinthians 6:12

How amazing to me that you and I - who love Jesus - are indwelt by His Spirit that leads us! There's no law that is scripted out that says, "THOU SHALT NOT..." for every little thing that crosses my path or yours. And even if there were, we'd talk ourselves around the issue any way, wouldn't we? Sure we would! So then, there's no law list - there's the Spirit of the Living God thriving in our soul! Our Father - who whispers to us lovingly what is for our good - and what is not. Which freaks me out entirely! How can I type that without going, "What did I just say?" I couldn't type it, read it, believe it - were it not for a thousand countless moments of realizing it were true. Waking up to the voice of our God in my heart, directing me to live for Him, and not for my "I CAN IF I WANT TO" ideas, is incredulous - and yet the greatest reality I have ever known.

You know what I'm saying, right? And it's not even that the "I CAN IF I WANT TO" stuff is sin, so much as it is not for our - intimate relationship with God - good. I have these kind of directions for my own children, and so I relate to them with my God.

My children are mine. I love them, speak to them, guide them, instruct them, correct them, specifically and individually according to who they are as my own; how I know them, see them, hear them, understand them, protect them, provide for them, and hope for them. My relationship to them is unique - set apart - from other children...because they are mine, and because I know them. I do not speak to other children as I do my own - nor do I have the same expectations of other children. My children know what I have said to them, how I love them, and that we have a bond that cannot be broken. They respond to me because of that.

And in the same light - my relationship to my son - is different than my relation ship to my daughter. They are unique to me - and so is my love to them. Same momma - same heart - different expression of that heart to each child; - not in everything, but in some things... One likes to be hugged. The other likes to have a back scratch. One likes to spend time talking doing very little. The other likes to spend time with me doing lots, talking little. One likes to play. The other likes to do crafts. One has a physical aversion to dairy. The other does not. Both like ice cream. Yeah! I know! Different children - same momma seeking to love them well, so that they KNOW they are loved.

This is just a fumbling of words to express the intimacy of God's Spirit in us. Morning by morning we seek His Word - His guidance - His voice - His heart - His plans. He speaks to all of us, and although there are many directions that are consistent for each of us, by His instruction  - some directions are not. The hand has different instructions from the foot, the heart has different instruction from the brain, and the eye has different instruction from the ear. The same head is over all, but the instructions, guidance, provision, and the relationship to each is completely unique.

I wrap my heart around this picture to understand then what it means when I read, "You shall be named the priests of the Lord, (men) shall call you the servants of our God." Isaiah 61:1

I have to question? Me ,God? Is this a direction to me, to all of us who follow you? Or is this something specific to the tribe of Levi, per say - or to Jesus? WHO is this instruction given to? And what does that look like if it is to me?

The word "priest" takes me on a journey with God through His Word. And I land, most comfortably, with peace, and yet still - at full attention...on this verse "As you come to Him, the LIVING STONE, rejected by humand beings but chosen by God and precious to Him - you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."
I Peter 2:4

We are called to be a royal priesthood. I am stirred and yet I need to be still. What is that to look like in me? I can't look to you for that answer, nor can you look to me. We must look to our God who is the One who calls some to build arks, others to move to a place they do not know; some to missions across the ocean, others to serve the widow next door. Each of us is directed by ONE God, so that together with One voice we can bring Him glory.

"I can if I want to" sounds very small and arrogant, doesn't it?  There is more to us than what we can do if we want to. There is the Living God in us - Who, although He CAN if He wants to a million times over - He did not - and still does not - and never will - so that we can know a new and better and living Way.

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10 "The temple of God is holy, which temple you are." I Cor. 3:17