SUBLIME OR DIVINE

One would assume with “spiritual maturity” that you would be talking about someone who actually was able to tell the things of God from the things of man. I wish spiritual maturity meant you were more astute in terms of what God inspired and what he didn’t, but I’m not sure that is always the case.

Which for me brings up the issue of what really is divine or spiritual. A simple definition might be that something that is spiritual is related to anything to do with the spirit. Or anything conversely not related to this world or the flesh.

But spiritual by that definition doesn’t necessarily related to being define. A feeling can seem like it is spiritual because it is peaceful or serene, yet it might not have anything to do with God.

Perhaps to me the major difference has to do with where does that experience point in terms of its source? Doe a given feeling so sublime lead one to more awareness of Jesus as lord and savior or bring attention to oneself?

It is hard, admittedly, to recognize the source when exposed for the first time to some emotionally overwhelming experience of which the soul bears witness. There is just something truly indescribably numbing in a special way when one is touched on the spiritual plain and never been touched there before.

And within any soul the same repository of sensations exists. It just isn’t always the Lord who inspires and touches. The devil can weave a deception too.

Again I think the most critical element is to ask the basic question, does this sublime sensation truly bring me closer to the Lord and his truth? Sometimes people become so enamored with the experience they never even ask that question.

It might be a sensation that is glorious and full of what one thinks is genuine light, but one’s spirit is skewed by the distraction of the moment. Basically one doesn’t see God, he or she sees the sensation as the pivotal instrument of revelation.

God works signs in our lives to point to him. Man conjures signs to point to his ego! We are not and never will be the center of the universe, spiritual or otherwise.

With a true moment of sublime sensation where God is the author is that the self gets blotted out by his divine light. You simply don’t think of yourself in such situations and get totally caught up by an awareness of his reality. That is the truest form of joy because no thoughts of ME will taint the intended revelation.

It is to serve as a catalyst of faith. A pinprick of enlightenment which fuels the passion of trust far more than to simply give us bragging rights at the next fellowship session. Seeing with the real eyes of God’s inspiration grants a vision beyond the consuming horizon of our own self-serving world.