A Corpse Dressed in a Tuxedo

"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will {your} heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?" (Luke 11:13)

My bride and I recently participated in a “Noble Partners” marriage seminar that gave us some great new tools to use in our relationship. There is, however, a hidden and very serious danger in discovering new tools for personal growth. If we use them to improve our natural man, then we are just putting new clothes on a dead man. The real value of these tools is only manifest as we die to pride, lust, and self-centeredness. Our new man or identity in Christ is defined by our yielding and empowering by the Holy Spirit.

When we hear some great new idea about things like “creating a safe environment”, “courageous conversations” or “the power of one”, we will be tempted to use these tools to manipulate the other person. We will naturally tend to think, “I can do this if I set my mind to it.” But, in Luke 11, is a serious warning that our “self” reform will create a spiritual vacuum which will eventually lead to a collapse that leaves us in an even worse state than where we started.

Our starting place must be at the cross as we admit our total inability to have genuine love, right attitudes, and moral strength to properly handle these tools. Only as we die to hidden agendas to fulfill self-centered desires to gratify our need for security, admiration, or lust and begin to genuinely love others can we begin to experience the incredible power of these tools. Genuine love for others is only possible in the Holy Spirit and any manifestation of it in our life will reveal God to others. The good news is that God is generous to His children. If we sincerely desire and ask for His Holy Spirit in any circumstance or relationship, He will joyfully give Him to us. Let’s stop dressing up a corpse with a tuxedo and plead for new power to give genuine love into our marriage, family and world.

Project:
Spend a little time alone to:

* Sincerely repent of wrong motives for right actions.
* Ask for God’s Holy Spirit in some specific situation or relationship issue.