The Teacher Within
There is only one great spiritual teacher – the Holy Spirit living in the heart of the student. This understanding is the key to becoming a true mentor in the lives of others. We strengthen the well-being of others when we repeatedly lead them back to that Teacher who lives in their heart.
Have you ever noticed how Jesus taught? The tone of His teaching wasn’t, “I am going to tell you what I know.” More often He acted as if His listeners already knew the truth. He had a gracious way of including us in the truth He taught. He would say things like, “which of you doesn’t already know this” or “do you not know?” or “you already know the truth, but I’ll remind you.”
It’s not that He addressed the scholarly. He often spoke to the common man, to whom the scriptures weren’t readily available for study. I believe Jesus used this approach to remind us that God’s truth is written on our heart and within the very fabric of His creation. He didn’t flaunt His knowledge, position or authority. Instead, He dignified His Father and His creatures by pointing us to the source of all true knowing… Christ in us. He reminded us “be still and know” what we already inherently know. His teaching style was intentionally reinforcing His kingdom reality!
Positions of authority are valid, essential, and ordained by God; but the most fertile use of authority is for the growth and empowerment of those who are under it. Anything less weakens the body of Christ by fostering a dependency on man instead of God.
Effective teachers and mentors multiply True Authority by remaining equal with all men. In so doing, each is elevated to their full stature in Christ, He alone is glorified, and all men are drawn to Him.
Asking for Trust
Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Matthew 6:33 (NKJV)
If the kingdom of God is within me then His righteousness is also found in me. I look inwardly and find the mystery divine – Christ in me, as me – and then I trust Him for the rightness of thought, purpose, and action in everything that follows. To trust Him is to proclaim no ability but His. Not too long ago, I thought to ask for wisdom (it served Solomon well) but instead my heart cried out for greater trust. With greater trust came a greater awareness of union. To trust God with increasing intensity is to dismiss the notion of separation altogether. If I trust God, then “I” am not a threat on any level. The “me” that I thought was my own roadblock is taken down by trust. This higher trust is destroying the illusion of a defective (yet somehow responsible) Susan.
Thoughts of independence and self-reliance (even those hidden in misused words like ‘responsibility’) diminish trust. After all, if change depends on me then I have every reason to doubt. In truth, I cannot do anything until I’m abandoned to the truth that God is in full, total, and complete control. Unlimited trust becomes synonymous with union awareness. There is no separate “me” to depend on, trust in, or to expect something from; there’s no “me” to mess it up or get it right. I didn’t know it but when I pressed into the issues of trust I touched a life that was more real than ever before. Trust is the most authentic evidence of relationship. It is the fruit of union – the manifestation of His Person and Kingdom within. Each trusting step removes a little more old self-clutter from my view.
As I trust, my own opinions fall away. The release of mindsets can be painful but it always brings me a step closer to freedom. Trusting God as the all in all (trusting His authorship in all things) erases the old perceptions. The temporal is fading, but through union I am at home in His permanence. I am led to that which never changes within me – that which is already perfect, finished, and spotless. My requests meld in conformity to His will and they bring me to full agreement with all that He is in me.
Fear of the illusory self is gone when I trust God as my action. Introspection and analytic thinking fade. Hurt, anger, offense, insult, betrayal, loss, insecurity, and a myriad of other feelings are merely fear in disguise. The enemy distracts me with an offense to keep me from seeing the lack of trust therein. I lose the fear that forms the offense when I keep all things in God and accept all things as coming from His hand. Trust has become a bridge and it is closing the gap in my understanding. Truly, there is nothing to do, only something to see…and even that depends on Him. He who began the good work is faithful to complete it…
Balance
Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them— obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Romans 8:5-6 (TMB)
When I start thinking it’s up to me to make something happen I get obsessed with measuring my own moral muscle. I am now repeatedly instructed to trust His action within me. Without a doubt, obsession with self in these matters has proven to be a dead end. I am learning to rest by letting go of the fixation of trying to figure out what’s going on and the compulsion to try to keep things in “balance.” Christ is balancing the scales of my life as I watch without judgment. There is an ease of movement found within grace and it is thereby that I am led into the wide open spaces of free living. I wait and expect his movement in me to be fully recognizable. I see Him even as He moves through others. Am I frustrated? Yes. Do I feel destroyed? Yes. Does it hurt? Yes. But do I trust Him? YES! Yes, I do.