My friend, Asif, is right when he says we that need to nurture a ‘spirited faith’ rather than ‘doctrinaire beliefs’ if we are ever going to recover the radical compassion of Jesus and practice Jesus’ Be-Attitudes like the Good Samaritan.

Jesus said there is always a mystery about the way the Spirit breathes vitality into our lives.

Sometimes it comes screaming into our lives like a storm in a gale, rattling through the valley of dry bones at the bottom of our souls.

However, probably most times it comes with a whisper on a zephyr of wind that gusts so gently that we scarcely notice it speaking a still small word into our subconscious minds.

Jesus said no-one really knows how or when or where it will come. He said ”The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going” (Jn 3:8).

However, Jesus said, the one thing that is necessary, is to be open to it when it does come – so we can make the most of the opportunity we have to be “born again of the Spirit “.(Jn 3.8)

Jesus told his disciples about the role of the Spirit in his life.

He said it was not duty or obligation or rules and regulations, but the Spirit that was at the heart of The Be-Attitudes he embodied. (Lk 4:18). He set the disciples an example of how to practice the Be-Attitudes, and encouraged them to practice the Be-Attitudes themselves, but said that unless they were energized by the Spirit there was just no way that they would be able to sustain the life of radical nonviolent sacrificial compassion that the Be-Attitudes required.

So, not surprisingly, the last thing Jesus told his disciples before he left was not to go anywhere until they were ‘filled with the Spirit’. He said that sooner or later, the day would come when they would all be ‘immersed’ in the Spirit; and if they were empty and open and receptive, and created a hospitable space in their hearts, then when they were ‘immersed’ in the Spirit, they would naturally be filled in the ‘Spirit’.(Acts1.4)

Dave Andrews

From Hey, Be And See (Authentic)