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Conceived by the Spirit

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Matthew 1:19-20 And her [promised] husband Joseph, being a just and upright man and not willing to expose her publicly and to shame and disgrace her, decided to repudiate and dismiss (divorce) her quietly and secretly. 20 But as he was thinking this over, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary [as] your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of (from, out of) the Holy Spirit.

A drunk husband snuck up the stairs quietly. He looked in the bathroom mirror and bandaged the bumps and bruises he’d received in a fight earlier that night. He then proceeded to climb into bed, smiling at the thought that he’d pulled one over on his wife. When morning came, he opened his eyes and there stood his wife. “You were drunk last night weren’t you!” “No, honey.” “Well, if you weren’t, then who put all the band-aids on the bathroom mirror?”

I was in a School of Life meeting with Brad McClendon who said something quite profound and astounding: The spirit of this world find’s fault. The Spirit of God seeks God – seeks life, and we are living in the wrong realm if all we see is the nakedness and sin of others. In Genesis 3:10-11 the Lord says something profound (as He always does): He said, I heard the sound of You [walking] in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.11 And He said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat? Satan often tells us we are naked, less than, shameful, and unworthy. He seeks to expose and condemn us. He is the negative voice seeking to mimic the only Voice we should tune in to and turn to. When we look for what’s wrong, crooked, or dirty in others – that’s our focus – we are eating of satan’s fruit: experiential knowledge of good and evil. We use ourselves as the plumb line; the sum total of all that is good. We want to pull up the tares in others lives failing to realize that often we are tearing down the wheat growing right alongside of it. If all we are looking for are tares in other people – that’s all we will ever see in ourselves. But if we are looking for the Pearl of Great Price the tares will seem unimportant. We will end up spending time trying to get rid of the tares rather than spending time with the One Who sows the good seed.

But that which is “conceived by the Spirit” isn’t willing to expose, shame, and disgrace others. Having the Father’s heart we seek to clothe people’s nakedness. Joseph “covered” Mary of what the people of her village – family, friends, neighbors, strangers – called sin. Joseph married her. He was wed to the Spirit and the Word. His focus wasn’t on what people called sin. His focus wasn’t on telling Mary she was “naked”. He chose to eat the fruit of Life rejecting the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. As Peter tells us in 1 Peter 4:8, “love covers a multitude of sins“. Not that Mary had committed sin, and neither had the Godhead. Sin is all about missing the Mark – God’s Perfection. Often man misunderstands and misses God’s Perfect Love because of fear. Perfect Love drives out fear. Perfect Love sows good seed, and from it Jesus is birthed and manifested.

What kind of seed are you sowing? Is what’s conceived in you of the Spirit or of the spirit of this world?

Is Ignorance Innocence?

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Robert Browning once wrote “Ignorance is not innocence but sin.“

In the book of Nehemiah an incident is recorded regarding the ignorance of the children of Israel and the Feast of Tabernacles. A remnant of Jews had returned to the Promised Land of Israel after being in Babylonian captivity only to discover that they had ignored the commandments, instructions, and teachings of the Lord. Once Ezra, the priest, began reading from the Law – the first five books of Moses (meaning instruction, or teaching) – and its hearers understood, they immediately responded in compliance and obedience. Ignorance did not imply innocence, nor excuse their guilt and sin. The good news was that 70 years of exile had done its work in changing the way they thought about sin. The bad news? Many died in Babylonian captivity never having changed their minds, or lifestyle.

Nehemiah 8:13-18 Now on the second day the heads of the fathers’ houses of all the people, with the priests and Levites, were gathered to Ezra the scribe, in order to understand the words of the Law. And they found written in the Law, which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month, and that they should announce and proclaim in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the mountain, and bring olive branches, branches of oil trees, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.” Then the people went out and brought them and made themselves booths, each one on the roof of his house, or in their courtyards or the courts of the house of God, and in the open square of the Water Gate and in the open square of the Gate of Ephraim. So the whole assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and sat under the booths; for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun until that day the children of Israel had not done so. And there was very great gladness. Also day by day, from the first day until the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day there was a sacred assembly, according to the prescribed manner.

In a song titled “The Lumber Song,” by Eli, the lyrics describe a man who had lived his life in ignorance finally dying and arriving in Heaven for his eternal reward. Peter guides the newly arrived citizen of heaven to his “mansion” only to discover it is a shack. The man replies, “How can this be?” and Peter replies, “That’s all the lumber you sent.”

The symbolic meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles is clear, What materials are you using that are of eternal value? Ignorance is not innocence – it is sin (missing the mark). Is your life missing the mark or are you learning to fix your mind on things above, not on the things of this earth?

The Pharaoh, Akhenaten, led Egypt in Religious revolution, when he proposed there was only one God. During his spiritual reform he wrote: True wisdom is less presuming than folly. The wise man doubteth often, and changeth his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubteth not; he knoweth all things but his own ignorance.