This post will contrast two stories. Both could be considered positive in their own right but the latter caricature has infinitely more depth, fulfillment, and resolve than the first true account. Once more, I’m quoting a story that Matt Kelly tells in his Rhythm of Life book beginning on page 33.
“At different times in our lives, we all need a new perspective.
In the late 1960’s, there was a young man who had a dream of becoming a famous musician. He knew exactly what he wanted, so he left high school and began to play his music wherever people would listen. But as a high school dropout and with little experience, he found it difficult to get work as a musician.
Before too long he found himself playing in small, dirty clubs and bars. Sharing his gift with a handful of drunks night after night become a discouraging habit. This was not his dream. He had dreamed of playing to sellout shows across America and around the world. He had dreamed of seeing his name in lights, of walking down the street and being stopped for autographs, and of having his albums in every music store. He even dreamed one day he would play to a pack baseball stadium – an absurd thought in the late 1960’s.
He had stumbled upon difficult times. Financially he was broke, professionally he was failing, and his only joy in life was the support of his girlfriend. They had so little money that they would sleep in laundromats to save the expense of a hotel. But one day she got sick of being constantly on the road,. This gypsy lifestyle was not her dream either. She had dreamed of being married to a famous musician but was unaware of the hard work it takes to get to the top. It was not the life she had imagined, so she left him.
With his only joy in life gone, he decided to commit suicide. That night the young musician made a halfhearted attempt to end his life by drinking a bottle of furniture polish and a bottle of vodka. The next day very sick, he checked himself into a mental institution.
Less than three weeks later, he checked himself out. He was a new man. He was refreshed, enthusiastic, and excited about life. He was cured. They had not given him any medication, nor was it anything the doctors or nurses had said to him. The other patients had cured him.
They reminded him of how fortunate and gifted he was, and they had shown him how much more life could be. He was given a new perspective on life.
That day, that same young man left the mental institution absolutely resolved to pursue his dream of becoming a famed musician. He was determined to travel and work and do whatever was necessary to achieve his dream.
Three years later, he wrote a song called “Piano Man,” and today almost every person on the planet has heard of Billy Joel. And yes, on June 22 and 23 in 1990, Billy Joel play to sellout crowds of 90,000 people at Yankee Stadium.
Yes, we all need a startling new perspective at least once in our lives. Billy Joel’s experience in the mental institution gave him that new perspective. It is my hope that this book will give you that new perspective, too.”
Now, we’ll switch over to a book by Robert Morris titled “Frequency. Tune In. Hear God.” I was first introduced to both Robert and Frequency before it was even published as Loretta had given me the Frequency seminar four CD set but that is another story. As I was re – listening to the book the past two days, I’ve been touched on two fronts, First, that God really desires to speak to us directly and second, that merely living in check with our conscience as our GPS is woefully archaic spiritually. I’ve not recalled hearing this specific teaching on conscience ever prior, but in all fairness, spiritual attentiveness prior in my life was not one of my attributes.
But before I go into his teaching on conscience, I must conclude what I began with Billy Joel. I contrast Robert’s narrative of God strolling through the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve picking up on page 144 “Every morning and evening, in the cool of the day, God would meet with them. I like to think their time was more than a mere conversation– even though a conversation with God would have been great enough by itself. I think God enjoyed Paradise with them. God enjoyed showing them around the garden. Maybe the three of them even hiked to see a huge waterfall before jumping in for a swim. Perhaps God said “Come on, I’ll show you a herd of elephants.They’re just over the rise. Aren’t they funny with their long trunks and big ears?”
And maybe sometimes their conversations were like those quiet, almost breathless words that can be whispered between a husband and a wife when they are perfectly at peace, lying side by side, holding hands, drifting off to sleep – perfect harmony, perfect intimacy, perfect joy, perfect peace.”
So I offer now for your consideration, where lies the basis for your pursuit, priority and passion in life? Are you settling for merely a new perspective? For Billy Joel, it was certainly a needed and a most unique encounter… Or does your passion resonate in the garden, with real conversation, real communication as with the couple drifting off to sleep – perfect harmony, perfect intimacy, perfect joy and perfect peace.
These two examples are certainly worlds apart!
Now on to quoting Robert on our conscience starting on page 146, “Here is a bold statement: God never intended us to live by the knowledge of good and evil – NEVER. He intended for us to eat from the tree of life. God always chooses life. God didn’t intend for people to need to live by their consciences and continually weigh what’s good and bad. He originally intended people to live by His voice. (Matt 4:4)
Casting doubt on this plan was part of Satan’s original lie. He wanted Adam and Eve to believe that sin was more pleasurable than following God, and he wanted them to doubt the voice of God. Remember how several of Satan’s temptations began with a question: What did God say? Has God truly said…? (Gen 3:1) Satan wanted Adam and Eve to doubt God’s voice. Once Satan got them to doubt God’s voice, then it was easy for them to take the next step and sin. But God wants us to hear his voice, to listen to Him and to rely on hearing and heeding His voice.
God doesn’t want us to live by our consciences, even today. Sometimes our conscience doesn’t agree with God. A conscience can be overactive, prompting a sensitive person to feel condemned, crushed by the weight of sin, even after confession. The best thing a conscience can ever do is tell us what’s good and bad and help bring us to the place of conviction of sin where we know we need Jesus as our Savior. The Holy Spirit picks up the job and brings us to the place of full conviction where we accept our Savior. Then, when Jesus enters our lives, our consciences are cleansed by the blood of Jesus so that we don’t serve God out of dead works. Dead works is how some people try to earn God’s favor. We know sin separates us from God, so we try to work our way back to Him, as if our effort can save us. Mark this carefully: we can never earn our salvation. We can only receive it. But if our consciences have not been cleansed, then we’ll continually work to earn God’s favor.
Hebrews 9:14 is a wonderfully freeing verse: “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” We are free to love Jesus wholeheartedly, to pursue Him with all our hearts, and to serve the living God out of faith, love, and hope (I Thess. 1:3 ). Actually, when we follow Christ, it’s not even our consciences that convict us of right and wrong. That is the job of the Holy Spirit
living inside of us as Jesus said of the Holy Spirit in John 16: 8-11, “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement: Of sin, ,because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father and you see me no more; of judgement, because the ruler of this world is judged.”
Like the voice of a close friend or a spouse, we learn to recognize God’s voice by being with Him and by talking with Him often. God never intended for us to live by our consciences alone, for deciding what’s good and evil or right and wrong. We were created to hear and to respond to the voice of God. I promise you this: when God is our highest priority, pursuit, and passion, we will recognize his voice. And in those times when we don’t hear Him, we just need to trust His silence.”
Blessings as You Go Forth Today Anticipating Drifting Off To Sleep Tonight – In God’s Perfect Harmony, Perfect Intimacy, Perfect Joy and Perfect Peace! Accept No Imitations or Knock-Off’s!! merlin