The Blessing of an Unsettled Spirit

My wife and I were watching the Abraham movie this morning – yeah all three hours of it.

It’s the one with Richard Harris and Barbara Hershey if that helps anyone looking for it.

Anyway as I watched it, I noted Abram’s sense of not being satisfied with the gods around him and the status quo, and his quest for something more, found when God called him.  It reminded me that there is a great blessing in having an unsettled spirit.

One of the phrases that often springs to my mind is this one – lulled into a false sense of security.  Despite the bad things happening around, there is a bid to help people into a state where they feel they are safe.  This is usually done by social status and material possessions.  Otherwise ideology can be used to keep people from questioning things to the extent that they might have to do something about it.

My experience has been that this is just as common to find in church circles as outside, perhaps more so.  There’s a narrative that says that since you have Jesus it’s alright and you don’t have to be troubled about anything as long as you jump the five hoops of church holiness – regular church attendance, regular church giving, maintain an appearance of doing the right thing, adhere to church culture norms and don’t rock the boat.

I’m not saying any of those things are bad in themselves, necessarily, but I hope you can see how when put together as pillars of church life they can help individuals in the system to be lulled into that false sense of security.  After all following Jesus and being His disciple isn’t primarily judged on those five pillars.

Thank God, then, for the work of the Holy Spirit that convinces, convicts and converts.  I believe an element in which this work is done is through having an unsettled spirit.  Everything on the surface maybe going swimmingly.  Marriage is sustained, children are well looked after, the church is growing and the job is going well.  Again, however, this is not the definition of a blessed life.  Somewhere deep within there are stirrings of disquiet.

The pursuit for true holiness might be sidestepped for the practical progress happening in the church.  Things might be dealt with superficially but root issues never addressed.  Relationships are not developing because of the busyness of life.  Concern and compassion for the lost, the sick, the homeless, the marginalised is given lip service and nominal service.  God may just be calling you some place else to not become attached to the material settings and deepen faith and trust in Him alone.

Some say the only constant is change and if we’re looking to grow and become conformed to the image of Christ, then there must be a part of that which will not content itself with the routine way of life.  There must be something in there that allows you to look back and see how and where you’ve grown.  That aspect of the work of the Holy Spirit can be seen in the blessing of an unsettled spirit.  It is precisely there to be disruptive so that true order and peace can be established under the headship of Christ – and that might require drastic rearranging of life furniture, or worse still – for us – the complete overhaul of life furniture.

The state of the unsettled spirit is not one that is discontent with the daily provisions of God – but it seeks not to take those for granted. It is aware that the world we live in can never be right until God’s Kingdom is fully established on it and until then there’s always work to do.  Work in personal sanctification, work in mutual edification, work in external service, work in foreign missions, work in family development.  Always work to be done until Jesus come.  Not to say we make ourselves right to God because of the work – but it is to say that because of the completed work on the Cross our act of gratitude is to carry on the work on earth until He comes.

This is just a word of encouragement to you if you do have an unsettled spirit.  If you find that the way you ‘do church’ leaves more to be desired and you want to experience that, there’s nothing wrong with that desire – as long as it leads to following God where you can have those desires met.  If you find that work isn’t working out, there’s nothing wrong with that – as long as it leads to following God where you can have those desires met.

The blessing of the unsettled spirit is that it will truly find its home and settlement in the will and purpose of God for life.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

dmcd