At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

–Luke 10:21-22 (TNIV)

Notice the strong trinitarian focus here: God working as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to effect his good will and purposes. Jesus is reminding us that we don’t seek the Father, but rather that the Father seeks us, and that the necessary prerequisite is humility.

Jesus is not telling us to be anti-intellectual or not to use our minds. After all, he is the one who tells us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30)! Rather, he is reminding us that knowledge and learning tend to puff us up and make us think we are more important and smarter than we really are.

As John reminds us in his letter, we love because God loved us first (1 John 4:19). Do you have the necessary humility to know that God is God and you are not?

Today I continue to feature more from the writings of John Wesley, this week’s featured Anglican theologian and writer. See my post on Monday for more information about Wesley. All three excerpts deal with God working in us at various levels. Enjoy

The Holy Ghost so works upon the soul by his immediate influence and by a strong though inexplicable operation, that the stormy wind and troubled waves subside, and there is a sweet calm; the heart resting as in the arms of Jesus and the sinner being clearly satisfied that God is reconciled, that all his “iniquities are forgiven, and his sins covered.”

—Sermon, The Witness of the Spirit

And this:

If the Spirit of God does really testify that we are children of God, the immediate consequence will be the fruit of the Spirit, even “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, temperance.” And however this fruit may be clouded for a while during the time of strong temptation, so that it does not appear to the tempted person while “Satan is sifting him as wheat,” yet the substantial part of it remains, even under the thickest cloud…when we have once received this “Spirit of adoption,” that “peace which passes all understanding” and which expels all painful doubt and fear will “keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” And when this has brought forth its genuine fruit, all inward and outward holiness, it is undoubtedly the will of him that calleth us to give us always what he has once given. So that there is no need that we should ever more be deprived of either the testimony of God’s Spirit or the testimony of our own, the consciousness of our walking in all righteousness and true holiness.

—Sermon, The Witness of the Spirit

And this:

This then is the salvation which is through faith, even in the present world: a salvation from sin, and the consequences of sin, both often expressed in the word justification; which taken in the largest sense, implies a deliverance from guilt and punishment, by the atonement of Christ actually applied to the soul of the sinner now believing on him, and a deliverance from the whole body of sin, through Christ formed in his heart. So that he who is thus justified, or saved by faith, is indeed born again.

—Sermon, Salvation by Faith

Grant Thy servants, O God, to be set on fire with Thy Spirit, strengthened by Thy power, illuminated by Thy splendor, filled with Thy grace, and to go forward by Thine aid. Give them, O Lord, a right faith, perfect love, true humility. Grant, O Lord, that there may be in us simple affection, brave patience, persevering obedience, perpetual peace, a pure mind, a right and honest heart, a good will, a holy conscience, spiritual strength, a life unspotted and unblamable; and after having finished our course, may we be enabled happily to enter into Thy kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

—Old Gallican Sacramentary

If you are really praying, you can’t help but have critical questions about the great problems the world is grappling with, and you can’t get rid of the idea that a conversion is not only necessary for yourself and your neighbor, but for the entire human community. This conversion of the world means a “turning-around,” a revolution, which can lead to renewal.

–Henri Nouwen, With Open Hands