GodReflection:
It must be my age. A concept that continues to surface in my mind is that of The Holy Presence. On the one hand I’ve put in sufficient years to note we live life within various community arrangements such as church, family, friends, work, school, clubs, and recreational groups to name a few.
On the other hand, I know that the Jesus walk isn’t compartmentalized. We humans specialize in category creation. We love to divide and label the secular from the sacred. We tend to segregate religious life from workweek life. Mistakenly, we elevate the duties of evangelist, ministers, pastors, and missionaries as sacred work and demote the tasks of plumbers, engineers, teachers, and doctors to secular positions. But just where does Holy Presence fit?
This morning I noticed as I finished the Book of Ezra and started the Book of Nehemiah, that one served God as a priest and scholar, while the other served God as a builder-contractor. Both lived every day and night of the weeks and months in the story on a God assigned task to refocus a people on The Holy and to reconstruct a city.
The priest-scholar and the builder-contractor worked equally and simultaneously in the Holy Presence. Unlike these Old Testament accounts, we tend to categorize some activities as “God-things” that we segregate from “real life.” So, here we are, back to where we started. What is Holy Presence, and do I ever leave it? Isn’t all of Sunday through Saturday Holy Space?
God didn’t place me on this beautiful earth with the intent that I avoid His creation and all the wonder it has to offer. He surely wants me to enjoy the gifts and abilities of my human siblings.
Sports, arts, knowledge acquisition, and diverse personalities of friends and acquaintances are all gifts from God. To take in oceans, mountains or grand urban architecture provide Holy experiences.
To live life in the Holy Presence is a sunrise-to-sunrise proposition. The Holy Presence is an around the clock reality that saturates the walk of all who follows the Master, even as we deal with those who seem oblivious to His Holy Presence. Jesus loves each person who crosses our path just as He loves us.
However, within the Holy Presence important life limits (margins) play a role. As I walk, I want to avoid any temptation to follow Satan’s path that he always disguises as an easier road. Instead, as we live in the Holy Presence, we are drawn to what the apostle Paul writes to Jesus-followers in the Ephesian church.
Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity. (Ephesians 5:1-2 and 15-16.)
So, while I enjoy my walk on God’s earth, I want to be conscious of the Holy Presence. Although, not always successful, purposefully, I attempt to live my life in rhythm with the heart of Jesus. The more we are conscious of His presence and this life within that presence, the more His priories will cause us to set the structural daily margins of our walk.
To live within the Holy Presence causes me to grow in my focus upon the Holy. The way I treat my wife and my children reflects how much I let the Holy Presence engulf me. The way I treat the employees at my local grocery market reflects whether God reigns on the throne of my life.
Is it too simplistic to say life in the all-encompassing Holy Presence is to walk in the way of love (Ephesians 5:1) as I go about the daily encounters of my week? And by learning to make wise choices to walk in the way of love doesn’t that move our hearts more in the direction of the Holy? Isn’t that what it means to live life within the Holy Presence. What would you add to help me reach a greater awareness and a richer understanding of The Holy Presence?
Stay tuned.
Dr. Gary J. Sorrells
A GodReflection on Reflections on Life Within The Holy Presence.
God Reflection 