Picture this: A cool summer evening, and a man standing on a wide-open hillside looking out over a quiet lake. In the distance, an eagle circles while the sun sets over the water. A child approaches and speaks, “Do you want some ketchup?”

The man turns and looks at the child a bit perplexed. Of course the man doesn’t want any ketchup; he doesn’t have any food on which to put the ketchup, nor does he want to stand there holding a bottle of ketchup. He simply tilts his head as he looks down at the child and politely declines the offer, and the child walks away.

Moments later, the smell of grilling food permeates the air. Off in the distance, just over an adjacent hill, a small family has built a fire, preparing a supper of grilled meats, potatoes, and vegetables. The man’s stomach rumbles.

“The New Testament teaching about regeneration is that when a person is hit by his own sense of need, God will put the Holy Spirit into his spirit, and his personal spirit will be energized by the Spirit of the Son of God –“until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19). The moral  miracle of redemption is that God can put a new nature into me through which I can live a totally new life. When I finally reach the edge of my need and know my own limitations, the Jesus says, “Blessed are you” (Matthew 5:11). But I must get to that point. God cannot put into me, the responsible moral person that I am, the nature that was in Jesus Christ unless I am aware of my need for it.” -Oswald Chambers.

We want nothing to do with ketchup until we see our need for it. The idea of needing the Holy Spirit is absolutely ridiculous to the self-sufficient. We must see our need. I read once that God’s most difficult task is to reveal to us our need for more than self. That is what the 4,000 years leading up to Jesus shows us over and over and over again in the Old Testament… Our will may be strong, but they’re not stronger than the One who created us, Praise Jesus that He does not give up on us, but instead, rescues us from ourselves, giving us a New Spirit… His Spirit, an extension of Himself, pure Goodness and Mercy and Love and Justice… untainted by our philosophies and meddling… pure and perfect. 

Stay soft. Allow Him to permeate you and be enough. It is a beautiful day to be His. Amen.