Whenever I write I often wrestle with a conscious choice; a choice about making something so long that it puts people off of reading it, or making it so short that it makes little impact.

Don’t get me wrong, I know, truly believe and accept that sometimes long writings are necessary to convey needed detail, and I also know that writings can be extremely short and have a strong impact also. “Quality over quantity” seems to be the answer. Quantity does not necessarily equal quality, although it certainly can be required for quality.

Anyone gone cross-eyed yet?

This dilemma brings me back to that same old statement that keeps coming out of my mouth, the one which maybe some get tired of hearing: Following the Spirit’s guidance is the only answer that works. This is yet another one of those truths that Jesus said He (the Holy Spirit) would lead you into (John 16:13).

One of the things we struggle with in raising Isaac is his choices. There is nothing unusual about this, this pretty much sums up parenting in one sentence. Teaching them to make good choices is hard, basically you are teaching them the difference between a logical choice that is the result of solid reasoning and an impulsive choice that is the result of emotion and fleshly characteristics such as pride, jealousy and lust.

However, with our youngest son, we come to this subject: his neuro-divergence; the ways in which his brain works differently to most. Kids can be driven and get stuck in emotion, but in Isaac’s case the part of his brain that provides logical reasoning literally shuts off and disconnects when he experiences strong emotions. Reasoning him out of this state is pointless; the reason center is currently switched off. Threatening consequences doesn’t work; processing choices requires reasoning. Getting frustrated and angry as a result of what is currently going on with him is a destructive loop also; anger in us produces even more emotion in him. See the problem? Somehow, the only way out is to calm yourself down so that you can reflect that same calm back to him to the point where the reasoning center boots back up. This is hard.

After another episode last night, followed by lots of frustration and prayer, this morning I asked him to grab his bible and come sit with us.

“Would you please turn to Ezekiel 36 with me?”, after a little determined searching and gentle guidance he found it. Next, I told him about Israel and how they were taken into exile for their adultery towards God and how God raised up Ezekiel to speak to them on His behalf. I pointed him to verse 24 and read through verse 27 to him:

“For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.“

What I wanted to teach him was that, in the promise of this Messianic prophecy, Jesus was able to turn a hard heart that won’t change into a soft one that could be molded.

Once this softening has taken place though and God’s Spirit is in us to guide and sanctify, we still have something to do:

Ephesians 4:17-32 NIV

[17] So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.

Sounds like an instruction to me, what do you think? The “thinking of the Gentiles” is futile, in other words, it doesn’t achieve what is needed. In modern day speak, we must stop thinking the way the world does. Romans 12:2 anyone?

[18] They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. [19] Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

Their understanding is “deprived of light” or you could say “deprived of God” because their hearts are hard and unable to be reshaped.

They are unable to feel the things that grieve God, they are unaffected, they have chosen indulgence in what pleases the carnal mind instead.

[20] That, however, is not the way of life you learned [21] when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.

You’ve been taught something better, and according to verse 17 it requires a conscious choice.

[22] You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; [23] to be made new in the attitude of your minds; [24] and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

And here’s the conscious choice and the action it calls for:

• “to put off your old self“, you must CHOOSE to constantly reject your old ways.
• “to put on the new self“, you must “seek the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).
• This isn’t something we are able to do ourselves without the Spirit, but it isn’t passive either. You must choose to empty out the soda bottle so that it can be filled with something better. Like so many of the things of God, it requires us to STEP OUT OF THE WAY!

[25] Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. [26] “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,

“In your anger do not sin“, don’t let emotion lead straight to action; when emotion appears take it captive and use it as input to your Spirit-Led thinking instead.

[27] and do not give the devil a foothold.

This is what happens when we let emotion lead straight to action: The devil gets a foothold.

[28] Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need. [29] Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Pretty straight-forward advice. “unwholesome talk“, gossip, slander, crudeness, words that tear down… etc.

[30] And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

As a parent I am grieved when my children don’t follow good advice and the good things I have taught them, we grieve the Holy Spirit in the same way.

[31] Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
[32] Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Once we have given our lives to Christ as a living sacrifice, we don’t just take our golden ticket to heaven and sit down and wait for the bus. This kind of thinking implies the possibility that we bought a blue light special that’s a cheap knock-off, a fake.

We open our Bibles and take heed of the instructions therein.

Manuals are there to ensure that we don’t break the product it came in the box with, and to help us achieve what the product was sold for.

Our Christian life is no different.

Read the manual.