The Spirit of Ought

One of the perks of pastoring has been hanging out with senior citizens. Some of my favorite New Year’s Eve nights were spent partying with the senior citizens at Hugoton Baptist Church. “Unhanging” the greens and then playing cards and dominos was a great way to ring in a New Year. Of course, there was the year one of my favorite ladies threatened to become Methodist if the pastor didn’t behave! Ironically, a few years later she married a retired Methodist minister! He was a wonderful man and he taught her pastor and I some beautiful lessons about ministry. One of the truths he shared with our adult Sunday school one morning that I will never forget was what he titled “The Spirit of Ought“.

The following were the key verses in our lesson that morning.

“So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires.” (Galatians 5:16 & 17 NLT)

“Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”

Here was his simple explanation of listening to the Spirit. He said it’s the voice in your head that says “you ought to do this and you ought not to do that”. He went on to say how many times in his ministry he had heard the Spirit of Ought say go see this one or witness to that one, give money to this one or pray for that one. I love that because I know that voice. It often speaks to me and says things like you ought not say that!

Sometimes I fear we like the Galatians make things of the Spirit too complicated. Like them we try to make ourselves right by keeping a set of rules of Christian behavior. Don’t get me wrong, I understand there are rules of behavior. In the same chapter of Galatians, there are two list, a list of “oughts” and list of “ought nots“. We ought not be quarrelsome, lustful, selfish or jealous, just to name a few. We ought to be patience, kind, faithful, gentle and self-controlled, just to name a few. But we can’t live this way absence of the counsel of the Spirit.

Other times I fear we only listen for the voice of the Spirit in special times and places; a powerful worship service, a quiet place of prayer or in the words of a friend or minister. I love those times. They are special places along our way, but often in the midst of fulfilling the responsibilities of any given day, I love that I can hear the practical voice of the Spirit counsel me on what I ought and ought not do.

In 2011, I want to do a better job responding to the Spirit of Ought. “Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.” (James 4:17 NLT) As my Dad often says, God help us!

Thanks for listening,

See you next Sunday,

Ronda

Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. (I John 4:11 NLT)