I love when I am contemplating a thought, and then I read, hear, and/or visualize the same thought in a book or song or movie, or usually through a conversation with a close friend. That has been happening to me A LOT lately. On our Nairobi trip, Giles and I began joking about how many times we heard the “rich young ruler” passage from the Gospels mentioned in different conversations that we had throughout the week with several different people (around six or seven times, but who’s counting?!). We have been contemplating that passage for several months now as we assess our calling to missions (not to mention that random people here in the States have raised it with us in various contexts and conversations as well). We’ve experienced the same type of synchronous events with the passage about Peter stepping out of the boat to walk on the water toward Jesus. Most recently, an author in a book I finished last week expounded upon that passage in discussing serving orphans and the “poorest of the poor” in Uganda.
Spiritual Sychronicity
Also, Psalm 40 has come up randomly at various points and in various forms from a variety of sources over the past few months. Then, just last weekend at church, I was having a lengthy and contemplative conversation with a friend about what the redemptive work of Christ really means, and we then engaged in a similar discussion in our teaching time with the entire group.
As I mentioned at the start of this post, this “spiritual sychronicity” happens to me often but a lot more lately, especially within our home church group or in conversations (even seemingly casual ones) with friends. It’s like the author/ songwriter/ friend knows what I am thinking and processing at the time and puts it into words that are oftentimes very similar to my own thoughts or expressions.
We’ve been studying Galatians at church, and we are currently in Chapter 5, verse 16 concerning walking with the Spirit. Last weekend, our pastor pointed out that if we are instructed to walk with someone, don’t we want to know what/who He really is? Thus, we began a study of several passages throughout the Old and New Testaments about the Spirit. What we learned was that God’s Spirit and our spirit are one and the same. The word for “spirit” is the same when referring to Spirit (capitalized) and spirit (lowercased) in our modern translations– “ruwach” in the Old Testament and “pneuma” in the New Testament. Given this unity of spirit, we discussed the fact that the spiritual conflict discussed in the Word is not between God’s spirit and our spirit, but between His spirit and our flesh. During the fall, we traded His spirit for our flesh, but we were intended to be spiritual beings merely experiencing life in the flesh. The spirit is the eternal part of us, that which God longs to redeem and restore to Himself. Through the redemptive work of Christ, God intends for us to be reunited with His spirit like we originally were in the garden. To be one with Him in the same communion experienced by the Trinity. Whether spoken or unspoken, one in thought, emotion, and desire.
The “spiritual sychroncity” I have experienced, more often of late, imparts glimpses of this unity of spirit. It cannot be attributed to my own brilliance, which is miniscule at best on a good day, but only to God’s grace and mercy as I seek more of Him. As I long to know Him and ask Him for wisdom in that endeavor, He is faithful to bring about the continued merger of my spirit with His own. I am so thankful that He allows me these glimpses of how it should be, how He intended it to be. It makes me desire it all the more and to share His truth, this good news, with others.
A Life Called to Love 