By Reason of Use

There’s an ancient Chinese story about a young man who wanted to learn about the jade trade. He sought out a talented elder teacher who was an expert on jade. The teacher, upon meeting the young man, put a piece of jade into his hand and told him to hold it tight. The teacher then began to talk about philosophy. After an hour, he took back the stone and sent the young man home. This strange procedure was repeated for weeks. Not surprisingly, the young man became frustrated—when would he be taught about jade?—but his respect for elder teacher caused him to keep returning. Then one day when the old man put a stone into his hands, the young man cried out instantly,

“That’s not jade!”

What a beautiful word picture of our relationship with God. Once we’ve experienced the genuine things of God, we can spot counterfeit ones a mile away. When we’ve experienced God, nothing nor anyone can substitute.

John the Beloved tells us of some Greek men that came to Philip and said,

“Sir, we would see Jesus.” (Jn 12:21)

The founder of the Foursquare Church, Aimee Semple McPherson, had this verse (Jn. 12:21) carved into her pulpit in Angelus Temple. Her heart was like those Greek men, the only thing that matters is getting to Jesus. One songwriter expressed this so well:

He is more than enough, more than enough,
He is el shaddai, The God of Plenty,
The All-Sufficient One, God Almighty,
Jesus is more than enough!

Have you ever been somewhere and sensed God’s presence, but it seemed that others around you were totally oblivious, unmoved and unaffected?

I remember being at the Los Angeles Coliseum for a Promise Keepers gathering. There were 50,000+ men gathered there. While we were worshipping, God’s presence was so strong that we all began kneel and bow our heads. You could hear men crying out and expressing their love for God. I happened to notice a group of men that were the only ones in the whole stadium still standing. I found out later they were from a church where nothing like that had ever happened before. So they just stared straight ahead, hands by their sides, and seemed to be missing what the Holy Spirit was doing.

No doubt there have been times when all of us have missed something God was doing. But how is it that one person could experience such a dynamic touch of God’s Spirit, while someone right next to them doesn’t? Hebrews 5:14 offers this:

“But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

In other words, in order to discern spiritual things and not miss when God is working, we must have our spiritual senses developed. We do this by keeping our spirit exercised, in shape, and tuned-up.

May God bring us to place where we can have his love and presence placed in our hands over and over and over again until we can easily discern the real from the counterfeit, and never miss sensing His presence.