THE HIGHEST SPIRITUAL END

Frederick Coutts once wrote:  

“The experience of Christian holiness may be defined as one in which the whole man is redirected toward the highest spiritual end – that is, likeness to Christ, and in this he is granted the continual help of the Holy Spirit.”  

Coutts opens his concluding chapter with this statement and gives us much on which to reflect.

The Whole Person – At the first pass reading the quote above, we might be tempted to jump to the conclusion that Coutts was sexist in his language.  Coutts was writing more than sixty years ago in the normative language of the day.  Given the supportive position of The Salvation Army on women in ministry from it very beginning,  we may assume he was using the phrase “the whole man” generically to mean both men and women.  What is most engaging here is the reference to the whole person:  Body, mind, and spirit; the cognitive, affective, and behavioral; theory, practice, and living; the complete being with nothing left out in pursuit of God’s highest expression of his grace.

Redirected – This strong orientation toward God’s best implies that we are  heading in the wrong direction to begin with.  Sin takes us off course.  The direction in which we naturally are headed is contrary to God’s desire for us.  We are lost unless by the Holy Spirit we are redirected, helped to go forward in the direction best for God perfecting us toward his likeness.  This requires a willingness to be redirected which means repentance so that repentance is an intentional turning away from sin and a redirecting of our journey in way of Christ.  It is a matter of the will, a sanctified will.  God will not force a redirection upon us toward his likeness, but he will guide us by the help of the Holy Spirit us if we will it so.

Toward the highest spiritual end, the likeness of Christ - God’s highest for us is made possible when we grasp the magnitude of God’s love for us and open our minds, hearts, and life to being “filled to the measure of the fullness of God.”  (Ephesians 3:16-19)  The measure is Jesus.  The infilling of the fullness of God, to the brim of whatever may be our capacity to love in return, makes possible the likeness of Christ.  Then the highest expression of our love for God and for others is realized ultimately in revealing the splendor and glory of God.

With The help of the Holy Spirit – In the intimacy of the last supper, Jesus said to his disciples that upon his departure to the father that he would send to them the Holy Spirit, ". . . He (the Holy Spirit) will guide you into all truth . . . he will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” (John 16:13&14) “. . . the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of every thing I have said to you.” (John 14:26)  

God does not leave us helpless, but by his grace provides help through the work of the Holy Spirit in us toward his highest spiritual ends, the ever-increasing likeness of Christ in purity of heart to the Glory of God.  Thanks be to God and Glory to his name!