Breathe

Take breath in. Now let it out. This is the most basic of life functions: breathing. Yet, while, it is also the most essential of life functions, it is, for the most part, involuntary. You don’t have to think about breathing. You do it whether you are asleep or awake, whether resting or working, whether crying or laughing. The moment you cease to breath, you cease to live.

Breathing is the physical manifestation of a spiritual reality. Just as breath is essential to physical life, the “breath of God” is essential to spiritual life. We are not alive until it is breathed into us for the first time. The Bible calls this “being born again”. How clear an analogy of the absolutely indispensable quality of this breath!

Like the physical we need this breath for all of life, the vital and the mundane. There is no part excluded from our need of breath. Jesus expressed this truth when he said, “without me you can do nothing,” for he came to give “life and life more abundant.” How easy it is for Christians to deceive themselves into thinking their need for God’s sustenance is only for those spiritual or religious acts such as praying, worshiping, or doing ministry. What is prayer but spiritual communion with God which we are commanded to do “without ceasing?” What is worship but a life submitted to His Sovereign Lordship? What is ministry but service to God and man? Is there a time we are not praying, worshipping or serving in some way? Is there anything we can do without the breath of God?

Unlike the physical though, this breath is not completed involuntary. Yes, God breaths into us, as he did into Adam and as Christ did unto his disciples when he said, “receive the Holy Spirit.” We too are given this Spirit whose name literally means “breath,” but unlike the physical we must participate in our breathing. It is not completely involuntary, nor is it completely voluntary. It is a beautiful dynamic of the Father’s provision, through the Son, of the Spirit! Life in the Spirit IS the life of God, breathing in, breathing out. 100% me, 100% God. So go ahead. Breathe.