Sometimes I do things that I know my husband would like for me to do. At first, I may not want to, but he wins me over. I see the wisdom of his idea and just do it.
Whole-hearted obedience to God is the same. It’s organic. We have spent time with God in stillness, reflection, conversation, and wonder (silencio, lectio, meditatio, oratio, contemplatio) and without a whole lot of thought, our behavior reflects the ideas we meditated on and prayed about. The Spirit invites, nudges, and compels us to get up from our Scripture reading and make a certain appointment or phone call.
Other times we don’t even plan to follow through this way, but later that day we find ourselves enacting the passage: going out of our way for an overlooked person; taking a deep breath and doing the difficult task; facing our inadequacies and apologizing. Following Jesus (or, obedience) is not forced then. It’s part of our life with God. Because we have been in conversation with God, we want to do this very good thing that the conversation with God has inspired us to do.
When this happens, the truth of God becomes “incarnated” (embodied, “in-fleshed”) in us. (This is incarnatio, a natural result of lectio divina). This is not forced but flows quite naturally from who we are. An idea, feeling, or action in Scripture is contagious and we “catch” it. That relational encounter with God changes us, just as you have changed in the past by interacting with someone you admire.
Jan Johnson is a retreat speaker, spiritual director, the creator of many Bible studies, and the author of 22 books, including Meeting God in Scripture: A Hands-On Guide to Lectio Divina. Visit her at www.JanJohnson.org.
