It Seemed Good to the Holy Spirit and To Us...

(Acts 15:28a)

I love the word "seemed" in this passage because to me, it shows that even the Apostles who lived in the same generation as Jesus, had difficulty discerning some “earthly” matters. The decision they made here set the holy Church in motion and elements of their logic and reliance on the Holy Spirit effect us and how the church “does business” today.

Sometimes in Christendom we shun the concept of "seemed." We try to make everything black and white, this or that, sin or a fruit of the spirit. But sometimes, life sits squarely in between - and there isn't a ton of clarity (biblical or otherwise) to support one idea from another.

But there sure are a lot of opinions!

By choice, I am involved in some pretty heated blog discussions concerning parenting. Breast feed or formula? Coddle or cry it out methods? Birth Control or not? Stay at home full-time or work full-time or does God prefer mom's work part-time? What does Jesus say to us through his Holy Scriptures?

I say this as someone who has had a little biblical training in exegetical study. …Not a whole hell of a lot.

My husband and I are blessed beyond measure with two beautiful and healthy children. We have been pregnant 3 times and I say this sensitively but honestly, we got pregnant every single time we tried, on the first try. We are fertile.

We are also good parents who battle every day to stay in the moment and enjoy these quickly-passing memories; but sometimes we struggle. We've lost most of our freedom and see very little end in sight concerning diapers and feedings and dear God, don't even get me started on the lack of sleep! We do want more children, but we can't imagine getting pregnant RIGHT NOW!

NOW, in Michael's last and most difficult semester of grad school. NOW, when I'm just starting to lose the baby weight (from baby #1 that I never lost before getting pregnant again). NOW, when we may be moving in a few months for a job offer, very little fish in the big pond of D.C. (tadpoles, really.)

It seemed good to us therefore, to go on birth control a few months ago! And so we did.

But did you catch that?

I didn't say it seemed good to the Holy Spirit AND to us. Because we never ASKED. We did not pray. We just did what SEEMED right to us.

Herein lies the danger that Christians are so prone toward. When faced with not knowing and not being sure how to make the best decision between our own logic and the parameters of our faith, we often clamber toward extremes. We do one or the other. We either do our own thing, what SEEMS right by our logic OR we over-spiritualize everything and expect the Bible to say word-for-word how we are to live, thousands of years after the fact.

Michael and I saw our error a few nights ago and decided to make it point of prayer concerning birth control and trusting God and all these questions my friend just posed on this blog. That, and if I should keep working or stay home full-time (because we forgot to include the Holy Spirit in that as well).

I’m reminded in this, that the whole POINT of following Jesus is having communion with Him. Relationship. That takes place through the indwelling Holy Spirit, in prayer and in reading the Scriptures. The spiritual disciplines exist so we KNOW Him and are better able to know what SEEMS right by Him and our logic when all these "in between this and that" decisions pop up.

In all of my searching for answers, in debate and stimulating conversation lately, I need to remember 1) not all answers are found in Scripture. 2) not all answers are found through human logic. 3) most answers are found through Scripture, prayer (seeking what SEEMS right by the Holy Spirit) AND human logic.

I'll keep you posted...on what seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us. Stay tuned.