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“Let
Your Intuition Lead You” Sermon Delivered By
Rev. Dick Stetler – November 8, 2015 Centenary United
Psalm 127; Mark 12:38-44 There are two useful lessons in Mark's passage this morning.
The first one contains a warning from Jesus to pay little or no
attention to the dress code of the most important people in his culture.
He said: Watch out for the
teachers of the Law, who like to walk around in their long robes and to
be greeted with respect in the marketplace, who choose the reserved
seats in the synagogues and the best places at our feasts.
They also enjoy making a great show of their lengthy prayers.
(Mark 12:38f) Ever since we were old enough to talk, we heard people say,
"Never judge a book by its
cover." Yet, somehow we find
ourselves making judgments because of how something appears to us.
Such decisions are made about people and they are also made about
our personal circumstances.
We need to learn that nothing has a value to it until we assign
one. Whatever the
circumstance, it can become a
stepping stone or a mountain
depending on how we choose to define it. There is a way of escaping this common pitfall and today we are
going to review one of those ways. I entitled my message this morning,
"Let Your Intuition Lead You."
Intuition is our inner voice that is often understood by some
people as God talking to us. The voice is recognized as coming from God
because it always offers loving guidance.
We can find this same
inner voice providing direction to salmon that know where to spawn
even though they have never been there before as an adult.
The swallows are given direction of where to return to the same
location on the same day without using a calendar.
The spider knows how to spin her web without having an advanced
degree in graphic design.
People have this same instinct
but this gift often goes unrecognized or ignored.
A man retired and moved to a southern state in the After being with the choir for several months, he invited them to
his home for a fall potluck picnic. When the choir members arrived, they
found that he was living in a beautifully appointed trailer that was
situated on a half-acre of land.
Behind his trailer was a commanding view of a large scenic lake.
They had a wonderful evening together.
When he decided to begin dating, he asked a number of women in
the choir if he could have the pleasure of their company for dinner.
He found that after a couple of dates, the women lost interest in
him. Months later, during a church retreat, he was playing volleyball
with other church members during a recreation period.
On the opposing side he saw a woman that was overflowing with
smiles, lots of energy and who possessed a delightful sense of humor.
They began bantering back and forth over who had the better serve.
The two of them experienced one of those mutual moments of
instant recognition that was fueled by magnetism.
After they began dating, the two became inseparable.
She loved his trailer, the dock that he had built and the old
jeep that he drove. After seven
months into their relationship, he asked her to marry him and she said,
"I thought you would never ask." They
were married in their church and went on a two week honeymoon. When they got back, they crawled into his jeep, strapped down
their luggage with bungee cords and headed for home.
However, this time he had decided to drive on different roads
that were not in the direction of his trailer.
He drove up a lane and pulled into a driveway of a large home
that overlooked the ocean.
He reached up on the visor, triggered a remote and one door started
opening on a four bay garage.
He said, "Honey, welcome home!"
She sat there, shocked out of her mind. She asked, "What is this?
Whose trailer were you living in?"
He said, Oh, that's my
fishing cabin that I bought
when I first relocated here.
It gave me a place to live while I looked for property and a
general contractor to build my retirement home.
I didn't tell you about this because I wanted to surprise you if
things worked out between us.
Right now it's pretty sparse inside.
I want you to decorate it any
way you wish. I have an
interior decorator waiting to hear from you if you'd like to look at
alternatives she may have.
She is very creative. Still, in total shock, his wife said, "I should not tell you
this, but I will. Several
women in church warned me that you lived in a trailer.
They sounded as though that might matter to me."
He said, "They were really friendly until the choir picnic at the
fishing cabin.
After that, I had leprosy."
When you ignored my fishing cabin, my blue jeans and my old jeep, I knew
that I had found the pearl of
great price." How many times do we miss a wonderful opportunity because we
judge a book by its cover?
When the women in the choir focused only on externals, a number
of them felt that living in a trailer was
a
Stop Sign.
Karen, however, allowed her
intuition to lead her and she fell in love with an average,
unpretentious guy whose only car, she thought, was an old jeep.
She knew that he retired from
the General Electric Company.
What she would later learn is that he retired in 2001 as a
divisional Vice President. Both
of them had been guided by an energy that neither of them could see. This theme of following our intuition lends itself to the second
lesson in Mark's passage.
When we allow our loving
intuition to lead us, we find ourselves doing things with absolute trust
that the river of life will
take us where we need to be. Jesus was sitting across from the Court of the Women near the Lots of people were donating not only sizeable amounts of money,
but they also made a big deal out of publicly doing so. Jesus noticed a
widow coming. She put in two coins, each worth 1/16th of
a penny. Jesus told his listeners that her contribution was
greater than all the rest. Others were giving out of their
abundance; her coins represented everything that she had. This woman was led by her intuition of giving, loving and serving
while trusting that God would find a way to allow her to continue doing
so in the future. Her intuition led her correctly. She was not aware
that she was being watched by a teacher that would use her as an example
to influence the giving patterns of millions of people over thousands of
years. No one could have known that but God. When our
intuition takes the lead on our behavior and attitudes, we never have to
wonder or worry about where life is taking us.
Many of us want to make a difference in this world, but it is much
better to love others with abandon right now and allow whatever
influence we may have on the future to remain up to
Our Creator. A German theologian of another day was Philipp Spener,
the Father of Pietism in the
German Christian Church. He
once said, "I believe that God hides our successes from us, lest we see
them and become proud." There is
a lot that can be said about this.
When we trust life, our main inclination will be to sow our seeds
and allow the wind to plant
them anywhere the wind
desires. Did Jesus know if his ministry would survive for future
generations? The only
strategy that Jesus might have had for the future of his life and
teachings was expressed during his prayer in the Garden, "Not my will
but Thine be done." That says it
all. Jesus knew nothing about Saul of Tarsus, whose letters to
Christian churches would be preserved among other New Testament
documents. Jesus knew
nothing about the development of the printing press by Johannes
Gutenberg in 1440 AD. Jesus
had to trust his intuition that God would take care of seeing what
survives in the future and what does not.
Every individual is the
captain of his or her own ship.
Ships always travel in the direction that captain wishes. No one
else can ever be at the helm of our ship.
Ships come into safe harbors the
moment people allow their intuition to lead them.
Sooner or later, during
this life or the next life, all of us will understand the knowledge that
what gives life its direction and vision is the quality of our spiritual
energy. It is amazing what God can do with uninitiated people by
stimulating their intuition. Some people convince themselves, "How could
I possibly be happy with someone who lives in a trailer?"
Another person comes along who becomes attracted only to the
owner of that trailer and she takes a risk by following the guidance
provided by her intuition. We must never forget a key teaching of Jesus, "Seek first the |