I heard a sermon recently and the pastor was talking about how he was visiting a farm, and he saw a man washing his pig. He said the farmer spent so much time and effort cleaning the pig, but the moment the pig was released, he ran straight back to the mud.
As an analogy, the pastor spoke on how unfortunately, we can get really good at the act of “being washed off” by going to church or going through actions to have voids filled/receive our fix…but the problem is, we end up running straight right back to what we know because we haven’t actually had a life-altering, spiritual encounter with Abba.
I started thinking about how we hear so many words of eloquent speech, words that are moving, that grip our attention and cause us to want to follow Jesus—-but our hearts aren’t being wrecked, broken, and radically changed. And we are easily swayed by the world because we act out of the flesh, and run to what may “fill us” temporarily.
Just as we hear a sermon in the church and feel moved, we leave the church walls and are also moved as easily by the world. So we hear the words, and they pierce us…but they aren’t making their way to our heart.
What makes a pig run back to the mud after it’s been cleaned? It’s because it’s a pig. It’s what a pig does. It’s their nature.
So what makes us as His followers not want to “run back to the world?”
When we encounter Holy Spirit, and understand the power of Holy Spirit in us, everything changes. He takes root in us, something new is birthed in us, and we are literally transformed from the inside out. We no longer see the world through the flesh, but with eyes of Heaven…and we are never the same. We don’t want the world anymore, we just want Him. There’s nothing we crave more. He fulfills everything we desire.
Sister, when Holy Spirit is in us, and we understand His power, He literally changes our nature. Something happens in us that words fall short of trying to explain. But all I know is that after I truly encountered Holy Spirit and understood the power and authority within me, because He was in me, the desires to run to things of the flesh began to fade and I just craved His voice, His touch, His presence, His everything.
And it won’t be perfect…our feet will run back to the mud. But when we feel the mud hit our feet, we realize we don’t even want it anymore. And His grace, His mercy, His perfect love will be there to meet us, cover us, and lead us out of the pit and back to His arms.
-Sara D.