when I listen

“Do what I say,

and you will live.”

Proverbs 7:2, GNB, speaks,

and Galatians 5:18, RSV, answers,

Scripture opening Scripture,

one voice meeting another

across the pages of time.

For if I am led by the Spirit,

I am not under the law.

So obedience is not merely

a stone tablet staring at me,

demanding that I behave.

It is a living Voice

quietly turning my heart.

A prompting

so supernaturally natural

that I could mistake it

for my own thought,

until I realize

I am being led.

Christ speaks

through the Holy Spirit.

Not always thunder.

Not always spectacle.

Sometimes simply:

“Give.”

And suddenly

I understand generosity

where greed once had an argument.

The Spirit prompts me

to tithe, with revelation.

Not because

I am trying to earn life

by keeping a percentage.

Not because

I have become a slave

to a religious formula.

But because Christ is teaching me

how to hold money

without money holding me.

The tithe becomes

a doorway out of greed,

a lesson in trust,

a declaration:

“My possessions

do not possess me.”

And sometimes

the prompting is:

“Do not touch her.”

Another man's wife.

And again,

it is not merely

a rule written somewhere

telling me what not to do.

It is Christ

showing me the road

that leads away from death.

Because adultery

can carry death

in more ways than one.

A jealous husband

may raise his hand.

A household may collapse.

A reputation may die.

Trust may die.

A future may die.

And sometimes

the body itself

may not survive

the consequences

of one moment's desire.

So the Spirit whispers:

“Walk away.”

And obedience

becomes wisdom.

Wisdom becomes life.

Life becomes

the fruit of listening.

This is what I am learning:

God's commands

are not cages

when Christ Himself

is leading me through them.

The Spirit does not merely say,

“Don't!”

He reveals:

“Here is the way of life.”

He does not merely say,

“Give ten percent.”

He teaches me

what generosity is doing

inside my soul.

He does not merely say,

“Do not commit adultery.”

He opens my eyes

to the destruction

waiting beyond the temptation.

The law can tell me

where the boundary is.

But the Spirit

can lead me

away from the cliff.

And perhaps that is why

His promptings feel

so supernaturally natural.

No coercion.

No performance.

No desperate attempt

to impress God.

Just Christ

guiding His child,

a gentle nudge,

a holy discomfort,

a sudden clarity,

a quiet knowing:

“Do not go there.”

“Give this.”

“Walk away.”

“Do this.”

And when I listen,

I discover something

I could not see before:

Obedience

was never merely about

following instructions.

It was about

following Someone.

“Do what I say,

and you will live.”

Not merely:

“Keep the rule.”

But:

“Listen to Me.”

Let the Spirit lead you.

And you will discover

that the path of obedience

was never leading you

toward death.

It was leading you

toward life.