Fall
1990
Detachment
John Wright Follette
Edited from a spoken message
Christ is the head of the Church, His Body. I thank God for
this wonderful Body of His that is throughout the earth. All
direction for this Body is to come from the head. The Lord
does not expect my hand to be my brain. Rather, He expects
my hand to serve as my mind directs.
Thus, nothing should originate within the Body. However,
there should be a receptivity within the Body to perform that
which is directed from the Head. We forget this when we become
overly concerned about this or that and begin to move about
on our own. This is one reason why our Church, the Body of
Christ, is so feeble. It lacks life because it does not know
how to live from the living head. Instead, it tries to produce
what it feels the Head may want to do.
The program must originate with the Head. He only asks us
to function. He clearly tells us that we are the members,
not the head. "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members
in particular" I Cor 12:27. It takes us a long time to
discover this, because we are so accustomed to directing from
our own head, and our body doing it. But the Lord is saying
to us, "No, not this. Now you have become a particular
member in My great body of which I am the head. All direction,
all doings must originate with me." He has to have us
as a body through which He executes, lives, and moves.
What a burden would be lifted from us if only we could believe
Him. We direct our own little traffic. How do we know how
to do this? Because we have always done this. Sometimes the
Lord has to do some very shocking things to get us out of
this old groove of self-direction. Because we are not doing
bad things, we feel justified in our attempting to be the
Head. It takes a long time for the Lord to get us out of this,
because we are geared to it.
My mother kept an album of pictures from when we were tiny
tots, on up. When I went home to visit, we would get out this
album and look at the pictures. I would say, "Mom, I
never looked like that." She would answer, "Yes,
you did." "Did I actually dress like that?"
There were the pictures to prove it. I look back in my spiritual
life and say, "Lord did I really do that?" He said,
"Yes." "Did I really think that? Yes."
We will have gained a real victory when we are able to step
out of ourselves; then look at ourselves, and laugh. No one
wants to be laughed at, but you can laugh with them. It will
save you a lot of pain. This is one of the first signs of
maturity.
Alone with this is the idea of detachment. I was involved
in the process of overcoming a difficulty that I did not feel
accountable for. I said, "Lord, this is none of my doings,
and I want to get out of it." This is because we want
to save our hides. No one seeks trouble, we will side step
it, just as long as we can, until the Lord takes us by the
ear and says, "It is necessary for you to go through
this difficulty." Have you ever been involved in trouble
that wasn't your fault, and you had to suffer with it?
Some years ago, while I was going through an awful trial,
the Lord taught me this lesson which I will share with you.
When a difficulty, or trial comes into your experience, it
may last weeks, months, or several years, before it is consummated.
When this happens, you become pressed, knowing you cannot
get out from it. Then the Lord came and showed me that when
we become involved in a trial or a testing like this, it becomes
possessive and we get under its power. While you are held
there, two things will result. You will lose your sense of
proportion - the way you evaluate your situation, and you
will loose your sense of values.
When you are involved like this; to make an escape, or to
hurry to get through, will frustrate its purpose. Your sense
of values is too shallow and you will even compromise, because
you are not able to grasp the full value of the thing. The
"trouble" has involved you so closely that you have
no perception as to its real character because you are too
involved in it.
This is what the Lord told me. He said, "You are to
learn "detachment." Now you are involved in "Follette."
You are involved in your conception of this situation, and
you are moved by your reactions because it is affecting you.
You will have to learn to gather yourself up and, by faith,
step out of this whole thing until you feel that you are detached
from it. When you come over here by Me, you will look at it
from My side."
Right away, I will get an entirely new perspective, because
I am no longer looking at it from within my own experience,
I am looking at it from the perspective the Lord has concerning
this trial or test. Now my perspective will be adjusted, and
my senses of value will come back to what He has for me.
A parent, for instance, has a certain perception concerning
his child which is right and good. But the child is a projection
of the parent. The parent will have an entirely different
sense concerning his child than a person who is absolutely
detached. This person could really tell this parent several
things, but he cannot because the parent will defend the child.
Flesh has never hated itself, and this child is a projection
of your flesh. This is why a question of discipline is more
clearly explained and helped by a dis-interested person who
sees differently than the parent. Our father and mother instinct
will cover and smother a problem that needs to be dealt with.
It takes quite a depth for the parent to say, "Can you
help me with this child?"
So it is with us, the Lord must bring us to the place where
we will accept detachment and begin to see our problem as
He sees it. Then He can bring about the necessary changes
in our experience that will lead us to the spiritual wisdom
and maturity that the Lord intended for us.