Must ado has been made about the revealing of Mother Teresa’s “Dark Night of the Soul” as some people have been calling it. In a nutshell, the major topic of debate has been over whether it’s appropriate or wise to serve God and follow His commandments without any active sense of God’s presence in one’s life. Mother Teresa’s supporters claim that obedience in the face of suffering and loss (spiritual or otherwise) is a hallmark of Christian virtue and an example of compassionate love, and her detractors claim that it’s hypocrisy, delusion, and possibly clear evidence that God does not, in fact, exist at all.

I have no wish to make a judgement on Mother Teresa in this matter whatsoever. I highly respect her efforts to help and give comfort to the poorest of the poor in a foreign land, and I can’t imagine why anyone would wish to malign her character or motives in the face of what she accomplished.

However, I do have to say one thing that I feel very strongly about: it is not good to live out the Christian life and walk the path that Jesus walked without the guidance, empowerment, and in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit. I don’t believe we were ever meant to do so. Christianity isn’t a set of rules, nor is it a cultural expression of institutionalized spirituality. It is a relationship between the Creator and His creation…the Lover and the beloved. Without being continually filled with the Holy Spirit, I really am at a loss to understand how we can ever possibly take on the nature of Christ and become one with Him just as He is one with the Father. Being pious, being kind, helping people, giving to the poor, forsaking worldly things for a greater spiritual reality, maintaining a holy lifestyle — those are all very admirable endeavors, but they are also done by Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, agnostics, and all kinds of people around the world. You don’t need to be a Christian to act holy. And you don’t need to act holy to become a Christian. (Shocking, isn’t it?)

So, while I laud Mother Teresa for her efforts borne out of love for Jesus, I am concerned at any teaching that says it’s “OK” to spend years of one’s life serving God without the empowerment and the relationship that comes though being continually filled with the Holy Spirit and experiencing profound encounters with the living God. As an active participant in the life of my church and as someone who is excited and humbled to look forward to future ministry opportunities, I am resolved to be prepared to step down and take a break from ministry at any point where I feel an extended sense of emptiness and lack of God’s presence and favor upon my life. It is only fair: how can I give away what I don’t have?