Well I thought I had heard it all until tonight my friend Cochran decided to enlighten us all by sharing the thought, "Well I think I'm going to swing by Barnes and Noble on my way home to get juiced up." "Juiced up?" I mean, is this some type of metrosexual pop-culture reference? I know I'm still living half-way in the '80s but I at least know enough to not say the term "juiced up" when describing my plans to purchase a beverage of any temperature.
Today was a good day. Great to be with the believers and spend some time in praise to God. It's encouraging to be a part of a body of believers and of course God intended that for us b/c it should get us "juiced up" (I know, shameless pun) but sometimes that's when I find it so frustrating b/c week after week I sit in the assembly and come face to face with the sinfulness that I'm no closer to defeating than I was the week before. I seem to always sit there resolving not to repeat my sinfulness that separates me from God, yet find myself the very next week doing the same thing. The scary thing is I sometimes wonder if I totally even care since my actions don't seem to be changing and I'm obviously not defeating these vices. (Side note: Of course not relying on God probably has a lot to do with this...but that's another topic)
Week before last, I was blessed to hear one of my great friends, Clint, speak out at church camp. He spoke on the idea of seeking to rid ourselves of the unclean water that we put in our spiritual bodies (making reference to the water from John 4). He talked about something that really hit home to me---pursuing holiness in our lives. This is really a tough subject for me b/c in my life I so often settle for trying to be good but not really seeking to rid myself of "bad water" (a.k.a. the impure things that I tolerate b/c they don't seem so bad). I think of Paul's words in Phil 3 where he talks about pressing on and striving to win the prize and reach the goal. Yet too often I find that I just settle for the status quo. I need to have the attitude that I won't settle for being mediocre and need to strive to godliness in my life. I pray that God will grant me the strength to keep persevering and maturing. He is so patient with his children....Well past time for bed!!!
Philippians 3:12-15 "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.
4 comments:
Matt, I understand what you mean. Seems like no matter how much time goes by, no matter how much I "mature," I somehow still end up repeating the same sins over and over again. There is that within my nature that is drawn to giving in. I can look back and see that God has tried to teach me the same lessons over and over...and for some stupid, human reason, I still don't get it. That is, I get it intellectually.....but whether or not it honestly affects my heart is another question.
EXACTLY!!! Intellectually grasping something is so easy sometimes but it doesn't mean that it makes me change. I see exactly what Paul was talking about in Rom 7 b/c I also do what I don't want to do. And one thing we can be sure of, we'll never beat it as long as we are in the flesh. We can improve with God's help, but we can't completely eliminate the fleshly side of our lives. But thank God for the hope we have in Jesus else it would really suck knowing we would just end in death.
This is gonna soud harsh, but..... That is exactly the reason I don't understand why atheists don't walk around perpetually suicidal. Looking at all the terrible things that go on in this world and the inescapable fact that we're all so very flawed....if, on top of that, I believed that there were nothing after death, I would see no reason to continue living. After all, if life simply ended in eternal death, final act, curtain forever closed, lights out, nothing I did in life had an ultimate culmination.....
What would be the point?
Courtney, I know what you mean. Sometimes when I talk to people I know who don't know God and they talk about their struggles, I just don't see the point for them. They don't even seem care to know God and are caught up in their own lives and I just can't help but feel sorry for them. Their lives seem meaningles and I can't help to feel a lot of the same things you express. I know the only thing I can do is to try to live my life to show them there is a better way--living for God.
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