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Don’t Rush the Journey!
Devotional Thought of the Day:
“4 Even when walking through the dark valley of death I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me, guarding, guiding all the way.” Psalm 23:4 (TLB)
“From the hidden life of Jesus you must draw this further consequence: not to be in a hurry… even when you are! That is to say, first and foremost comes the interior life. Everything else, the apostolate (the mission), any apostolate, is a corollary”. (1)
I spent the last three weeks, first in Asia, working with churches and missionaries, and then the first few days back visiting some of my people with huge health challenges, a couple on hospice, a man after major surgery, another with a heart attack. Then the last two with a small group of pastors, being mentored and taught ways to help focus our churches in, well – being the church. A lot of it is simple – to consider the mission of the church, given to it by God, and help people see that being the church is not about Sunday mornings, but in how we all live our lives, every day, in every situation, realizing we are placed here by God.
As I look back over these three weeks, as I prepare to talk about that journey on Sunday morning, this morning these two comments burn themselves into my mind. I look back on the mission trip, realizing my “best” work may not have been the preaching and teaching times. At least the most meaningful to me were the times walking with those who guided me around the cities, and shared with me the joys and frustrations of serving God in far off places. In encouraging them and in praying with the pastors and people I met. Especially when we took time to discuss and share…. over meals, while walking.
King David knew this wasn’t just how we operate best, it was the way God operates – yes – when He gathers us together, pours out His love and mercy and forgiveness, that seems to be the “big thing” of His interaction with us, but that is simply part of the same journey He takes with us – each and every moment of every day. As He walks with us through that day, sharing with us the things we experience, helping us to see it, not just with our eyes, but with His, as He redeems the time. As we read with out children at home, or do prepare a meal with our spouse. As we are at work, caring for a co-worker who is going through a bad time, as we visit those in the hospital, waiting to hear news.
Each time we minister and serve those around us. Each time we make sacrifices to be there…
It is, as t Josemaria says, a corollary, a parallel action, caused by the interior journey we are on, with the God who walks close to us, with us through life, guarding and guiding us, ensuring that evil cannot harm us, allowing us to dwell in His peace.
Don’t rush, enjoy the journey, even if our short term destination is critical – even if it is terminal – for the hourney itself, it is far more than we think it is.
For we walk with God.
For the Lord is with you!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 2584-2586). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Get’Erdone and Gotterdienst – the Church and the Work of God
devotional thought of the day (or technically tomorrow for some of you- since I am already there!)
If you are familiar with redneck comedy, or Vicar Mark, those words should sound familiar.
Maybe it is because of lieing awake at 3 am that this comes to mind – after 24 plus hours in planes, airport terminals – losing a day and finding myself feeling somewhat alone in a city of 12 million.
But I can’t hear get’erdone without thinking of it’s German relative Gotterdienst. Which translates (or so I’ve been told) as God’s work or God’s service. (similar to the Latin Opus Dei)
WE talk about Gotterdienst as a name for the gathering when God’s people come together – and His work is done in their midst. He brings mercy and peace to them as He gives them the ability to trust and repentance. We are transformed in His presence, and begin to serve Him – with our praises, with our words, with our lives.
It is all His work, really – even as He works through us – preparing us for the day when we are all before His throne – as we celebrate the wedding feast of the lamb.
I love how St Paul describes this work in Ephesians
Ephesians 5:25ff (Phillips NT) 25 But, remember, this means that the husband must give his wife the same sort of love that Christ gave to the Church, when he sacrificed himself for her. Christ gave himself to make her holy, having cleansed her through the baptism of his Word – to make her an altogether glorious Church in his eyes. She is to be free from spots, wrinkles or any other disfigurement – a Church holy and perfect. 28 Men ought to give their wives the love they naturally have for their own bodies. The love a man gives his wife is the extending of his love for himself to enfold her. Nobody ever hates or neglects his own body; he feeds and looks after it. And that is what Christ does for his body, the Church. And we are all members of that body, we are his flesh and blood! ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’. The marriage relationship is doubtless a great mystery, but I am speaking of something deeper still – the marriage of Christ and his Church.
Such is truly a beautiful thing – this work of Christ which makes us, His church, His people – glorious in His eyes. Perhaps that is why St Paul also wrote
Ephesians 2:8-10 (NJB) 8 Because it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith; not by anything of your own, but by a gift from God; 9 not by anything that you have done, so that nobody can claim the credit. 10 We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus for the good works which God has already designated to make up our way of life.
In other words – God is at work – truly – He is ministering to us – and if the church the the “er” in the get’erdone – then Gottesdienst means pretty much the same thing.
Rejoice my friends, for God is at work, in you…… and with Paul, I can confidently say:
Philippians 1:6 (NJB) 6 I am quite confident that the One who began a good work in you will go on completing it until the Day of Jesus Christ comes.
Godspeed – from tomorrow!
Overwhelmed? Broken?
Quote to ponder this day:
When you have fallen or when you find yourself overwhelmed by the weight of your wretchedness, repeat with a firm hope: Lord, see how ill I am; Lord, you who died on the Cross for love of me, come and heal me. Be full of confidence, I insist. Keep on calling out to his most loving Heart. As he cured the lepers we read about in the Gospel, He will cure you. (1)
As i read this quote this morning, I recoiled a bit at the phrasing, especially “the weight of your wretchedness”. Wretched? Isn’t that a bit strong? I mean, my life certainly faces a lot of “challenges”, but “wretched”?
If I am honest, those “challenges” do weigh heavily on me, as can the guilt and shame that comes with dealing effectively with those challenges. I want to face them on my own, have the wisdom to deal with them, and I often instead cower in fear, or at least become paralyzed by it. I don’t think my wretchedness is just about my sin, though it obviously would include it. But we live in a broken world, and we live among broken people, and the situation at times does seem “wretched”, and that there is no way out. If I dwell on it long enough, I can become depressed and bitter towards God, – why haven’t You helped me!
It is then that a friend, or a passage like this shows up, and my world which was turned upside down… become at peace.
I may have to cry out to Him until I am exhausted and fall mercifully to sleep. It’s not because He isn’t answering, He does and I am often so overwhelmed, so wretched I don’t hear Him clearly. For what He will say is often not what I want to hear, but it is always there,, and is effective.
James talks about the prayer of a righteous man is very very effective – so is it that I am not righteous enough? Interestingly, that question’s answer is found in itself – the reason someone is counted righteous is because they trust God. because they know His presence, and rejoice in Christ. It is when we draw close, that we find those answers, that peace, that assurance in the middle of being overwhelmed, of being wretched. The situation doesn’t change as much as we think – what changes is that we are not as concerned as we are in awe…
So are you overwhelmed, has the situation nearly crushed you? Or at least, do you think it has? Keep crying out to God – until your heart is ready to listen, to be set at peace. I love the bullet point before the one quoted above, for it states why this is effective.
“Let us marvel at the lovable paradox of our Christian condition: it is our own wretchedness which leads us to seek refuge in God, to become “like unto God”. With him we can do all things.” (1)
Jesus said it this way:
6:31 What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. 32 People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. 33 Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. 34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.
Matthew 6:31-34 (MSG)
Lord, have mercy upon us, and as we are seeking that mercy, draw us through it to be aware of You Presence.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 927-931). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Do I need to say “I’m Sorry?” No, however…
Quote of the Day:
I agree. You acted badly, out of weakness. But what I fail to understand is how, with a clear conscience, you have not repented. You cannot do something wrong and then say, or think, that it is something holy, or that it is of no importance.
One of the challenges, in talking so much about God cleansing us of our sin, is that we somehow believe the sin isn’t a big deal. It is so easy to deal with, so easy to know God has forgiven us, do we grieve our sin anymore?
Do we grieve over the sin committed against us? Not grieving that it was committed against us, but grieving that the environment that we are part of, that results in people being compelled to sin? For sin isn’t just the sin of the person who did the act, but it is in part due to our being people who sin. How can I find the person who betrayed me by lying to me any more sinful than I am, as part of the issue is that my sin prevents them easily finding me trustworthy. Do we grieve these kinds of environments that lead people to sin through a sense of self-preservation?
For that matter, do we see sin as an individual issue, or that of the community? ( I will make the case in a later blog – that sin is always a communal issue in cause, and in need for healing)
Back to the quote by St. Josemarie, do we repent of our sin? Do we even bother to take the time to say “we are sorry”, or do we just dismiss the damage, ignore the pain, hide from bringing the issue to be healed, reconciled, the relationship restored. What happens if we don’t seek the transformation that is what we are called repentance. What if we don’t seek healing? What if we do the unthinkable, and begin to justify what we did, in hope our conscious would be relieved?
Why take such a complex way of dealing with it? Why embrace pain unnecessarily? Why set ourselves us, because we’ve been correctly found untrustworthy, to be sinned against, to be sinned against? Though life is pain (see my other blog today) we don’t need to cause ourselves more pain, either directly or indirectly.
Why not see what scripture calls is gifted and granted to us. For repentance requires more than we are capable of in the first place. It’s not just saying, “I’m sorry”, for how many of us struggle to accept those words over and over and over. Repentance is much deeper. It is a very change of how we think, what we say, what we do.
I love the word picture in Greek – literally to have a brain transplant. Or as my geek friends would say – a completely new OS (operating system) That changes everything – and causes us, requires us, calls us to depend on God ever more deeply. We cannot repent unless that ability is granted to us, unless it is a gift. So the apostles recognized,
11:16 Then I thought of the Lord’s words when he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?” 18 When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God. They said, “We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.”
Acts 11:16-18 (NLT)
We have been given this gift, this ability to have our minds transformed, replaced, so greatly they have been cleansed that we are considered new, changed, alive instead of death. It is then, that we are realize how damaging our sin was, and that it grieves us – not just our sin, not just that we’ve been sinned against, but that we live in an environment that so encourages sin.
The more we grieve, the more we learn to run to the only place we have hope – the One who cleanses us, the One who heals us (note the plural here) the One who welcomes sinners, not saints, that He can give us the gift that makes us saints in His Father, our Father’s eyes.
Lord, have mercy upon us… and help us to rejoice as we are healed together… of the sin which has ensnared us.
Is your church a hot dog stand or a supermarket? or…
Devotional thought very appropriate considering today’s sermon.
Yesterday, a pastor-acquaintance and I were discussing the above question – he asked it – without the “or”. And since I dislike being caught between two choices, I came up with a third option. 🙂
I decided, that if we are talking spiritually, I would not choose the stand or the supermarket…well – here are parts of the discussion:
Me: How about a inner city mission’s foodbank?
Pr. J – I was talking spiritually and metaphorically, but wonderful, brother! 🙂
Me – Actually, I was as well…
None of us can afford the hot-dog, never mind the caviar and fine wines.. All of us get nervous and shuffle – ashamed of our need as we approach the table of mercy… And we are all served what we need to live..
Pr J – All right, how about in terms of outreach and mission: are you serving a limited selection to a select crowd, or drawing on a wide variety of resources to serve a variety of needs? “You” in the plural sense, of course. 🙂
Me: Again, if I can use the mission analogy….
We are in the business of serving only one thing – the Body and Blood of Jesus, broken and shed for the forgiveness of sin. Some are served as they are broken and homeless, desperately hungry and yet so in despair and trapped by shame… Some are served by Christ as He shares His ministry with them, allowing them to serve His body to the people, like them who are broken… and even as we serve… we are fed..as His mercy and the joy of knowing it is passed through us to others. Somehow. miraculously perhaps – we are fed and sustained not as we eat – but as we serve…
There may be different place settings, small missions and large ones, some may have old records playing while others have bands, some may have a nurse or doctor there as well, some education for the kids… but the meal is really what matters…
And it always sustains…
__________________
Now, this was an on the fly, not thought out discussion. But I like it – and it works well with the book I am writing, and how God brings us together in a feast we are all afraid to participate in. We are the beggers, the homeless, the ones who feel awkward in the room… then as we realize how the host has made us welcome, we welcome others.
that’s the church, whether the mega church, or the micro, contemporary or traditional (whatever those mean) or contradorary…
It is, as a prof once said – the feast that God gathers His people to, as He has for 2000 years…
So come – join the feast!
Monday’s Devotion.. finally done! Compassion is not an option!
Devotional/Discussion Thought from Monday:
“If you love the Lord, you will necessarily feel the blessed burden of souls, and the need to bring them to God.” (1)
I started writing this blog on Monday, and erased it a number of times. The burden that St. Josemarie speaks of is one every pastor knows, and every pastor struggles with often. I dare say that elders, deacons, deaconesses and every person in the church should as well. If such a burden is foreign, and if you catch me at a just the right moment, you will hear me agree to the statement. Even as I do, the implications of that will crush me.
The challenge of course is we hear this as “law” – and it seems to condemn us. After all, we have been pretty well inoculated against compassion by the American Idol of “Individuality”, and it’s sub-deity “personal religion”. That is a whole different blog – but to make it simple – we don’t believe in the community of faith any longer, we give it lip service, but do we really get it? Being convicted by such a statement is a great tool – it is often used to raise money for overseas missions, or for poverty or natural disaster relief. “Don’t you care about the poor, starving, homeless…” and we grab our checkbook or ATM card and pay for indulgences, American Style!
But what if St. Josemarie’s comment is actually gospel? That is, what if the impact of knowing God’s love so radically changes us, that we are compelled to help – not just those in need in other places, but those across our fence, those down the block, those people who serve us in stores, or restaurants, or?? What if our eyes of faith saw the burdens people carry, burdens that they don’t have to bear, for Jesus already has born our burdens. What if he is describing the effct of the cross on us, that we cannot see others living without it?
I titled this, compassion is not an option – for the one Who is compassionate toward us, God, Father Son and Holy Spirit – so loves us, that He has put His Spirit with in us. So listen, and see, and know, the peace you have in Christ is meant for them as well.
Lord, as we cry “Lord have mercy!” help us to realize we cry for Your mercy to be shown through us to others as well!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 446-447). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
God’s Commands, or God’s Commission?
Devotional Thought of the Day.
It’s amazing the difference a word makes, or just a few letters ending words starting with “comm”. TO be precise “and” versus “ission”.
As I prepared my studies for this weeks sermon, the difference glares out to me. The word in Greek has, very definitely, the nature of commission. Yet over and over we translate it command. With that translation, we create a load of issues that are not really there.
If you commission something, a piece of art, a building, a musical piece ( I think of Mozart’s Requiem) any project, you give the scope of the work, what your expectations are when it is completed. It draws the boundaries of the work and brings definition to it. It is a project something that takes on beauty over time. And if the work is fulfilled, the one who commissioned it has caused a masterpiece to be created. It is about the end product, and the formation of it – a masterpiece.
A command is something with even harder definitions – I always think of an execute order in computer program. Print X, the sum of 3+4. Or the directive that is specific and immediate. Don’t do this, do that, go here, and that which is commanded must do what is to be done. The command executed, the project finished, then what?
When it comes to God, and what He would have us do, He is commissioning something, He is describing the parameters and vision for a project that is underdevelopment all our lives. His goal is a masterpiece, without flaw, something that will endure, and br praiseworthy and glorious. It’s far more than a moment by moment execution in blind obedience, its being formed and shaped and there is a goal. The goal is simply defined by one word – a relationship. The relationship we recognize when we see that He is our God, and when we also recognize that by His work, we are His people.
Indeed a masterpiece!
Yet how many times would we get in the way of that – would we decide to ignore that which He commissioned – to draw outside the lines, the parameters that a common to the commissioning. (SOme refer to this as disobedience – but its more – the is is that it is an attempt to destroy the masterpiece God commissioned – to ignore or mar His plan with what we want. It is like spraying grafitti over the artwork in the St Peter’s Basilica, it is like having someone “sit in” and overdub “Dust in the Wind” with a Kazoo.
Using commission brings a whole different understanding to why God draws the parameters for our lives the way He does. It reflects on that great verse of Paul in Eph 2:10. “2:10 We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus for the good works which God has already designated to make up our way of life.” Ephesians 2:10 (NJB)
So to does commission create a more vivid picture of sin, as we destroy a masterpiece in the making, as we ignore the beauty that God would see in us…so that we create the havoc we think is …
Luckily we aren’t the one who holds the commission – that responsibility is belong’s to the Artist – to the One Isaiah calls the Potter, the One in Whom we are created. And in Christ, somehow, miraculously, that artwork we once thought was destroyed, is restored, brought back to life and beauty, healed and made whole. That was His commission – and the giftedness it took, literally was an investment of His life.
Thank God for that mercy, shown to us.
His people, His work.
May as we cry out Lord have mercy, respond with our lives, lived within that which He has commissioned.
AMEN
The Power and Mean to Accomplish Great Things
Discussion/Devitional Thought of the Day:
I used to have big dreams of doing great things. When I was my sons age,I dreamt of being a president like Abraham Lincoln, just a few years later – a priest whose sermons would change the world, like some of those I read about in school. Time and distance changes some of those dreams, and some of us have left dreams behind. I do not think today I could be a politician, never mind a president – the public is far too mean – and doesn’t respect the office, or the burden it carries – and being a priest – well,…..
But does that mean we have to give up trying to accomplish great things?
Or do we realize how great the normal things God calls us to do are? Like loving our neighbor, like helping those who find themselves without the ability, even for the moment – to help themselves. It is my opinion, that visiting someone who is a shut in, or sitting by a stranger at church is worth more than 10,000 facebook forwards, or eating at a restaurant whose owners are undersiege.
Even greater, forgiving that adversary, working to reconcile a couple of friends, telling someone of God’s grace. These are the great things… things that take sacrifice, things that may actually cost us. And that gets to the point of this entry, the thing I would have us discuss- how do we accomplish the greatest things in life?
One author put it this way:
” The means? They’re the same as those of Peter and Paul, of Dominic and Francis, of Ignatius and Xavier: the cross and the Gospel. Do they seem little to you, perhaps?” Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 1151-1152). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
The Cross and the Gospel – the Sacrifice of Christ on the cross – that is where our sins our forgiven. The cross which we are linked to in our baptism – where we were united to Christ’s suffering and death, that we would be untied to His resurrected life. And of course in the Feast where we know that sacrifice In this cross – where God comes to us and transforms us – they are the means by which God enables us to do the great things He has planned for us to do.
And the Gospel is that same “means”. The incredible news of God’s love, of His mercy, of His grace. The news that He has come – and dwelt among us, and we behold His glory, even as we will one day share in it.
Comprehending that through the cross, through the gospel, Jesus comes to us, bonds us to Himself and changes us – it is in this that we find our strenghth, our life, our hope…. and the power and means to accomplish the greatest things, the very things God has planned from long ago to do… because He has sent you to do them.
One last thought from St. Josemarie, a prayer:
“Lord, we are glad to find ourselves in your wounded palm. Grasp us tight, squeeze us hard, make us love all our earthly wretchedness, purify us, set us on fire, make us feel drenched in your Blood – and then cast us far, far away, hungry for the harvest, to sow the seed more fruitfully each day, for the Love of You. Amen! ( Escriva – The forge)
Vacation – rest and revitalization…honestly?
Devotional thought of the day:
It started yesterday – about noonish – we started the packing of our “new” trailer, and it took five-ish hours, with my son giving tours to our neighbors. Then a little over 2 and a half hours to drive the 90 miles to the campground, another 2 hours to set up.
While our popup trailer is comparatively comfortable – it will take a few days to get used to it – every morning a three inch mattress will remind it us its not a tempurpedic, but chaDevotional thought of the day: It started yesterday – about noonish – we started the packing of our “new” trailer, and it took five-ish hours, with my son giving tours to our neighbors. Then a little over 2 and a half hours to drive the 90 miles to the campground, another 2 hours to set up. While our popup trailer is comparatively comfortable – it will take a few days to get used to it – every morning a three inch mattress will remind it us its not a tempurpedic, but chasing a five year old will bring that mattress to call to us very welcoming at the end of each day! A
And this is supposed to be rest and rejuvination? Hmmmm…
As we let people know we were actually going on vacation, many said to leave everything behind, just go and have fun… (as if life at Concordia isn’t fun, or at least thrilling in that rollercoaster, stomach twisting kind of adventure way!)
At first I acknowledged their wisdom, but realized that part of me wouldn’t leave Cerritos. I thought it would be my mind, that it would keep trying to work through everything. I was wrong, something is still there, but it isn’t my mind, it’s my heart.
In four years at Concordia (this week is the anniversary – so about time for a vacation?) I have watched people’s faith really blossom. When I got there, they had a unique tradition – every Bible Study starts and ends with the teacher stating, “The Lord is with you!”… This tradition I have come to love, and it really has become that which shapes our ministry here. ANd as I look and pray through our families, it only is made clearer that we truly need that knowledge, that blessing, the assurance than comes with His presence.
And they have gotten it – it is evident as they respond to that blessing, with words I love to here – for they are heart felt – they want me to know God is with me, just as much as they are learning to count on it.
St Paul once wrote a prayer for a church that he loved, and missed, and said,
3:14 My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, 15 this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. 16 I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength— 17 that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, 18 you’ll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! 19 Live full lives, full in the fullness of God. 20 God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.
Ephesians 3:14-20 (MSG)
If I could describe the people of my church, it is often that they are like kids at Christmas, just opening their eyes to the magnificence of God’s love for them…. they are starting to see this – and oh is it a joy to see it, as they witness another person to whom God’s promises are poured out in baptism, or as they see their burdens and anxieties lifted off them as we hear God’s forgiveness delivered, and as we pray…and as we feast together – in our potlucks for sure, but in the more precious meal of Christ’s Body and Blood..
As they live out our mission and motto – that Concordia is the place where people heal in Christ, while helping others heal…
In this, they are being revealed to be the very craftsmanship of God (see Eph 2:10) , or in Latin, the Opus Dei, in Greek – the Poiema – the poem
It is not my mind I left behind, as much as my heart – and the joy of seeing people know God’s love for them.. of realizing that God has called them into a relationship where He is there Father, and them finding rest there…. of them knowing the words, “the Lord is with you” and reminding me in response, that He is also with me….
That’s where I truly and revitalized, and I look forward to being back!
The Cry of the Broken life Answered
Discussion/Devotional thought of the day:
Hear the words of one whose life was broken….
I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question? Romans 7:24 (MSG)
As I’ve been writing this week on brokenness – passages keep popping into my mind, proof that our generation isn’t the first broken. And proof that even as those who believe and trust in Jesus, we struggle with sin. Yesterday I wrote that the first step isn’t confession our brokenness, it is realizing that we are broken. And for many of us, that realization continues into our new life. We, like Paul, grasp how life is supposed to be – we are supposed to be whole, saintly people, dedicated to God and to doing his work. Aren’t we all supposed to have our lives change as Christians. Why can’t i bring Jesus to people like Billy Graham, or pray and have devotions like St Francis, or serve the needy like Mother Theresa? Or be a preacher and writer like Luther? Why do I still have to deal with sin, my sin, as it assaults my thoughts, is found in my words, and gulp – is seen in my deeds, (or my lack of deeds)
I think we would be surprised to find out how human they were, that they too struggled with temptation and sin, that like the APOSTLE Paul – they had days where they cried out for Christ to return, to rescue them from this life. Think about Revelation’s description of saints,
12:11 They have triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word to which they bore witness, because even in the face of death they did not cling to life. Revelation 12:11 (NJB)
Been there somedays….not wanting to cling to life, not because of the people around me, for them I would gladly stick around, but because of my own brokenness, because of the fact that I know I don’t live the way I would desire to, knowing His love. When I forget and cry out as Paul did – who will rescue me from this body of death…..
Until a friend reminds me I have been rescued. Till I stand at an altar, and am given the Bread of Life, and drink of the Cup of Salvation. Till I hear those incredible words “your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit…AMEN!) The words that Paul rights after His cry of brokeness – in those words we find the answer
7:25 The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different. 8:1 With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. 2 A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.
Romans 7:25 -8:2 (MSG)
There is our answer !
Our brokenness has been dealt with!
We have been freed from it, healed of it.
We still will struggle – with our own brokenness, even more perhaps as we see people living broken lives, unaware that their cry has been heard, that the Lord has had mercy, that He has come… and will free them….and we not only get the joy of letting them know this – when they do hear – we get to see the weight lifted off of them… we get to share in their realizing His promise…
For we are a church, a people that find healing in Christ, while healing others heal….
