When a person is born again, there is a period of time when he does not have the same vitality in his thinking or reasoning that he previously had. We must learn to express this new life within us, which comes by forming the mind of Christ (see Philippians 2:5 ). Luke 21:19 means that we take possession of our souls through patience. But many of us prefer to stay at the entrance to the Christian life, instead of going on to create and build our soul in accordance with the new life God has placed within us. We fail because we are ignorant of the way God has made us, and we blame things on the devil that are actually the result of our own undisciplined natures. Just think what we could be when we are awakened to the truth!
There are certain things in life that we need not pray about— moods, for instance. We will never get rid of moodiness by praying, but we will by kicking it out of our lives. Moods nearly always are rooted in some physical circumstance, not in our true inner self. It is a continual struggle not to listen to the moods which arise as a result of our physical condition, but we must never submit to them for a second. We have to pick ourselves up by the back of the neck and shake ourselves; then we will find that we can do what we believed we were unable to do. The problem that most of us are cursed with is simply that we won’t. The Christian life is one of spiritual courage and determination lived out in our flesh.
May 20th from "My utmost for his highest"
Thursday, May 20, 2010
funny misconceptions
I was thinking this morning about the perception of of Christians. I think that many spend a lot of time thinking about what non-christians think about them and about their faith. I'm not here to try to dissuade anyone from believing what they want or to try to proselytize anyone. I'm here to say a few things about what it is really like to follow Jesus.
1) It is much harder than anyone thinks it is. I think there's this bait-and-switch mentality which people attempt to evangelize. We give the impression that Jesus wants to make your life easier and better for you. In a way he does. His desire is for us to follow Him and to shape us more like Jesus. He means it. Not on any time scale we think, but on His. Sometimes urgent, sometimes slow, He works on us at all different speeds. I've found that once that initial commitment to Jesus wears off that we're all left with trying to become actual disciples, which is hard. Sanctification is hard folks, and if it's not you should check your heart.
2) It is not about outward changes, but inward. Anyone can change their behavior. But Jesus knows our hearts, the desire behind how we act. He said that if we lust in our hearts we've committed adultery with that woman. Now this isn't some legalistic way of tightening the reigns on our actions, but to give even all of our thoughts to Him. He took everything that we are and do and made it into a heart condition. Where our hearts lie is also our desires. We constantly have to be checking our hearts because fundamentally they are flawed and only Jesus can change them for the better. When we change it's behavior modification, when Jesus changes us it's our heart.
3) It is SO much BETTER than anyone thinks it is. To quote Tom Hanks in "A League of their Own", "It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great." It is hard and that's one thing that makes it worth it. The other is that Jesus is worth it. He's worth any pathetic attempt I have to follow, and believe me it's pathetic. But he doesn't mind my pathetic attempt. He doesn't mind that I am where I am although I wish "I were farther". We're so linear and God is not. He walks along side of us through all of this and He truly loves us. I think the whole thing is amazing. He has redeemed us. We may have bad days, weeks, years, but He will redeem them all for His glory. All of my failures, then, now and future He has made right and redeemed.
My walk is different than I thought it would be. I love that. I thought it would be a steady climb through sanctification. I thought I'd always be getting better. But it's not like that. We fall. We hurt. We don't trust Jesus. We do what we want. God will let us have the desire of our hearts, and if it's not Him, He permits it. But when we to idolize other things and run away from Him, He's right there again like the prodigal son with open arms and loving grace. The old hymn had it right: "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me." I wish more people would dwell in those words than sing some melody with worthless words. They are powerful.
1) It is much harder than anyone thinks it is. I think there's this bait-and-switch mentality which people attempt to evangelize. We give the impression that Jesus wants to make your life easier and better for you. In a way he does. His desire is for us to follow Him and to shape us more like Jesus. He means it. Not on any time scale we think, but on His. Sometimes urgent, sometimes slow, He works on us at all different speeds. I've found that once that initial commitment to Jesus wears off that we're all left with trying to become actual disciples, which is hard. Sanctification is hard folks, and if it's not you should check your heart.
2) It is not about outward changes, but inward. Anyone can change their behavior. But Jesus knows our hearts, the desire behind how we act. He said that if we lust in our hearts we've committed adultery with that woman. Now this isn't some legalistic way of tightening the reigns on our actions, but to give even all of our thoughts to Him. He took everything that we are and do and made it into a heart condition. Where our hearts lie is also our desires. We constantly have to be checking our hearts because fundamentally they are flawed and only Jesus can change them for the better. When we change it's behavior modification, when Jesus changes us it's our heart.
3) It is SO much BETTER than anyone thinks it is. To quote Tom Hanks in "A League of their Own", "It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great." It is hard and that's one thing that makes it worth it. The other is that Jesus is worth it. He's worth any pathetic attempt I have to follow, and believe me it's pathetic. But he doesn't mind my pathetic attempt. He doesn't mind that I am where I am although I wish "I were farther". We're so linear and God is not. He walks along side of us through all of this and He truly loves us. I think the whole thing is amazing. He has redeemed us. We may have bad days, weeks, years, but He will redeem them all for His glory. All of my failures, then, now and future He has made right and redeemed.
My walk is different than I thought it would be. I love that. I thought it would be a steady climb through sanctification. I thought I'd always be getting better. But it's not like that. We fall. We hurt. We don't trust Jesus. We do what we want. God will let us have the desire of our hearts, and if it's not Him, He permits it. But when we to idolize other things and run away from Him, He's right there again like the prodigal son with open arms and loving grace. The old hymn had it right: "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me." I wish more people would dwell in those words than sing some melody with worthless words. They are powerful.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
memory
It's a weird thing. That we have memories. That at any moment we can close our eyes and go back to any moment that we can think of. Most memories are triggered by something, a smell, a song, an image, a moment. Lately I've been going up to this park at night to swing. In those moments I forget so much of what I've been dealing with lately only to be fifteen year old Patrick swinging on a warm June night back home. It literally feels like I am in that moment again. I can actually feel like what I felt like almost fifteen years ago. It feels great.
Today is was me sitting in Zera's and in the furniture store next door a pre-teen (are they called tweens now?) was playing Heart and Soul on a jankety, old upright piano. I loved it. It took me back to middle school when everybody and their dog (also an expression highly used back in the day) played that. It continually annoyed me. I doesn't anymore. I loved hearing it. I wish they had played it so much more. It took me back.
Now I am a nostalgic person by nature and to a fault I spend too much time dwelling on the past. I know this, it is nothing new to me. But God has been shaping my heart of late, to live now, to be now. This is a tall order for me as I spend a good deal of time in the past. I know this is not healthy and not where God wants my mind. He did a very good thing for us. He did a thing that makes the past obsolete, yet I still dwell there. My heart dwells there. The bible very clearly states that where our heart is, my life is (read Psalm 51). I want my life to be here and now with Jesus. Not in the dullery that was my former life.
No matter how much I love those memories, I can't go back and don't desire to. I think what I keep going back to was the innocence and freeness that comes from being young. The weight of life is so much less to them (although they are dealing with newfound emotions which seems like a big deal) than it is to us. I can literally feel the weight of the world on me. It's physical. It's real. It hurts. I guess that's why Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)
It's weird being so flawed. This is the state of man's heart. We have wicked hearts that are completely beyond repair. There is no program, scheme, or self-help that will "fix" you. It's impossible. People can surpress the truth and pretend it's all good, but it's a sham. We are simply not capable of fixing ourselves. We can't even control our own feelings! We'd like to think we can, but then why do people have affairs? or kill? or lie? I'm sure any person wouldn't WANT to be those things. Who wants to be an adulterer? Who wants to be a murderer? Who wants to be a liar?
There is only one help for the state of our hearts. Jesus. The amazing thing about Jesus is that when you want Him he's there. He actually indwells inside of our bodies. There is a lot of literature in the bible explaining this phenomenon. The indwelling of the spirit. It's real. He's here. He's inside of us. This is both good and incredibly good for us. I want to say bad instead of incredibly good, because we are so broken and most of the time we don't want the spirit inside of us. People say they can actually feel the spirit in them. Feel it. It's real. It's not some mental construct we made up. Why would I make it up? The spirit spends a lot of time convicting me of my pride and selfishness. There is also a lot of joy. Sometimes too much and all I can do is cry.
I'm glad that God created us to have memories. We have them for a reason. We need to remember. We need to remember why we're here, why we were created. It's so beautiful. We need to remember Jesus. He remembers us, he has our name written on his hand. Nothing is better, sweeter, or more life giving.
Today is was me sitting in Zera's and in the furniture store next door a pre-teen (are they called tweens now?) was playing Heart and Soul on a jankety, old upright piano. I loved it. It took me back to middle school when everybody and their dog (also an expression highly used back in the day) played that. It continually annoyed me. I doesn't anymore. I loved hearing it. I wish they had played it so much more. It took me back.
Now I am a nostalgic person by nature and to a fault I spend too much time dwelling on the past. I know this, it is nothing new to me. But God has been shaping my heart of late, to live now, to be now. This is a tall order for me as I spend a good deal of time in the past. I know this is not healthy and not where God wants my mind. He did a very good thing for us. He did a thing that makes the past obsolete, yet I still dwell there. My heart dwells there. The bible very clearly states that where our heart is, my life is (read Psalm 51). I want my life to be here and now with Jesus. Not in the dullery that was my former life.
No matter how much I love those memories, I can't go back and don't desire to. I think what I keep going back to was the innocence and freeness that comes from being young. The weight of life is so much less to them (although they are dealing with newfound emotions which seems like a big deal) than it is to us. I can literally feel the weight of the world on me. It's physical. It's real. It hurts. I guess that's why Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)
It's weird being so flawed. This is the state of man's heart. We have wicked hearts that are completely beyond repair. There is no program, scheme, or self-help that will "fix" you. It's impossible. People can surpress the truth and pretend it's all good, but it's a sham. We are simply not capable of fixing ourselves. We can't even control our own feelings! We'd like to think we can, but then why do people have affairs? or kill? or lie? I'm sure any person wouldn't WANT to be those things. Who wants to be an adulterer? Who wants to be a murderer? Who wants to be a liar?
There is only one help for the state of our hearts. Jesus. The amazing thing about Jesus is that when you want Him he's there. He actually indwells inside of our bodies. There is a lot of literature in the bible explaining this phenomenon. The indwelling of the spirit. It's real. He's here. He's inside of us. This is both good and incredibly good for us. I want to say bad instead of incredibly good, because we are so broken and most of the time we don't want the spirit inside of us. People say they can actually feel the spirit in them. Feel it. It's real. It's not some mental construct we made up. Why would I make it up? The spirit spends a lot of time convicting me of my pride and selfishness. There is also a lot of joy. Sometimes too much and all I can do is cry.
I'm glad that God created us to have memories. We have them for a reason. We need to remember. We need to remember why we're here, why we were created. It's so beautiful. We need to remember Jesus. He remembers us, he has our name written on his hand. Nothing is better, sweeter, or more life giving.
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