Took some time to take a walk this morning on my own. The sun is shining and its a beautiful day. A bit cool but warm enough to go out in a long sleeve shirt and a jacket. I walked to the beach and found myself a nice rock near the waters edge to sit and read my Bible. Been spending some time reading through Colossians and thought I would share some of my random thoughts with you all.Christianity is so complicated in its simplicity. I find myself being able to understand why so many people turn to other religions, because every other religion requires you 'to do' something where Christianity requires nothing but faith. God makes it so simple for us to have relationship with Him. We don't have to do anything to earn our salvation or to prove ourselves worthy to God. Christ has made us worthy. He has already done the work for us when He hung on the cross taking on the sins of the world as His own. It has truly been finished! All we have to do is to accept His gift of grace. I think that once we really understand this, the more we will want to serve Him. It will be a service done out of love rather than a service to prove ourselves or as an effort to make Him love us more. He has loved us with His life and continues to pour His life into us. For in Him we are made complete. For some reason this somehow doesn't seem like enough...to just walk in faith. Is this an issue of pride in my life? Is it proof that I truly don't understand the sufficiency of Christ? In my wanting or feeling like I need 'to do' something.....anything to give back to Him, am I suffering from a need to feel in control? He has done the work and it is our job to follow Him in love and obedience. Colossians says we have been buried and raised with Christ and we are no longer subject to the regulations of this world. We have been made alive in Him. Christ IS our life! Is He my life? Are others seeing Him or are they seeing me? This journey of faith continues to be a mystery to me. "God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." God is helping me to understand Him more and I continue to be amazed by who He is and how much He loves me and has already accomplished for me so that I can have the peace of God in my heart and the hope of the glory to come!
aj, i love your phrase "complicated simplicity." and i think you are right. we do want control. it is hard for us to let comletely go and let Him rule in our hearts. to be all of Him and none of me is a lesson i will be learning my entire life time, but oh how patient He is with my learning to crucify self. also, i wanted to comment on your question: when others look at me do they see me or Him. we all want recognition. it is a human need, but the cool thing and the most important thing is that HE sees me, in all my sinfulness and with all of my failures and yet He still loves me and chooses to use me. that is the simple yet profound way of the Savoir. may I be worthy of His use. love you, mom
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Edinburgh! Hope your journey went well. So, here is my long awaited comments on "Complicated Simplicity." First of all, great title! God's instructions for us are really quite simple; the implications of true obedience are vast and far-reaching, but what God asks of us is really simple. WE are the ones who complicate it and you've done an excellent job of defining why we do. It comes down to our self-centered attitudes and need for significance. As you summed up, we feel like we need "to do SOMETHING!" Here's something I ran across last week that I thought related well to some of the things you expressed. In his book, "The Reason for God" Timothy Keller quotes John Stott: "The essence of sin is we human beings substituting ourselves for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting Himself for us. We... put ourselves where only God deserves to be; God... puts Himself where we deserve to be." Something to think about.
ReplyDeleteLove you,
Dad