From Cha Cha: I think as we mature in our Christian walk the more we realize how messed up we are. (Sinful creatures) But we need to remember lots of things one being...Joy...the Christian life is supposed to be full of joy.
That is why, lately, I really like Romans 15:13 "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing..."
As a recovering Pharisee (one of these days I plan to be able to say “former” Pharisee but as for now the battle is too fierce and the lapses too frequent and long to claim that victory. Soon, please Lord, soon), I have spent a great deal of my life dedicated to keeping up with the “rules” of Christianity and the “performance” that goes along with that. In the past satisfaction was found in my human efforts at righteousness in an attempt to please God, my fellow man, and myself. Yes, that is called sin. If only they had special meetings for people like me…..oh, yeah, they do. It is what we like to call church.
Despite the fact that my head knows and believes God is interested in a relationship with me instead of a list of rules that I have followed, my heart struggles. Or perhaps it is the other way around. In either case, my temperament along with years of living in a performance-based society (sometimes church included) have made this a difficult weight to bear and to unload. Oh, what I would give for a few more late night discussions (otherwise known as therapy) under the tutelage of Rob O and his precious wife. That brother gets it. He is hard-wired for it.
Instead God, in His infinite wisdom, has chosen to chip away at my addiction to religiosity through His Word and the words of human authors in the various books I have been reading. Through religious detox, He has stripped me down to zero. I no longer know what I thought I knew. Now begins the rebuilding. God can rebuild me, He has the technology. He can make me better than I was before. Better. Stronger. Filled with more joy!
A few words from the book Pleasures Evermore by Sam Storm (who just so happens to pastor the church we have been visiting – coincidence? – I think NOT), and then I must go for today as the baby begins to sing and tell stories in her crib:
“Holiness is then measured by how successful we are in saying No to our list of personal prohibitions. Being a Christian becomes an issue of restraint. We define our identity in Christ in terms of what we don’t do (that’s me). We judge the spiritual status and maturity of others based on how diligent they are to withdraw from the same list of prohibited activities we do (ouch!). Love for God is measured by our commitment to separate from the unsavory and avoid the unacceptable (p. 22). The result notes Jeff Imbach, is this:
‘Life becomes proscribed by all the things we should avoid and prescribed by all the things we must be careful to do. We get so busy trying to demonstrate our spiritual correctness that we lose the art of living out of our souls. We downsize our souls to achieve a safer bottom line of religious acceptability. We are left to live between the rock of crisp correct religious doctrines and rules, and the hard place of duty-bound activity as supposed proof of our spiritual fervor (from The River Within: Loving God, Living Passionately, p. 23).
I say, “No more!” I have had enough. I choose victory. I choose joy! But, how?
“There is no way to triumph over sin long-term unless we develop a distaste for it because of a superior satisfaction in God. The only way to find sin distasteful is to eat and savor the sweetness of all that God for us in Jesus. The solution isn’t to stop eating. The answer isn’t found in ignoring our hunger pangs. They key is ingesting the joys of Jesus and the grace, mercy, kindness, love, forgiveness, power, and peace that He alone can bring to the famished soul” (p.21-22).
May it be so! And in case you still don’t get it, because I sure haven’t.
“I’m convinced (Sam speaking here) that we have only one of two options. Either we can devote ourselves and our time and our energy to demonstrating the ugliness and futility of sin and the world, hoping that such will embolden our hearts to say No to it as unworthy of our affection, or we can demonstrate the beauty and splendor of all that God is for us in Jesus and become happily and joyfully enticed by a rival affection.”
“The only way to liberate the heart from servitude to the passing pleasures of sin is by cultivating a passion for the joy and delight of beholding the beauty of God in the face of Jesus. What breaks the power of sin is faith in the promise that the pleasures of sin are temporary and toxic but at God’s right hand are pleasures evermore” (see Psalm 16:11) (p. 31).
Amen. And in case you missed it the first time you read it: “We get so busy trying to demonstrate our spiritual correctness that we lose the art of living out of our souls” (Jeff Imbach). Chew on that a while.
5 comments:
Ok, I just don't get it. This is nothing spiritual this is technical. I know I checked this blog yesterday and there was not post. I was going to write something like if you want comments then you need to write stuff but I didn't. Know I check it out and it states Monday July 6th. That cann't be. Does it take two days to post or are you just messing with my mind?
Ok, grammer and speling r knot my stenghts but you knew what I mean.
It is really simple Cha Cha. Unless I manually change the post date, it will always put when I actually STARTED typing the post instead of the date and time when I hit publish post. Capiche? In this particular case, you are not crazy.
I say he's still crazy and that was just a coincidence...
Got it...I think! But what does Capote mean?
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