Mundane Monday: Content in All Things

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Philippians 4:12

I have experienced times of need and times of abundance. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of contentment, whether I go satisfied or hungry, have plenty or nothing.”

I feel I owe an apology to those of you who have wondered why my blogging has well, um, been a little less of late.  I am indeed studying God’s word each day and cannot wait to share what He has been showing me, but today is one of those days when circumstances trump the message I had in my heart this morning.

It seems a few of our cars have decided to be difficult . . . at the same time, of course.  Couple that with a few months of no employment for my dear hubby in the midst of producing new music, my need to work full-time and a strange illness hitting me out of nowhere, well, ok . . . enough excuses.

The amazing thing is what God does in our hearts at such times. Do we delight in our circumstances being perfect or in the One Who is with us in all of our circumstances?  So today when I was driving a dually pulling my husband’s Honda on a chain behind me, a smile broke out on my face and I began to laugh.  This girl never imagined herself driving one of these rigs, and when I felt afraid, I never imagined the grace of God to fill my heart with an inner joy in the midst.  Instead, I sang a song . . .”You make me brave . . . You make me brave”.

Things breaking, vehicles conking out, illnesses, toils, troubles and all of life’s curveballs are intended to point us to our living God Who own it all. He can choose to provide for our need or show us what we really need.  These things, this life, was not meant to be our joy, after all.

So today on Mundane Monday I am reminded of the secret of contentment.  It is learned, after all – in the school of life – and God is the greatest tutor of all.

Lord, thank You for Your abundant grace in the midst of the fire.  You sustain us, Lord.  You are our refuge.  Thank You for joy at all times.

Mundane Monday: The Discovery of Hidden Sin

Leviticus 4:27-28

“If any of the common people sin by violating one of the LORD’s commands, but they don’t realize it, they are still guilty. 28 When they become aware of their sin, they must bring as an offering for their sin a female goat with no defects.”

Psalm 90:8

“You are aware of our sins; you even know about our hidden sins.”

Psalm 19:12

“But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults.”

Proverbs 28:13

“The one who covers his transgressions will not prosper, but whoever confesses them and forsakes them will find mercy.” 

John 3:20

“”For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.”

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“I did not mean to” is the common plea of our hearts when we are caught in a sin.  Somehow we perceive our guilt is lessened if we did not intend to sin.  We judge our intentions always in the best light, but our actions betray us.  Funny this is, when we perceive someone else’s sin we can be quick to assess their actions and assume the worst in their intentions.  We condemn, but we would never want such a judgment upon ourselves.

We are often taken aback when we become aware of sin in our lives.  The surprise over the revelation of our sin is possibly due to our inability to recognize our own sin unless the Holy Spirit reveals it to us and our perception of ourselves is biased.

We would rather sanitize our sins with excuses or rationalizations than face the shocking reality that we are guilty.  Guilt is heavy and we cannot escape it.  It has to be dealt with and our flesh resists accepting the blame.

I confess that Leviticus is not my favorite book of the Bible.  Something about blood being splattered left and right for people’s sins is gruesome.  But then, so is sin.  The progression of the list of unintentional sins committed by various people – the commoner, the leader, the High Priest, the congregation of Israel – at first seems repetitive, but God has a purpose for every word in His word.

All have sinned.  All are accountable.  No one escapes the gravity and consequences of sin.  We all fall short of the glory of God and all must bear the penalty for our sin.  I am amazed at how kind God is to show us our sin and to ensure that every sin is covered.  Our hidden sins matter just as much as our known sins.  God does not want us to be deceived.  He wants all to be free from slavery to sin.

Sometimes we really are ignorant that a thought or an action is sinful.  God gave us the law to help us understand, but also to cause us to see our need for His salvation.  In His incredible mercy, God knew that we often do not see our sin and He fulfilled every law Himself.  How different this is from trusting man to cover our sins.  A person might be able to sympathize with our shortcomings, but could never pay for them.

When we see sin, there are two different responses.  Conviction is different than condemnation.  The revelation of sin is oil on our head and a blessing.  Even though it hurts, thank God for His mercy in convicting us of sin.  Condemnation is judgment without mercy.  The enemy loves to accuse us.  We are, in fact guilty.  No way around it.  But the soul who is teachable and receives instruction from the Holy Spirit is no longer under the law, for grace has come to all who will accept it.

His grace is free to all, but came at a great cost. The guilty go free and are proclaimed as innocent, but Jesus did not pay that cost so we could continue in our sin – that would not free us at all.  He paid it with His great love and compassion so we could look up from the mud pile we are in, step out of the miry clay and into the grace of God to see and know the greatest joy of this life – Himself.

The moment of the revelation of sin is a crisis we all will face.  We might want to resist facing up to our sins and owning them, but that is a miserable occupation.  Covering our iniquities with excuses never feels as good as repentance and God’s covering.  Give up.  We are all caught, whether in a known or hidden sin – caught by the loving arms of God, if we let Him.

Lord, You are worthy of praise!  Thank you for showing us our sins, that we might confess them, turn from them, find mercy and know the God of this universe!

Thoughtful Thursday: Our Transcendent God

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Jeremiah 23:23-24 (NET)

23 “Do you people think that I am some local deity and not the transcendent God?” the LORD asks.  24 “Do you really think anyone can hide himself where I cannot see him?” the LORD asks. “Do you not know that I am everywhere?” the LORD asks.

Isaiah 55:8 (NET)

8 “Indeed, my plans are not like your plans, and my deeds are not like your deeds, 9 for just as the sky is higher than the earth, so my deeds are superior to your deeds and my plans superior to your plans.”

Job 11:7 (ESV)

“Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?”

Romans 11:33-36 (NET)

33 “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how fathomless his ways! 34 For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? 35 Or who has first given to God, that God needs to repay him? 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen.

Psalm 113:5-6

Who can compare to the LORD our God, who sits on a high throne? 6 He bends down to look at the sky and the earth.”

John 8:23

“Jesus replied, “You people are from below; I am from above. You people are from this world; I am not from this world.””

How do I even begin to write about God’s greatness?  How is it that such grace has come to us that we can know Him? Today I am struck by how much higher His ways and thoughts are from ours.  We do not even recognize how small and needful we are, apart from His grace and the Holy Spirit revealing our soul’s heart cry for someone greater than ourselves.

Fans of movie stars are in awe at the sight of what they consider greatness, but those stars are merely creations. So many things in this world grab our attention and worship, but none of them are truly worth such devotion.  Only our living God is worthy of such respect.  We worship a God Who is greater than us – truly worthy of our worship.

All at once we are undone that God can see into our inmost soul – our thoughts before we conceive them, our motivations, our every action.  To be so known and yet accepted by a Holy God is too much too completely comprehend.

How do we know this awesome God, whose face we cannot behold, lest we perish?  Whose presence cannot be contained?  Whose Holiness is so foreign to our fleshly mortality?  Who is sovereign over all activity on earth?  Who, in His genius designed every aspect of creation down to the smallest particle?  Who is Omniscient, knowing all?  Who is outside time?  Who has always been?  Who would establish righteous laws and then fulfill them by choosing to come live among a corrupt, spiritually bankrupt people and lay His life down for them?

This mystery of God’s revelation of Himself to us is miraculous and not able to be fully understood.  Our eyes were blind to His supremacy and our need of Him until He drew us to Himself and caused us to understand.

How beyond words is the fact that we are invited, finite and poor, to fellowship with the Holy One, the Omnipresent and beyond the highest riches – our transcendent God.  But why does His transcendence matter?  Because we were made to worship and though we are easily fascinated with substitutes trying to fill that vacuum, our inmost being longs to worship Someone higher than ourselves.

When we consider a God that is not easily defined or understood, a sense of awe is pervasive within our souls.  To pause and seek what truly matters and to worship the One Who is, Who was, and Who is to come, we are worshiping the One Who is higher than any other entity on this earth for all eternity.  It is in worshiping the Almighty God, the Creator of this universe, that we are doing what we were made to do and find our greatest joy and sense of purpose.  Worshiping the Only One Who is awesome and far above us causes us to rise out of what is perceived as an ordinary life and see the spiritual realities all around us.  It is in worshiping our transcendent God that we are enabled to live in a way which glorifies our Maker and transcends ourselves beyond merely living for the here and now.

Lord, You are awesome, Holy, so much higher than us.  Thank You for drawing us to Yourself. Help us to know You more and to worship You with sincere hearts, lost in Your greatness and found by You.  Give us understanding about how great You are that we would never stray from You. 

Worshipful Wednesday: The Context of God’s Purposes

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Jeremiah 29:10 – 14

10 “For the LORD says, ‘Only when the seventy years of Babylonian rule are over will I again take up consideration for you. Then I will fulfill my gracious promise to you and restore you to your homeland. 11 For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the LORD. ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope. 12 When you call out to me and come to me in prayer, I will hear your prayers. 13 When you seek me in prayer and worship, you will find me available to you. If you seek me with all your heart and soul, 14 I will make myself available to you,’ says the LORD. ‘Then I will reverse your plight and will regather you from all the nations and all the places where I have exiled you,’ says the LORD. ‘I will bring you back to the place from which I exiled you.’

Jeremiah 30:11, 15-17, 24

11 “For I, the LORD, affirm that I will be with you and will rescue you. I will completely destroy all the nations where I scattered you. But I will not completely destroy you. I will indeed discipline you, but only in due measure. I will not allow you to go entirely unpunished. 15 Why do you complain about your injuries, that your pain is incurable? I have done all this to you because your wickedness is so great and your sin is so much 16 But all who destroyed you will be destroyed. All your enemies will go into exile. Those who plundered you will be plundered. I will cause those who pillaged you to be pillaged. 17 Yes, I will restore you to health. I will heal your wounds. I, the LORD, affirm it! For you have been called an outcast, Zion, whom no one cares for. 24 The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has fully carried out his intended purposes. In days to come you will come to understand this.”

 

Possibly one of the most well-known promises of God is found in Jeremiah 29:11.  This promise is perhaps popular because we want to believe that our good is God’s goal.  But there is a higher purpose than our comfort and blessing.  God’s glory and a right relationship with Him far exceeds the value of our lives being perfect on this earth.

Rarely have I heard this precious promise considered in the context in which it was made.  It was a promise of restoration and healing in the midst of impending doom being spoken to Jeremiah for God’s people.  God was preparing to discipline His children in captivity to Babylon for seventy years, but gave them hope that He was going to use that captivity to ultimately set them free.   God’s purposes are always good, but the processes we go through in those purposes are not often valued in the eyes of man.

If relief from suffering is our goal, we miss the jewel in the midst of suffering and what it can produce.  From a place of suffering some of the most sincere worship is found.  It is in the dark places that we finally cease to rely on self and cry out to our heavenly Father.  Our eyes are opened to our need for God’s cleansing in our lives and suddenly our focus becomes clearer.  We see Him as our life; nothing in this life could ever satisfy us more than Himself.

We are easily deceived during times of blessing and of trial.  Blessing lulls us into a state of being lukewarm and God loves us enough to wake us up and show us what really matters.  The enemy uses hardship as an opportunity to create doubt in our hearts about God’s character.  

Within our Christian culture there can be lies of prosperity being all that God has planned for His people.  But we do not want to be guilty of what the false prophets were in Jeremiah’s day.  They counseled rebellion against the LORD by insisting that the hardship Jeremiah prophesied was not from God.  If we ascribe to the philosophy of only blessings for God’s people, we become spoiled children only wanting what we perceive as good gifts from our God. 

Accepting hardship as discipline from our loving God and praising Him in the midst is where our greatest gift really lies.  His purposes truly are only good, all the time.  How truly marvelous that our God would go to such lengths to convey His plan and hope to us.  In His mercy, God exposes our hearts and reveals that we have worshiped at the god of comfort and of self.  We are set free when we trust God in all seasons and worship Him in the fire as well as in the times off peace.

Even though it can be difficult to understand why God allows suffering in, God promises we will understand His purposes when we seek Him with all our heart.  His purposes are often hidden deep within our circumstances, a gift to be discovered by those who are willing to lay down their own agenda and seek His will.  It is in our fervent worship that we begin to see His purposes far surpass our understanding.  It is in laying down our desire for a problem-free life and yielding to His plan rather than fighting it or merely surviving that we begin to see through the eyes of eternity.

What a good God to inject hope when His people were under siege.  God knows we are fragile and tend to see only what is right in front of us.  His promises are amazing, but not meant to be our joy – He is our ultimate joy and satisfaction in this life.

Lord, help us to find our real purpose and joy in this life – You.  Help us to worship You through every purpose and plan You have for this life.

Mundane Monday: The Measure of Our Strength

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1 Thessalonians 3:2-5

2 “We sent Timothy, our brother and fellow worker for God in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen you and encourage you about your faith, 3 so that no one would be shaken by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. 4 For in fact when we were with you, we were telling you in advance that we would suffer affliction, and so it has happened, as you well know.  5 So when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter somehow tempted you and our toil had proven useless.”

Acts 14:21 22

“They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, 22 strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.”

Psalms 34:19

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all.”

2 Corinthians 4:8-11

“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.  For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

“And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

“You do not determine a man’s greatness by his talent or wealth, as the world does, but rather by what it takes to discourage him.”  Jerry Falwell

The early leaders of the church were not wooing new believers to their meetings with promises of donuts and coffee, nor making their time of worship more appealing with seeker sensitive or culturally relevant ideologies.  In fact, they promised affliction and hardships for those who recognized their need for a Savior and chose to place their faith in Jesus Christ.

Wow.  Hardly seems like a way to share the Gospel to us today.  Our society longs to make things easier – in fact, we worship at the altar of comfort and ease.  Now, I am not saying we cannot offer pleasantries to make the Gospel attractive to unbelievers, but the power of the Gospel is enough and the Word of God is living, active and powerful.

I confess that I have worried about new believers doubting their new faith when troubles enter in.  I want to protect them, but realize that God is better suited for that role than I am.  And when new believers see other believers who have weathered difficult storms and glorified God in the midst, that witness speaks volumes more than any program ever could.

Jesus promised that we would have troubles and demonstrated how to walk through them in victory.  Genuine faith does not mean we will not have times of fear or of great sorrow, but it does mean we have One Who walks with us through life’s tragedies and triumphs, breathing grace into our souls.

If our faith is so fragile that we doubt the very goodness of God when life hurts,  we have been deceived and been lulled into a superficial faith based on the idolatry of pleasure.  But if from that place of fragility we look upward and ask God to strengthen us, we become overcomers in Christ.

Authentic faith is not easily shaken when the storms blow, nor crushed by sorrows.  It is a quiet confidence that stands up to fear and bears burdens firmly trusting in God’s promises, even when it hurts. God mercifully died for us, chose us for salvation and will not leave us when the wind blows.  He loves us and we can trust Him.  Perhaps our view of suffering might be altered in the midst of God’s enablement through it.

Affliction surprisingly offers a promise.  That we will be more like Christ, that we will be comforted by God Himself.  That we will know and understand Him more.  That, when we have been tested we will come forth as gold.

Lord, give us Your perspective and understanding.  Our lives are Yours.  Every blessing and every hardship we pour out at Your beautiful feet.  Blessed be Your perfect, awesome Name.

Worshipful Wednesday: Our Protector

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Psalm 94:14

“Certainly the LORD does not forsake his people; he does not abandon the nation that belongs to him. 15 For justice will prevail, and all the morally upright will be vindicated. 16 Who will rise up to defend me against the wicked? Who will stand up for me against the evildoers? 17 If the LORD had not helped me, I would have laid down in the silence of death. 18 If I say, “My foot is slipping,” your loyal love, O LORD, supports me. 19 When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy. 21 They conspire against the blameless, and condemn to death the innocent.  22 But the LORD will protect me, and my God will shelter me.” 

Psalm 91:1-6, 14-15

“Whoever goes to the Lord for safety, whoever remains under the protection of the Almighty, 2 can say to him, “You are my defender and protector. You are my God; in you I trust.” 3 He will keep you safe from all hidden dangers and from all deadly diseases. 4 He will cover you with his wings; you will be safe in his care; his faithfulness will protect and defend you.5 You need not fear any dangers at night or sudden attacks during the day 6 or the plagues that strike in the dark or the evils that kill in daylight. 14 God says, “I will save those who love me and will protect those who acknowledge me as Lord.15 When they call to me, I will answer them; when they are in trouble, I will be with them. I will rescue them and honor them.”

When I was in middle school, I remember well people who surrounded me and bullied me.  Knife fights on Fridays were to be avoided and you did not want to look at anyone the wrong way, lest they think that you were judging them and want to fight you.  The bus ride to and from school was where I tried my first earnest petitions for God’s protection.  “God, please keep me safe.  Do not let these people beat me up”.  “Protect me”.  I thought if I refused to fight and was kind to them that they would leave me alone.  Not so much.  Insecure people thrive on intimidating others.  But our God is bigger.

Back then He used friends and family to stand in the gap to protect me.  I was a bookworm as a kid, quiet and shy. Definitely not a fighter.  I remember being so thankful that my two older brothers had my back.  I was not alone.  Ultimately, though, my brothers could not be there for every scuffle.  When perpetrators sought to harm me, God defended me and made a way out.  When my heart was filled with fear, God was my covering and my Protector.

If I thought the trauma from childhood was bad, it was a walk in the park compared to what lie ahead.  Cleaving to my God when being bullied, God used me to protect my children from harm, and from those who wanted to control or force their way in.  God’s protection is stronger than any other, but sometimes we have to walk through the fire to appreciate it.

Somewhere along this road in life we will encounter people who seek to harm us.  Maybe it is jealousy, or they want what we have.  Maybe they think they have a right to be in our life, despite their inability to respect our boundaries.  Maybe they persist because they truly believe they have a right to.

As we seek refuge in our God, we also walk in wisdom.  Walking at night alone and expecting protection is careless. Placing healthy boundaries in our lives can be a source of protection, but is not where our hope for deliverance rests.  Sometimes we are presented with challenges that we did not seek out or place ourselves in.  It is then that our God will rise up and defend us.  Like the Israelites, that deliverance might hurt.  It will not be easy, but He will carry us through it.

As we hide in the eye of the storm and watch our God fight for us, we might need to make sure we have let go of the anxiety and fear that were our companions when we were harassed.  Forgiving people for inflicting harm also frees us to revel in the joy of the LORD and to be free from the fear of man.  Compassion for the oppressor surprises us as we let go of any right we feel we have to become embittered for harm we suffered.  Forgiveness does not mean, however, that we permit open access to people who think they deserve it.  Walking in wisdom means we have boundaries in place to test the trustworthiness of those who want to be in our lives.  Jacob and Esau forgave one another but they did not dwell near one another.

Good old fashioned respect and apologies go a long way in mending relationships, but boundaries are perfectly acceptable and needed to protect us when people have violated us and our trust.  Bullies were not just in the middle school play yard. And they are not always people.  We can be bullied and pressured by life’s hardships, until we run to our Shelter.

A job, a person, an entity or a court system are not our Savior – they might be tools God uses to protect us, but God is the One doing the protecting.  When we come to know Him as our Deliverer, Defender and Protector, we trust Him and are able to help others do the same as our lives are a testimony of His grace and provision.  He is faithful and loves to come to the aid of His people who cry out.  He did not promise us that there would not be surging waters and roaring fires, but He did promise to carry us through it all.  What an awesome, faithful God!

Lord, help us to trust in You and Your deliverance.  We worship You, our Covering, our Jehovah Nissi, our Protector – Jehovah Roi!  Thank you for Your mighty salvation!  We look to You alone!

Truthful Tuesday: Temptation’s Opportunity

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Luke 4:13

“So when the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until a more opportune time.”

1 Corinthians 10:13

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

James 1:13-14

“When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.”

Luke 22:40

” On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.”

Matthew 6:13

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

Romans 6:14

“For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace.”

“The devil made me do it”.  “I couldn’t help myself”.  “I wanted to do it”.  Ever said similar things?  Mankind’s tendency is to rationalize why we do the things we do.  Paul understands.  He battled with the flesh, too, and left us excellent advice on the subject in the book of Romans.

The key is in the word, “battle”.  Many times we do not recognize that we are indeed in a battle, whether we want to be or not.  Doing nothing is doing something.  Resisting temptation is not enough when the forces of evil are seeking to plummet our walk with God.  Having a good offense and storing God’s Word as well as praising God in the midst are excellent tools to have in our arsenal, but we also must exercise our will by the grace of God in the midst of our moments of temptation.

I find it ironic that “Truthful Tuesday” was on my heart today, when my youngest child was writing the verse from Psalm 34:13 for me 100 times – “Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies”.  Convincing my son that lying is not the solution to his problem with sin is a challenge.  Yet, just like his forefathers, he attempts to cover up his iniquity with excuses or falsehood.  We could never cover up all our transgressions nor face the temptations that come our way if it were not for the grace of God and the His covering of our sins by His own blood.

So who is to blame?  Certainly the enemy’s hand is ready to make us stumble.  Our own flesh,too, fully corrupt in its desires, is prone to influence us toward it’s will.  As humbling as it is to admit, we ourselves are deceived if we think we have triumphed over temptation.  It is not a once and done deal.  Hence the need for our dependence on God in relationship with Him.

When I was reading again of Christ’s victory over satan’s temptations, the words, “he departed from him until a  more opportune time” stood out to me.  Christ approached his temptation with fasting and prayer and overcame.  Yet his time of dealing with the evil one was not over.  He would undergo temptation to the point of sweating blood and deny self in every way, providing salvation for the entire world.  He was fully God and fully man and it was not easy.

In our culture, our goal can often be to take the easy route, to pursue comfort.  Such an endeavor is fertile ground for temptation to woo its victims.  Catering to the flesh fosters growth of that same flesh and will make it much more difficult to quiet its demands when tempation seizes its next opportunity.  We must never take the stance that we are done with temptation.  God’s salvation opened the door to our heart to discern sin, but we must be watchful and in prayer, so that we might continually be overcomers in Christ.

Lord, give us a holy fear to stay ever close to you.  Help us to recognize when we are being tempted and to flee all temptation, running to Your perfect arms.

Mundane Monday: Beautiful Death

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Colossians 2:6-10

“Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and firm in your faith just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness 8 Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you through an empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form, 10  and you have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.”

Colossians 3:3-6

3 “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  4 When Christ (who is your life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him. 5  So put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth: sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion, evil desire, and greed which is idolatry. “

When we hear the words philosophy and tradition, what is our first reaction?  *Yawn*.  Well, to be honest, I confess I love to discuss deep thoughts and perspectives and to analyze why we do what we do.  Isn’t it a blessing to know, though, that being in Christ is not contingent upon recitations of sayings or following a set of rules?  No, our relationship with Christ is vibrant and full of life.

This invitation to the greatest adventure known at first blush does not sound very appealing.  Come, die.   Die to self, die to your former ways.  Until you discover the beauty in this death.  The freedom to walk away from sin and to invite God Himself to indwell us and to enable us to live for His glory.  Unparalleled joy, beyond comparison.

When we first die to our flesh, our flesh cries out, complaining about having to do so.  The argument about the Christian life being boring begins to try to tempt our souls that it is unbearable to have to discipline our flesh.  But wisdom reveals that our flesh is not our friend.

All the time wasted listening to our flesh crying out about what it wants, when the inner man longs for what is really our joy – time with Christ.  What joy was found in disobedience?  What grief and sorrow have been born from choosing to walk after the things of this world?  Seems hardly worth it now.

But time with Jesus is sweeter than any other vocation on this earth and satisfies our souls long after the temporary satisfaction of pleasing the flesh does.  This God of the universe chose to live in us!  That, my friend, is far more exhilarating than anything else this world has to offer.

Lord, help us to be filled with your joy when the world makes us feel like fools.  Whatever sacrifice we have offered pales in comparison to Your sacrifice and the greatness and privilege of walking with You.