Saturday, March 26, 2011

I used to think being a Christian shielded you from emotional hurts.

Wrong.

Friday, March 25, 2011

No Return Policy

You can sin as a Christian, but in my experience, you cannot fully live in it.

Something inside keeps you from being totally given over to it; totally deceived by it's lust.

What I am saying is that you can indeed give into it's desires, but you can not be it's slave. It longer has ownership of you. Christ made sure of that.

I can't fully be given over to anger. I belong to Another. He bought me and He keeps me because He paid the price for me in full; He didn't just put a down payment.

It isn't through my will power, but it's because He bought me. He paid for me and He got what He purchased. He predestined me to belong to Him, and He will have me, no matter what power seeks to buy me back. It's non-negotiable.

I am His because He made me His.

Friday, March 11, 2011

How Firm a Foundation

Can we really begin to be healed before we truly relax in the love of Christ and become utterly dependent on his grace?

The whole of Christianity is built on the foundation of Christ.

A correct view of mankind is understanding mankind is dead. Utterly helpless and lifeless, God, in his sovereignty, picks him up and breathes life into him. He causes us to stand. He holds us up.

True Christianity is Christianity that brings joy to a sinners heart because his eyes are opened to the reality that God does not require anything from him, but has himself provided the sacrifice needed to take away all judgment. True Christianity is all of God's doing and all of man's trust in that doing.

Christianity is that I do absolutely nothing but put my whole trust on Christ and Christ alone.

What distortion some will give the good news that God brings to the world. His news and his gift was intended to change a man's heart and draw him close, but these people scare the sheep away from their shepherd. I don't doubt the condemnation that waits for those who put a stumbling block in the way of someone who wants so much to trust in Christ alone, but is constantly hindered by false teaching.

"Anyone who causes one of these little ones who trust in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a millstone tied around his neck and be thrown into the depth of the sea."

You can trust totally in Christ and rest assured his work is a sure work and his work paid the debt that was owed. He is strong enough to save you.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Sometimes I think the change is making it's way through, that God is working in me what he wills to do.

I get so low at times, thinking, "Look at where I've come from. I was beautiful and pure once. Now I've fallen back into things that I once strove to avoid."

But I just don't have the will or strength to fight it anymore. Not that I embrace it; just that I know I can't overcome it by my own strength.

Maybe this is the meaning of Christ displaying his strength in my weakness. Maybe it's in those fleeting moments of genuine care and compassion that the light of Christ peaks out through this fallen body. Maybe it's when I least expect it or am totally unaware of it.

After all, it seems to be that way with Christ's flock. They will ask him on that Day, "Lord, when did I see you and love you?" They were genuinely at a loss as to what he was talking about. They never even realized it was happening. It was all due to the power of a kind and gracious God, who slowly and gently worked in us to will and to do.

I want the real power of God to miraculously change my heart and my ways. I've seen first hand that the flesh can only give birth to flesh. Likewise, only the Spirit can birth true love into, and through, a person.

"Though I am very dark, I am lovely" says the bride.