This was the question asked by my pastor yesterday morning. It is one of the most important questions that can be asked of each of us. It will reveal to us what is truly our heart's treasure. It reminded of a quote from Andrew Murray from his sermon, Absolute Surrender.
"Who is there who truly longs to be delivered from the power of the self-life, who truly acknowledges that it is the power of self and the flesh, and who is willing to cast all at the feet of Christ?"
Can any of us say these words truly? "I give up everything. I will hold nothing back. Nothing in myself or in my life, nothing I own or hold valuable, not my friends, my family, my job, my beliefs of who He is, my time, my money, my rights, nothing is off limits to God and his purifying fire. Which fire is His love that has and always will burn us clean."
As much as I hate to say it, I have not been and still seem not willing enough to give over EVERYTHING. God is allowed to walk the halls of my life in only certain areas. I come out to see Him every now and then, but when I get uncomfortable or find it more than I am wanting to give or do I hide in the parts of myself I have refused to let Him enter.
My answer to these questions would have to be, "No. I don't really want to be pure. I don't really want to be free of my self-centered life."
How can I change? How can you? It seems like an impossible task, even if I wanted to change. It is impossible. "Without me you can do nothing." Christ is the answer, Himself. I have, and maybe you can relate, taken His teachings or His ministers or His people, instead of Him alone. We will never be able to apply Christ's teachings to our lives. We must have Christ!
God does not want to be a part of our lives. He want's be our Life.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Monday, January 22, 2007
A Flower in His Garden
What is a life worth? What is lost when a life is not given a chance to experience the world and the love and grace of God? What has the world lost? What has God lost? What is the cost?
We are all created in the image of God, broken as we may be. We are all called to unity with the Father and the Son. We are all to be like Him in word and deed and thought. It would seem at first glance that God intends to make us worshiping robots—all of us doing and saying the same things, but nothing could be further from the truth. Why else would He have made us individuals? God has something to reveal about Himself to and through each of us. This is the fulfillment of being created in His image. Each one of us has the joy of being intimate with God in a way no other can. As does each of us have something to reveal about God that only we can show to others.
More than 50 million babies have been aborted in our country in recent history. What could we have learned about God from them? They could have been great teachers, leaders, parents, friends—they could have changed the world. Our loss is really impossible to estimate. God’s loss is even more so. Each of those lives represents a piece of God we will not be blessed to know on this side of eternity. Each life ended is a cutting off of God’s hands and feet as well as a limiting of His heart.
“Each of us is a distinct flower or tree in the spiritual garden of God,—precious, each for his own sake, in the eyes of Him who is even now making us,—each of us watered and shone upon and filled with life, for the sake of his flower, his completed being, which will blossom out of him at last to the glory and pleasure of the Great Gardener.” – George MacDonald
We are all created in the image of God, broken as we may be. We are all called to unity with the Father and the Son. We are all to be like Him in word and deed and thought. It would seem at first glance that God intends to make us worshiping robots—all of us doing and saying the same things, but nothing could be further from the truth. Why else would He have made us individuals? God has something to reveal about Himself to and through each of us. This is the fulfillment of being created in His image. Each one of us has the joy of being intimate with God in a way no other can. As does each of us have something to reveal about God that only we can show to others.
More than 50 million babies have been aborted in our country in recent history. What could we have learned about God from them? They could have been great teachers, leaders, parents, friends—they could have changed the world. Our loss is really impossible to estimate. God’s loss is even more so. Each of those lives represents a piece of God we will not be blessed to know on this side of eternity. Each life ended is a cutting off of God’s hands and feet as well as a limiting of His heart.
“Each of us is a distinct flower or tree in the spiritual garden of God,—precious, each for his own sake, in the eyes of Him who is even now making us,—each of us watered and shone upon and filled with life, for the sake of his flower, his completed being, which will blossom out of him at last to the glory and pleasure of the Great Gardener.” – George MacDonald
Saturday, January 6, 2007
If I could change one thing...
Several months ago the daughter of a good friend asked him the question, "If you could change one thing about the world, what would you change?" He later brought the same question to me.
You would think that an answer would be easy to find. Just think of the worst thing going on in the world right now and eliminate it. But then that seems too selfish. We would only be making a difference in the present and future. What if we could go back and change something in the past that would have spared countless numbers of people their lives and happiness? That would be ideal--something like World War II or Vietnam. Or even further back to the cruelty of the middle ages and the tyrannical monarchs before. The typical "world peace" answer. Other ideas of ridding the world of poverty, war, hunger, and all the pain that comes with it went through my mind.
I know the presence of Christ is the source of true peace so I tried to think of ways to bring the Truth to people in an elaborate, world-reaching way. I had ideas of more money for missions, more government officials with faith in God. I found myself seeing a modern day crusade into all the world. In this I thought I might find my answer. Then I considered what I might be able to altar in the circumstances surrounding the life of Christ to make His message more effective and in turn change all the events of human history since His death. Now this would be the ultimate answer. Change one thing and the world would be a completely different place. But as I went deeper I soon found myself realizing the simple truth that God is all-powerful and all-knowing and that if it was needful for the world and for our mortal and eternal lives, He would have already done it. In fact He did all that was needful when He sent Christ.
The fact is that all the terrible things that have happened have taken place because Christ has not been allowed to do His work of new creation through out the world. The crusade is taking place as we speak, but few realize it so few fight. Peace and love is conquering hate and war, but only were there are those so full of Love itself they cannot be stopped. I came to the somber conclusion that there is only one thing in the world to change and the question isn't "If I could" but rather "Will I" change... MYSELF.
You would think that an answer would be easy to find. Just think of the worst thing going on in the world right now and eliminate it. But then that seems too selfish. We would only be making a difference in the present and future. What if we could go back and change something in the past that would have spared countless numbers of people their lives and happiness? That would be ideal--something like World War II or Vietnam. Or even further back to the cruelty of the middle ages and the tyrannical monarchs before. The typical "world peace" answer. Other ideas of ridding the world of poverty, war, hunger, and all the pain that comes with it went through my mind.
I know the presence of Christ is the source of true peace so I tried to think of ways to bring the Truth to people in an elaborate, world-reaching way. I had ideas of more money for missions, more government officials with faith in God. I found myself seeing a modern day crusade into all the world. In this I thought I might find my answer. Then I considered what I might be able to altar in the circumstances surrounding the life of Christ to make His message more effective and in turn change all the events of human history since His death. Now this would be the ultimate answer. Change one thing and the world would be a completely different place. But as I went deeper I soon found myself realizing the simple truth that God is all-powerful and all-knowing and that if it was needful for the world and for our mortal and eternal lives, He would have already done it. In fact He did all that was needful when He sent Christ.
The fact is that all the terrible things that have happened have taken place because Christ has not been allowed to do His work of new creation through out the world. The crusade is taking place as we speak, but few realize it so few fight. Peace and love is conquering hate and war, but only were there are those so full of Love itself they cannot be stopped. I came to the somber conclusion that there is only one thing in the world to change and the question isn't "If I could" but rather "Will I" change... MYSELF.
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