I want to start your day (or end it, as the case may be) on a humorous note. Those who know me need no explanation here, but for those who do not, here goes. I frequently do not do the dishes after dinner. Sometimes it's lunchtime the next day. I have a longstanding love affair with the last minute, actually getting more done in the hour before Gary gets home than I do all day. (It's amazing, actually.) I used to have a hobby of leaving things on top of my car and driving away. Once, during the year I was a t.v. reporter, I left the videotape of that entire day's work on top of the news car and drove away. Back at the station, I realized what happened, retraced my steps and risked my life on a highway to retrieve the tape. One of my neighbors once approached me on my driveway with a stack of "Magic Schoolbus" books that he had enjoyed watching flutter down from my car roof as I drove out of the cul-de-sac in a happy oblivion. I am not the most organized and focused individual in the universe.
A few years back (not enough to avoid embarrassment at the revelation) I thought for a few fleeting moments that I might want to try one of the older Christian denominations known far and wide for their legalism (mode of dress, hairstyle, etc.). I was just that desperate for holiness, purity, and freedom from, well, MYSELF! My husband quickly informed me that I would be heading down that path WITHOUT him. I was reminded of my desperation just today as I read a passage in Philippians. Paul was a certified jew. He was steeped in tradition and rote religiosity (and pomposity) when the reality of Jesus Christ took his life by a storm. Listen to the feeling in this passage.
"If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more; circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
BUT (emphasis mine) whatever was to my profit, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead." (Philippians 3:4-11, NIV, 1984.)
If you try to take these words found in God's holy word and push them through a religious pipe they will not fit. So the key, my wonderful friends, is a living, breathing relationship with Christ. Pray continually, trust him, enjoy his fellowship. Watch your world change. Watch your heart melt, become pliable, and then take on the shape of HIS choosing! Happy Christian trails!!!
A few years back (not enough to avoid embarrassment at the revelation) I thought for a few fleeting moments that I might want to try one of the older Christian denominations known far and wide for their legalism (mode of dress, hairstyle, etc.). I was just that desperate for holiness, purity, and freedom from, well, MYSELF! My husband quickly informed me that I would be heading down that path WITHOUT him. I was reminded of my desperation just today as I read a passage in Philippians. Paul was a certified jew. He was steeped in tradition and rote religiosity (and pomposity) when the reality of Jesus Christ took his life by a storm. Listen to the feeling in this passage.
"If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more; circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
BUT (emphasis mine) whatever was to my profit, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead." (Philippians 3:4-11, NIV, 1984.)
If you try to take these words found in God's holy word and push them through a religious pipe they will not fit. So the key, my wonderful friends, is a living, breathing relationship with Christ. Pray continually, trust him, enjoy his fellowship. Watch your world change. Watch your heart melt, become pliable, and then take on the shape of HIS choosing! Happy Christian trails!!!
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