Friday, April 11, 2008
We Seek Truth as One Body of Christ
Friends, I have been striving for community in Christ. For a place full of freedom and a love for righteousness. In this process I have been so broken. I continually stumble and watch my closest friends do the same. We seek satisfaction in worldly pleasure without relent and always come up dissatisfied. Is this what Paul meant when he said he does what he hates and hates what he does?
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2 comments:
I think this is exactly what Paul means. We all stumble and have our struggles. They are all different, God formed us all individual hand crafted us made us for an amazing purpose. I love that Paul is open like this in the Bible. He struggles. Paul out of anyone is an amazing Christian. I love that here at the end of the day you feel as though Paul stands next to you shoulder to shoulder as a follower of Christ. There is no indication that Paul feels as though he is better because of his knowledge. Romans 12:9 "Hate what is evil; cling to what is good."
We are creatures that intensely desire immediate gratification and satisfaction. It's very hard not to be caught up in what the world can promise us. It seems like to me that knowledge is one of at least for me one of our biggest struggles. It all started in the garden. Satan promised knowledge and understanding. I think sometimes I desire to know the word and to be theological, that I miss what God is doing in me. I feel that understanding God's purpose in our lives and following it diligently is worth more than all the knowledge in the whole world. I think that also Paul was depicting here that it's okay not to be all together as a Christian all the time. This may sound twisted but if we can learn to be happy in our brokenness. I think that we will be able to understand more fully just how God designed us and put us together. God is never done working with us and is constantly refining us. I think if we get here we will see God moving in us all the time, we will see what he has brought us from and where he is taking us. If we strive to be "all together" or here or I can't wait til' I am...
we will never fully comprehend just how amazing God is and how he is able to use such broken messed up people. I am a testament to that. I think it all starts with the greatest commandment love the Lord your God with all your heart mind soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Which to me says a lot. Because I will be the fist to admit I do love myself...which means my neighbor should be treated very well.
I got to this place my asking God to remove me from myself. If you ask that of him he is faithful to do so and it's been a very painful emotional process. I am still going through it, but I am seeing just what an amazing person God is molding me into. Not to say that I am perfect. I am far from. I don't always treat my neighbor well...or my fellow Christian well. I am very broken person only saved by God's grace. It's choosing to wake up each day and try again. We are our own stumbling blocks.
Deuteronomy 13:3
The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deuteronomy 30:6
The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.
I agree with the first comment. We are our own stumbling blocks and our own worst enemy at times.
I took a hard look ay myself and my walk with the Lord about a year ago after having a very real experience with the spiritual warfare going on in my own life. I asked the Lord to show me the weak areas in my relationship with Him and to show me how to grow in these areas. Boy did he ever answer that one! He showed me that I continually go through a pattern every time I come up against a hurtle or when He shows me a new area within myself that I need to work on.
First, I don't want to admit that the problem even exists. I stick my head in the sand and just ignore it because it doesn't fit into my plans at the time. Then, when I finally admit I have a problem I tell the Lord that I just don't want to go there right now. After being miserable for awhile, sometimes even years, I decide it's time to move forward, but then proceed to whine and complain every step of the way. But then I get to end and I thank the Lord profusely for making me work through the problem because I feel so much better and see things so clearly. And I ask myself, "Why didn't I just deal with this when the Lord brought it to my attention?"
This was a real eye opener for me! I immediately repented of my stubborness towards Him and other authority figures He has placed in my life. Over the past year He has done some amazing things in my life, healing my past hurts and softening the hard areas of my heart. It's amazing what He can do if we just let Him, but it's a continual process of laying ourselves down at the foot of the cross and allowing Him in further and further each time.
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