Sit still
The pastor guy Neil was talking to in today’s entry should have seen it coming. You probably did, right? As soon as he asked, How do I die?, you were saying to yourself, no, dude! That’s not what the verse said!
And if that pastor had paid a little more attention the last 82 days, he probably wouldn’t have asked the question, right?
It makes sense, too… We can’t do anything to die with Christ. We can’t, in any sense, go back and be there with Him, or partake in any way on our own, except to ask for forgiveness and believe that He is God.
Sometimes we talk about dying to self (or the flesh, if you’re old-school), but probably what we really should say is that we’re trying to learn to say no to it. We’re trying to break away from old patterns and habits, but we’re powerless to actually die.
At the heart of that guy’s question, I think he may have been insecure about whether or not he was really all the way saved. Just a theory.
And once again, we’re back to the idea that our place in God’s family isn’t based on anything we could ever possibly do; it’s entirely on believing in Him, and then just being who He made us. Doing vs. being, right?
The thing that spoke to me was the instruction to stop striving, and just lean into Him. That applies to me in oh, so many areas of my life right now… He’s so faithful to meet me when I focus on doing just that, and I know He will for you, too.
(see? nobody was broken up with or arrested today...)
I loved the details in the 'breakup" story and the "Heavenly SWAT team" story. So to hear there will be none of that today is soo sad.
ReplyDeleteI finally feel awake enough to read something and put down in writing something that I learned. I have been so exhausted all week I was afraid of what my brain would say, then I read yesterday’s post and wow I would have fit right in!
I am sad that a pastor had this misfit feeling all those years. He should have sought counsel a long time ago.
Michele said - Stop striving and just lean on Him. That is the story of my week or should I say “weak”.