Have no fear, I will explain...
Tonight (as I was Co-Leading a middle school men's small group) I asked the question, "What are you struggling with? What do you worry about?" I thought it was a simple question. Apparently it was the lid on a massive jar of thoughts... HOW GREAT IS THAT?
An eleven year old spoke up and answered my question. "Sometimes I worry that the end of the world is coming." (I thought to myself... okay, this is probably a situation of wanting to be able to complete a "bucket list" before dying. i.e. get married, graduate school, get a drivers license, go to London, etc. It was so much more than that.
He went on to explain that he felt the need to accomplish more... in order to be ready to go to Heaven.
The statement struck me. Not in a way of thinking that he was foolish for thinking this way, but rather that maybe he was confused on a few things but he is concerned with doing the will of God and seeing it accomplished in his lifetime. How often to we ourselves worry about the work of God in a way that if he were to come back right now that we would be concerned for not serving all the people we could, or sharing the Gospel with all those we come in contact with.
I was convicted.
The four of us (in our mini-prayer group) had a great continuing conversation about if we could ever EARN salvation... of course the answer to that was NO. Christ paid the cost, one price = one payment. He in His life, death, burial, and resurrection covered all our sin and presents us Holy to God because of HIS sacrifice. All we need to do? Accept the gift.
This whole course of events got me thinking.
Far too often the "Christians" are just as concerned with their careers, new cars, hobbies, school, or social life as those who live intentionally against the acknowledgement of God. We become so absorbed in the daily "fluff" of life that we miss the true purpose of our living... To love (glorify) God, Seek His will, and to make Him known.
We may have the change of spiritual life... from dead as a rock in sin to having Life coursing through us in the Love and Grace of Jesus Christ.
We are to be the light in the dark place. We are to be the salt of the earth. We are to be the city on the hill.
INSTEAD we SETTLE for wallowing in the shadows, being neither Hot or cold.. bland and pointless, and making camp in the valley of temptation.
WE ARE FICKLE!
So... Are you going to maintain living a FICKLE life... OR are you going to embrace the PICKLE life?
I love this illustration. (seriously it is one of my favorites and I use as often as I can while teaching the Kiddos at my church.)
Lets talk about Pickles.
Start of as a cucumber. Nothing super special. An ordinary cucumber.
Then they go through a change. They are consumed by a concoction of brine and vinegar.
The change starts immediately, and over time they become more and more like a pickle and less and less like a Cucumber. Their flavor becomes more strident and soon there will be no denying that it is a PICKLE.
We are to be a PICKLE.
We start off as a sinner. Nothing special, An ordinary sinner (completely and hopelessly separated from God)
Then we go through a change! We (upon acceptance of Christ and his gift of salvation) are consumed by His sacrifice. We are soaked in a concoction of Grace, Justice, Forgiveness, and Restoration. The change starts immediately, and over time we become more and more like Christ (in the form of a Christ follower) and we are less and less like the "Old Self" the sinner who is broken, helpless, and lost. Our evidence of Salvation becomes more strident and soon there will be no denying that we are a CHRIST FOLLOWER.
So... there you have it. My thoughts and reflections from today.
You have the information. You have the knowledge. You have the gift of Salvation.
What are YOU going to do with it? Are you going to be FICKLE or a PICKLE?
No comments:
Post a Comment