Now that we've gotten that off our chests........
I'm grateful to lemonguinsquirrel for the reminder that in spite of how
bizarre, weird, abusive, manipulative, ego-driven, sin-laden, greedy,
unloving, and hypocritical these churches and leaders mentioned in the
last post, and those like them may be, there was something valuable
they gave me.
I'm grateful to Jim for the reminder of my own words: I would not have the union I have with God but for where I have been.
So, I'd like to point out today that indeed this is yet another
illustration of Christ being He who redeems, who can bring good out of
evil, life out of death, light out of darkness, if we place ourselves
completely in His hands, trusting Him completely.
Our lives are not determined by circumstances, but by our surrender and
complete submission to the Lordship, the Sovereignty, the Rule of
Christ our Lord, God, and King. Our future is not determined by our
past, but by how malleable, how teachable we are in His hands, and our
willingness to give up all that we are, all that we have, to follow
where He leads us.
Comments (14)
i love that our lives are not based on circumstances. there is fact and foundation we have to build on...circumstances are far too shakey of a ground to raise a life upon.
i want to apologize for not commenting more. your comments always leave me blessed and encouraged. thank you.
how is life for you today?
mattie.
A hearty AMEN! Good conclusion Breath of Dawn.
"Our lives are not determined by circumstances, but by our surrender and complete submission to the Lordship, the Sovereignty, the Rule of Christ our Lord, God, and King"
Amen. Unfortunately, for most of my life, I've allowed circumstances to create my "identity" or "reality". Though in my mind I know and agree with what you said, it seems to be a long road trying to make it a truth in my heart.
great post.
This is what I think is true, tell me what is really true.
This is what I think You want me to do. Tell me what you really want.
This is what I feel, and I know it isn't right (or think it's right, etc). Clear my thinking. Purify my heart. Lead me in the way YOU really want me to go.
I think too often we have this pre-packaged idea of Jesus that's completely wrong. It's nothing but a two-dimentional illustration. Not even a photograph or a good artistic likeness. Jesus is REAL, He is as much a MAN as He is GOD; He thinks, He feels, He ponders, He acts and interacts. He's looking for friends on earth, people to help Him heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds, to set the captives free, not so they can add numbers to His ranks, but so that they can enter into the Kingdom of God and be at peace, escape the corruption of the world.
"Shepherd me, O God, beyond my needs, beyond my wants, from death into Life." These are the only words I recall, but they say so much to me.
"LemguinSquirrel" *ahem* Lol.
I know what you mean though... Far too often, I find myself dangerously treading the boundary between pointing out the church's fallacies and inecessantly bashing it. We (well, perhaps "I" is the proper pronoun here), no matter the inumerable layers of filth residing within the church, have got to refraim from debasing ourselves to their level and speaking only ill words about it...Even though I would much rather rattle off obscenities left and right about the things they do in God's name, all we accomplish by doing such is giving Jesus a bad name (and they already do enough of that!). All the same, we can't keep quiet either. An innate form of complacency has allowed the church to lie stagnant in it's mire for a long time. But instead, as all solutions seem to come down to this answer, we HAVE TO SPEAK OUT IN LOVE-- not critizing, but cooperating for the benefit of all in a kind manner yet strong in our convictions as well.
I go to a church that would condemn me to hell instantaneously if they knew the way I think, but were I to not have the option of being blessed by the hearts of inidividuals there, singing with them and seeing the smiles on their faces, I'm sure my life would be an empty shell now. And though my original roots of the teaching of the Bible were founded on legalism, they have given me a sturdy moral basis to help support my heart....It's a nasty world, but we can only make the best of it through love.
Funny thing is I think I could hear you singing those words.
RYC: I was just joking with the post. Of course my wife would get my kids. I was joking with my brother in law who reads my site and Amber because he just broke up with his girlfriend and she just broke up with her boyfriend. We are planning to leave our kids with my brother in law if he ever gets married. So I was sort of pulling both their legs at the same time. I have no intentions on leaving my kids to someone on xanga.
how does one receive the Wittenburg Door?
Ditto on that last paragraph on your post!! :)
Good words.
This is Trish, with a new Xanga. Come over and give me a hard time.