This morning during my "reading and relaxing" time, I came upon this statement which stopped me and made me think. I was reading Wayne Jacobsen's book "He loves me" (thanks Greg!)and this is what he has to say at one point while speking about grace:
"We are far more used to being conformed by external pressures than we are to being transformed by his inner presence."
I thought about it for a second and realized...that's why it was so hard for me to "reach" God for so long, that's why I felt distant from him. I was reaaaaaaaaaally focusing on being conformed by the external pressure of 'doing the right things that I should do as a good Christian' instead of truly wanting to know HIM. 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God'....the kingdom cannot be found without HIM can it? We can't find the kingdom if we're looking externally at the shoulds and musts, we find the kingdom when we are looking to see him, to know him to love and be loved by him.
Perhaps a 'DUH!' moment for some, but very much a lightbulb moment for me. He has been continously reinforcing this concept to me, almost daily (see posts "Obedience" and "are you effective?") I love it when he does that!
Along with Mr Jacobsen's statement this morning God gave me this verse that expresses that same concept:
Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as tough you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules. "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? These are all destined to perish with use because they are based on human commands and teachings.
Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship,their false humility and the harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sexual indulgence. Col 2:20-22
Paul is referring to the same thing. Don't focus on the external 'things' that you are told by others you should or shouldn't do!! These things PERISH!!! All human effort in and of itself is fallible, so don't put your trust in it.
The tricky thing is, as Paul recognizes, is that they "indeed have an appearance of wisdom", we are taught to EARN favor, to abide by the rules, and so we apply that 'common sense' to our spiritual relationship with the Father. But He is not looking for robotic obedience, he is looking for our hearts. He's not interested in our performance for him but in his performance in us! We've got it backwards I think, or at least some of us. I certainly did. It is nothing I do, it is HIS LOVE and power in me. It is actually, what I DON'T do that makes the difference.
Now I truly understand what Paul meant when he said if he ever boasted, he would boast only in Christ. To him alone be the glory, for he has loved us and saved us by his amazing grace.
2 comments:
So ... again, I'm struggling with the same thing and here's my question: let's pretend that we realize that there's nothing in the whole "behave and it will come" theory. But the problem still remains - how does one's heart become changed? How does one allow their attitudes - or make it so their attitudes - are along the same lines as God's? I guess I'm just wondering how our hearts can become the way you described them, when it seems that it either requires our own effort again, or requres God to change them for us. But the problem is, how can we be responsible for our actions if God's the one who's supposed to change our hearts? It seems like a sort of catch-22, ya know? Are we or aren't we accountable for our hearts?
I don't pretend to have all the answers, but I really like and fully agree with how Wayne Jacobsen puts it in his book "He loves me".
Here it is:
"Daily, God wants us to discover more about him and how he wants to be involved with us. This is an intensely personal process. Try as we might to standardize that relationship by offering a checklist as to how to cultivate it; we will always fall short. No living relationship thrives through the use of a checklist, because they are far more dynamic than any list can facilitate. God can be personal enough to develop this friendship with each of us as we invite him to do so."
Having quoted that, he goes on to say in a later chapter:
"Who hasn’t seen people use God’s grace as an excuse to guiltlessly chase their own agenda? They accept God’s forgiveness and an eternity in heaven but go on living in the same captivity as the world around them. Not wanting to apportion “cheap grace” to people who don’t want to do things God’s way, we find ourselves constructing a list of expectations to help define what a true Christian does. It’s as if we can only keep the message of grace intact for the first fifteen minutes of someone’s birth into God’s kingdom. After that we start loading them up with the obligations of being a good Christian: “Of course we are saved by grace, but that doesn’t mean we can just sit around and do nothing. God is a loving Father, but don’t take advantage of that because he is also a severe judge. We are not saved by our works, but we still need to live a life that pleases him.” The latter usually consists of some mix of Bible reading, prayer, church attendance and righteous deeds. By embracing this “but” theology we end up right where we began, with a performance-based relationship to God. We have to live every day concerned about whether we have done enough to be a good Christian and judge others around us with the same standards. It not only takes all the joy out of knowing God, but also out of our relationships with others. Whenever we add anything to God’s work on the cross, the message is distorted and we rob it of its power. Paul made it clear that the cross alone had totally transformed him. “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world”(Gal. 6:14). Grace doesn’t need any add-ons.Even though Paul watched people who used their new-found freedom as an excuse for the flesh and warned them not to do so, he never sought to change them by adding human effort to God’s grace. He knew the fix lay elsewhere.
…
Once you experience God’s delight over you as his child and the joy of friendship that produces, you will find yourself abandoning your own desires and embracing his. Of course that delight doesn’t mean he affirms everything we do.
When you learn to recognize his voice in your ear and his hand in your life, you will want to be even more like him."
I am not as articulate as he is, so you can read that to be what I believe,even though I did not write it myself. :-)
Laura
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