Maybe I'm the only one, but in life I catch myself creating a checklist type faith. Instead of being relational with Christ I do the the devotions and prayers more out of ritual than desire to know more about my Lord and Savior. Sometimes I'll be so excited about getting up for worship or quiet time, but once I'm there I get caught up in making sure every detail is correct, and am relieved when I finish knowing I can go on with my day.
I wrote this paragraph probably about a month ago, and looking back this is still so true of me and my faith. Today when I reread it I tried to figure out what my problem was, and this is the resolution I came to. All of my life I've been very concerned with how Christ is the true and righteous judge, and how I have to have every single one of my ducks in a row. I've always focused on praying enough, making it to church every chance I get, being kind to others around me, and sinning as little as possible. When you stop and think you can't help but ask yourself, is this what God wants from me? To get all the small details perfect? To be on edge and worried every time I do something wrong? Of course not! But then you ask, well if that's not it...then what is it God? What is it that you want?!
As I began to seek out His answer, the obvious became clearer and clearer....He didn't intend the Christian life to be a checklist or a rule book....He wanted it to be a love story, and not just any love story but the greatest one ever written!
Now if you analyze a love story, which probably isn't something you do often but work with me here, you notice a few key things. Obviously there are two people who fall in love, but in most cases there are obstacles that stand in the way of that love. In my life...well all of our lives actually, that obstacle is sin. In a love story there is always some way to overcome that obstacle...in our case that's Christ giving his life on the cross....oh yea that's also the really sad part in the story when you think all hope is lost. Good news is just like in a love story it doesn't end there...I mean besides Shakespeare very few writer's make it big with tragedy, thankfully God is not Shakespeare. In our love story, Christ overcomes death which means we have the chance to be together! Problem is...He's gone away so that He can build the mansion He promises we will have once we accept his engagement, or when we accept Christ into our hearts.
Now here's the good and bad....the good is He's going to come back and take us to that mansion, bad is He's not back yet which leaves a hole in the story. What do we do while we wait? Well in the olden days (lol) when couples were apart from one another they wrote letters....luckily God is in the modern era and we don't have to do that. Instead we have our own direct (phone) line, a way to talk to God without waiting days for Him to get the message. Our direct line is how we keep love alive while He's gone. We send our prayers up, and he sends his answers done usually through the Bible...so I guess technically He's only half modern because He writes us, but we phone Him. Alright so now I know I'm in the writing letters and calling part of the loves story, but it's going to take a lot of work to keep this love alive right? Not really....communication is key...if we keep in touch most of the relationship we've found will stay in tact. At least for me though good enough isn't good enough. I've have the greatest of loves, and I'm not going to lose an ounce of what I've gained through Him if I can help it.
This brings me back to why I wrote that beginning paragraph....I need to use this time apart from one another to strengthen our relationship, and make His return that much sweeter. How am I going to do that? Well that's exactly what I'm going to search out over the next few weeks. I realize I won't find all of the answers in two or three weeks, but my goal is to lay the ground work for a strong and lasting relationship with Christ in my own life and maybe even in yours.
Until Next Time,
Lex
No comments:
Post a Comment