I breathe everyday. It means my body is living, existing in the physical sense. It comes natural to me and I don't think about it 99.9% of the time. Except for that time an undercurrent took me by surprised and I ended up eating the sand of the beautiful Hawaiian beach.
It's at times like that that you do nothing but thank God for giving you a second chance at oxygen instead of life as a fish.
But I digress.
The reason I mention breathing is because I've started to read 1 Corinthians. Up to about Chapter 6 is where I stopped, I think.
The Apostle Paul talks about some pretty good stuff in this book, in my opinion. I'm still mulling it over in my mind as we speak. So be forwarned, my own words do no justice for the depth and heart tugs this book in the Bible communicates. He talks about the church getting along with each other, how it's a shame that it's us on the "Jesus-side" who are living less than ideally and how it's an embarassment that the "outsiders" are actually seeing such behavior of so-called Christians. (1 Coritnthians 3)
Paul goes on to talk about other great things such as "(our) faith not resting on human wisdom, but on God's power." (1 Corithians 5) and how "(The) foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength." (1 Corithians 25) To be honest , I read this and thought, wow. God's that wise that even if He had a weakness, His "weakness" would still be stronger than our strength. Think about that for a second. So this is what is meant when we say Almighty and Indescribable. Incredible.
As I'm reading all of this, I'm suddenly reminded of a small comment I heard from one of my dear colleagues. This wasn't a snide comment by any means, but one that, this evening, got me thinking to how it related to what I'm reading right now in the first few chapters of Corinthians.
My colleague and I were chatting about the fact that I would be in Arizona a few weeks ago with my fiance to visit with our pastor, the Yoda Pastor Mike. (Just kidding, P. Mike) Really, P. Mike is like Yoda, wise and all in the teachings of Jesus. But less green and a little taller.
Anyway, as I mentioned this to my colleague she joked around and said that my fiance and I would have to behave and be good in front of the priest. Well, besides the fact that P. Mike isn't a priest, I got to thinking about how that comment reflected much of how a majority of the world, even those "within" the church view a relationship with God. And many times, though I hope I'm changing, I too get caught up in that whole idea that when I'm in front of God, I have to put effort into an act because He's looking at me.
I don't want that life anymore. I want a life, a whole life, a holy life, a full life, where my words to myself and to others, my actions, my thoughts, every second one foot steps out in front of the other to even walk is purely motivated, saturated, and drowned in nothing but a Jesus-like covering.
I'm naturally a sinner. I was physically born a sinner into this world. But now that I know Jesus, I want to naturally be Jesus-motivated, so much that His very Spirit takes up my physical body and spritual body. So much that Jesus comes out as naturally from me as if I'm breathing Jesus. Just as I breathe air with almost no thought throughout every day that I live on this earth--that's how much I want Jesus to be so engrained into my bones that He is naturally a part of me.
Don't get me wrong. There are days when it seems effortless to be Jesus-like and still others when the percentage of Jesus in me is miniscule in comparison to the percentage that's Rona. And I've accepted the fact that it will be up and down like this until the day I get to go Home. So for the time being, I desire to keep walking with Jesus until my walk picks up and I'm running freely in stride with His every step, in line with His very way, in tune to His great music, and moving faster than I ever thought I could.
I don't want the life any more of putting an effort to be good because God's in front of me. Who wants to live in that type of prison, a prison that isn't real and doesn't take full advantage of the new life He's given us? I want to communicate to outsiders a great representation of Jesus. A great representation of His church reflected by the new life I have been given. (1 Corinthians 11)
I want to get to a point where that effort to be "good in front of the Holy Priest" is re-directed in keeping up keeping pace with wonderful stride of God's greatness and love. And in that running I will do with the Lord, He will be a part of the very depths of my life as naturally as the air I breathe with each stride.
It's at times like that that you do nothing but thank God for giving you a second chance at oxygen instead of life as a fish.
But I digress.
The reason I mention breathing is because I've started to read 1 Corinthians. Up to about Chapter 6 is where I stopped, I think.
The Apostle Paul talks about some pretty good stuff in this book, in my opinion. I'm still mulling it over in my mind as we speak. So be forwarned, my own words do no justice for the depth and heart tugs this book in the Bible communicates. He talks about the church getting along with each other, how it's a shame that it's us on the "Jesus-side" who are living less than ideally and how it's an embarassment that the "outsiders" are actually seeing such behavior of so-called Christians. (1 Coritnthians 3)
Paul goes on to talk about other great things such as "(our) faith not resting on human wisdom, but on God's power." (1 Corithians 5) and how "(The) foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength." (1 Corithians 25) To be honest , I read this and thought, wow. God's that wise that even if He had a weakness, His "weakness" would still be stronger than our strength. Think about that for a second. So this is what is meant when we say Almighty and Indescribable. Incredible.
As I'm reading all of this, I'm suddenly reminded of a small comment I heard from one of my dear colleagues. This wasn't a snide comment by any means, but one that, this evening, got me thinking to how it related to what I'm reading right now in the first few chapters of Corinthians.
My colleague and I were chatting about the fact that I would be in Arizona a few weeks ago with my fiance to visit with our pastor, the Yoda Pastor Mike. (Just kidding, P. Mike) Really, P. Mike is like Yoda, wise and all in the teachings of Jesus. But less green and a little taller.
Anyway, as I mentioned this to my colleague she joked around and said that my fiance and I would have to behave and be good in front of the priest. Well, besides the fact that P. Mike isn't a priest, I got to thinking about how that comment reflected much of how a majority of the world, even those "within" the church view a relationship with God. And many times, though I hope I'm changing, I too get caught up in that whole idea that when I'm in front of God, I have to put effort into an act because He's looking at me.
I don't want that life anymore. I want a life, a whole life, a holy life, a full life, where my words to myself and to others, my actions, my thoughts, every second one foot steps out in front of the other to even walk is purely motivated, saturated, and drowned in nothing but a Jesus-like covering.
I'm naturally a sinner. I was physically born a sinner into this world. But now that I know Jesus, I want to naturally be Jesus-motivated, so much that His very Spirit takes up my physical body and spritual body. So much that Jesus comes out as naturally from me as if I'm breathing Jesus. Just as I breathe air with almost no thought throughout every day that I live on this earth--that's how much I want Jesus to be so engrained into my bones that He is naturally a part of me.
Don't get me wrong. There are days when it seems effortless to be Jesus-like and still others when the percentage of Jesus in me is miniscule in comparison to the percentage that's Rona. And I've accepted the fact that it will be up and down like this until the day I get to go Home. So for the time being, I desire to keep walking with Jesus until my walk picks up and I'm running freely in stride with His every step, in line with His very way, in tune to His great music, and moving faster than I ever thought I could.
I don't want the life any more of putting an effort to be good because God's in front of me. Who wants to live in that type of prison, a prison that isn't real and doesn't take full advantage of the new life He's given us? I want to communicate to outsiders a great representation of Jesus. A great representation of His church reflected by the new life I have been given. (1 Corinthians 11)
I want to get to a point where that effort to be "good in front of the Holy Priest" is re-directed in keeping up keeping pace with wonderful stride of God's greatness and love. And in that running I will do with the Lord, He will be a part of the very depths of my life as naturally as the air I breathe with each stride.