“[To have Faith in Christ] means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.”
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
PROVERBS 9-10
God's path leads to refuge with God...
1 CORINTHIANS 15:1-32
29The way of the Lord is a refuge for the blameless,
but it is the ruin of those who do evil.(10:29)
Paul understands that it is God's grace that saves, not his own righteousness...
9For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
Everyday is a new day, full of possibilities, full of challenges, full of adventure. How will I view it? Do I see it as such or do I dread it in worry and anxiety, fearful of negative outcomes? Here is where the test of my faith is real. It all is in how I view life and my place and the part that I play. Have I surrendered to God as his agent in this world...or is God simply my genie...here to help me when times get tough.JOURNAL
There definitely was a point of surrender for me, there was a specific time when I felt that I had to make a decision. It was in Belize 1989...yet everyday since I have battled the internal pull to live life in order to get...rather than living it to serve. To surrender to God each and every morning is vital for my mind and heart. It causes me to confront the "shadow" side of my mind. It exposes it in all its deception and selfishness.
The times in my life when I have struggled the most are those when I neglected this surrender, when my emotions and circumstances convinced me that all was good and reading and praying were not needed. It is so easy to slip into the mindset of narcissism. I can see and feel the separation as I read and pray. Yet this battle is ongoing...it never ceases.
Yet I am thankful God created me with this constant need to cling to him. For when I do, I am blessed with his love and joy.
PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7
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