recharging the batteries

I get UCB's Word for Today through to my email everyday, mainly because I know taht I wouldn't get round to reading it if I didn't.

This week there was a quote in the article by James MacDonald

'I've lived long enough to know men and women whose lives were sold out to God a few years ago, but who've since walked off the track... gone AWOL... lost their longing for God. Fear of following in their footsteps haunts me... and it should you, too...'

I think most Christians can think of people just like this, those that were once on fire, running after God's heart, seeking Him with their entire being. But decisions made, mistakes etc had their walks taking them away from God, taking them from the narrow path walked by Christ, and onto the highway that is the world.

The quote continues 'The faithfulness of my walk with God depends on my willingness to stay in a relationship with Him. I never want to lose the grip His greatness has on my life and the privilege it is to... serve Him till the day I'm welcomed into His presence. That passion compels me. It keeps me honest and humble... the last thing I want to do is crawl across the finish line a defeated, derailed Christian, or worse - give up the race before my life's over. I want to break that tape with arms high, my face to the sun.'

I got to thinking about this. About how our lives are paced at 100 mph most of the time, and how that fact often leads us to the place where we become dry and stale. But since our lives are not likely to get less busy, how then can we guard our lives.

1 corinthians 15:45-49 shows us that we are two things at the same time. We are natural and we are spiritual. Just as Adam was made from the earth, we too are (ashes to ashes, dust to dust - and all that)


At the same time, when Adam was created, God breathed life into Him, God breathed His spirit into Adam, and likewise when we are saved, God breaths His spirit into us.


During a recent service, my Pastor spoke much of what I am sharing with you, and He said that from that point of view, before our lives are submitted to Christ's salvation, we were spiritually dead, that without God, there is no spiritual. I agree with that statement 100%, anything claiming to be spiritual and is not of God is a deception.


Picture yourself as a rechargable battery, you meet with God, you are filled with the spirit, and you head out into your daily life, as time goes on, you are drained by the world. The everydays of life. 


For most of us, we head off to church once, maybe twice on a sunday, and for a lot of Christians, that is the extent of their walks, I myself am guilty of this sometimes. I can talk the talk, I can walk the walk, and over the years I have learned to 'play the game' I can look like the got it all together christian in church on a sunday with my 'all the time' responce when someone says 'God is good' But the reality for a lot of people is that once he service has come to a close, the rest of the week is just a tipping of the hat to God.


I think I have shared this quote previously, but Brennan Manning is credited with saying 'The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who ackonwledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door, and deny Him with their lifestyle...'

Its mostly known as part of DC Talk's song 'What if I stumble' from the Jesus Freaks album.


But the scary thing is that its totally true. 


ANd for me this fact is what aids the fall of people ho were once on fire for the LORD.


As we go out into our daily lives, our 'energy' is drained, its pulled away, and since we only top up from the source once a week, we lose the ability to follow the narrow path, to fend off the temptation of the world.


How do we avoid this, the theory is simple, the practise is the harder part, the way to shore up our defenses to temptation, to make sure that we dont lose all our 'energy' is to regularly tap into the source, regularly connect with the main power (Father God)


Regular bible study, prayer, fellowship etc, brings about the filling of the Holy Spirit. 


A friend of mine, told us about a resturant he went to where the light were dimmed, and He said when they first arrived at the place, He could not even read the menu it was so dark in their, but by the time it got round to ordering sweets, there was no problem, His eyes had ajusted to the dim light.


This is what happens in our lives when we dont connect to the source regularly, your eyes become used to the darkness, and your begin to not even notice it any more.


That leads to us walking off the path and our lives, that once burned with desire for God and more of Him. Have suddenly become the same as all those people you were thinking of when I first started this blog.


How important then is it for us to guard our hearts to the darkness. How important is it that we steer clear of the dimness that sneeks in without being noticed. How much more important is it for Us to connect with God, not just on a Sunday in church, but in the week.


Don't be like those Brenan Manning talked of, don't allow your batteries to run dry. Connect to the source, relationship with God the Father is 24/7/365. Its the only way to live, the only way to protect yourself from an enemy that the bible describes as being like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour 1 peter 5:8 and The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy john 10:10

Trials

Recently my wife bought a bunch of John Grisham movie adaptations. And as usual these films have had me thinking about things, and how the natural often speaks of the spiritual.

I am not sure how familiar people are with John Grisham, but he writes legal thillers, I have read several of his books over the years and for te most part they feature around the legal system and lawyers and the like.

We watched the Pelican brief one night and as I write this blog the Firm is playing on the television in the background.

I got to thinking about how these films are all about legal proceedings or practise, the acts of lawyers and legal students and so on. And watching these two films started me thinking about another of the John Grisham adaptations we own on DVD - A Time to Kill, and how that film is based mostly within a court room.

The comparision to the spiritual really started at this point. Thinking about that court room, and its set up and how it is a very natural picture of our state as humans,

Since Adam disobeyed God and broke the command of God in the garden, we have been breaking God's law throughout history. We inherited our sinful nature, and we willing continue to participate in that sin. We enjoy it.

I once heard a speaker at a conference refer to sin as being like a Double Chocolate geteau, and that we start with the intention of just having a small slice, we eat that and enjoy it so much taht we have to go back for another 'small' slice and before we know it the entire thing is gone.

We are guilty, completely, totally and fully. Just like Carl Lee Hayley in A Time to Kill, we did exactly the thing we stand accused of.


The bible tells us that God is the judge, and that the day of judgement is coming. romans 14:10-12 is very clear that we shall all stand before the judgement seat of God and give an account of ourselves.

This is a scary place to be, knowing that we are completely guity
and will answer for our lives before a judge. This situation becomes even more frightening when it is noted that the standard that we shall be held to is not the standard that we look at.


God is Holy, he holds such a high standard that lust is comsidered adultary, and hatred considered murder. The simple fact is that you and I can never measure up to those standards, being a good person is just not going to cut it att he white throne described in Revelation.


However, as we looked at in my last blog, there is good news to be had. Jesus' actions at the cross has done the one thing we could never manage alone. He stepped into the dock for us. Took the judgement and washed us clean.


Its a case of Jesus, being God, steps down from the seat of Judge, just as sentance is cast, and takes us out of the dock and steps into it in our place, he is lead away, beaten, nailed to a cross and killed, all in our place.


The result of this, for those that believe, our names are written into God's book, the book of life.revelation 20:11-15


This is the security of salvation. That Jesus actions has placed our names on God's list and at the throne of jusgement, we answer for our lives, we are viewed through the blood covering of Christ, so that God the judge sees only His perfect spotless Son, and frees us from the wrath of the soveriegn LORD.