Good Tuesday morning! The wild weekend is in the past and we have to get back to work now. Some may not consider writing to be in the domain of actual work, but I still need to get back to it. Looks like that mean ol' weatherman is predicting highs in the 90's for the next two or more days. I won't make any promises, but my landscaping work may slow down when that happens. Time I got that first book rewrite done anyway.
Have you passed your latest test? I must admit that not every test or trial that comes my way is passed with flying colors. Yup, sometimes my Christ-like colors look a bit droopy and dirty in the light of a test in my Christian life. Those times are when I realize that me and the Spirit have a ways to go before I am fully sanctified in Christ. Praise God that I am not alone in this. If my strength alone was all I had in these trials of life, I would be lost indeed. Trial or not, I did make my annual trip down to Lodgepole for the Memorial Day service, and the town did a good job as usual. I felt better after going, but each year I realize that it is not the easiest thing to do.
The political candidates are lining up for next year's election. Did you wish at any moment that all of them would just go away and leave you alone? Shame on you, we should enjoy the right to elect our representatives to government. Yes, I have wished that more than once already too. Ah well, I guess we are just not ready for all the political ads quite yet. Perfection in my democratic rights has eluded me like perfection in most every other area of living. Which kind of leads to the question: How would an imperfect, fallen person such as myself know what perfection is in the first place?
We tend to go by the standards thrust upon us from the world. How do we know the world's standards of perfection are actually perfect? Are they not set by people much like us? Imperfect, fallen, stained by sin, and yet we sometimes comparison shop to see if we can find a person worse than we are. However, we do have one standard of perfection that comes from God himself - the Law. That's too bad really, because I have already failed to live up to that standard too many times. Any chance we can get a standard of perfection that is easier to attain? The world's standards are easier, but like 99 percent of the human race, I cannot call myself perfect in any area even by human standards. How will I ever meet God's standard?
Like getting through a test or trial, there is not a chance that I will meet God's standard on my own. Hasn't happened, didn't happen, won't happen, in my strength alone... not ever. Once I realized this however, I began to look for a different way, perhaps one provided by God in his mercy. Not too hard to figure out what that way is; He said it plainly in John 14:6. You can't really miss it when Jesus says, "I am the Way..." You might choose to not believe it, but you can't miss it when reading his words in the Bible. Praise God for a better way to salvation, because I am another imperfect failure at saving myself much like everyone else who has ever looked to their own strength.
Welcome back to the good work! Live for Christ and trust in His saving strength.
Bucky
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