It is Sunday and what do we do on Sunday? We go to church as
any “normal Christian� would. I sat in my pew, worshiped on the piano and
listen to the speaker. However, something was different this time. I was going
to encounter for the first time, in a long time my pride within the first few
sentences that the speaker spoke. Dawn spoke with authority and conviction
about how easy it is for Christians to get trapped into legalism.
I thought, “me legalistic, no way! I have walked away from
that a long time ago!� but as I continued to listen I realized I am riddled in
it. For example, I have known for a long time that the Lord has led me to place
where I am to pray but when I don’t pray I am consumed with
guilt because I did not spend time with the Lord. Another example is when dear
Christian friends go through times of suffering, instead of showing mercy I
often want to fix the problem with my perfect Christian answers. This is
legalism!
I have been broken these 10 months but it has still been
about me. It has been about my
growth, my experience, my love, my lost, my tears, ME. Where does the cross of
my Lord fit in with all of these things? When was I broken because I saw the
cross and that is the reason why I wept for the people I came across on my
journey.
I want to see God’s holiness!
I want to
see the cross and me but a ragamuffin.
“The gospel is absurd and the life of Jesus is
meaningless unless we believe that He lived, died, and rose again with but one
purpose in mind: to make brand-new creation. Not to make people with better
morals but to create a community of prophets and professional lovers, men and
women who would surrender to the mystery of the fire of the Spirit that burns
within, who would live in ever greater fidelity to the omnipresent Word of God,
who would enter into the center of it all, the very heart and mystery of
Christ, into the center of the flame that consumes, purifies, and sets
everything aglow with peace, joy, boldness, and extravagant, furious love.
This, my friend, is what it really means to be a Christian.”
-Brennan Manning
So, here I am saying that this is the next chapter of my
growth. Where I am out of the equation and all you see is Christ in me.
