Facing yourself.
I pray your heart will be soft to these words, and that any anxieties or insecurities would not hinder you in receiving this testimony.
There are many battles that we will never win alone, but one of them in specific is the battle against ourselves. Isn’t it obvious? The truth of the matter, is that Human kind is a large opponent. Before I cut to the chase —that Jesus will win that battle—, I want you to realize the grounds in which we stand.
You have an estimate 60,000 to 70,000 thoughts per day. None of which you can control and if that’s not a big enough challenge on its own, without the Lord, those thoughts are kept unchecked. Without the word of God, you would not be able to discern which thoughts deserve action. Stacked on top of that, you have to factor in the inherited thoughts, ideas, and mentalities. You and I are a cocktail of where, what, and who we grew up around. Furthermore, those things may have been good, or evil. My point? There is a lot that’s out of our control, and there’s even more that controls us. These aren’t meant to be predeterministic or fatalistic calls to my readers. I definitely don’t want to adhere to some depressive train of thinking. I just want you to see, that you’re a very, very, small, fart in the wind, and that the odds are not in your favor.
The beauty?? Being an heir, child, brother, and servant of Christ never made more sense. It never tasted so good, and in our weakness (which there is a lot), Gods glory shines. Goliath has fallen.
When you’re heart twists against you, and your eyes wander, know that Christ is still very near. When your prayer life sucks, and you’re going on week number three of skipping church, know God is still very near. It’s the most valuable thing that I’ve ever learned in all these months, is that God is near. My heart never fathomed what that meant for my sin, until very recently. Often times, the biggest truth is right before our eyes, but our hearts are to full of other things to be filled.
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,”
Romans 8:1-3 ESV
If you can remember one thing in all your days, remember that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” We’re not gonna want it always, our hearts deceive us, but he knows that, and in our condition, he’s still near to us. He’s the only thing in this world that is unchangeably with us. Because he is most high, nothing can change him, otherwise he wouldn’t be most high.
