Posted by
John Finnigan on Sunday, May 27, 2007 12:14:19 PM
One of the nice things about having a growing relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is that he doesn’t let me rest on my own self righteousness. He knows and so do I that I am far from perfect, occasionally do stupid and sinful things, and need to continually grow in Him to be more effective for his Kingdom. The key element being here that it’s His Kingdom and not mine.
I have a friend who is a very skilled surgeon. He could financially retire if he wanted but once told me that he didn’t know if he could retire because the skill God allowed him to acquire was still growing and incredibly useful for God’s Kingdom and the rest of humanity. Money stopped being his motive. Pleasure and self indulgence had stopped being his drive to discipline and persevere.
One of the things I’ve noticed as I’ve walked with and in Christ is that many of us have a difficult time really believing the idea of complete forgiveness. Believing that the price for my sin has really been paid. I and others have held on to emotional infections and sin enjoyment that plagues us for years.
Christ, however, really did pay the price for all our afflictions and transgressions and we don’t have to wallow in the mud. Yet some of us have great difficulty letting go of our favorite mud wallows. We love our mud wallows and they may even bring us some sort of perverse comfort despite the horrid consequences they bring with them.
This is why I love that concept of sanctification. The longer I walk with Christ, the more the Holy Spirit heals my tolerance for emotional infection and the love of sin. The sole purpose for this is so that I can be more effective for His Kingdom.
We live in a society and culture that is built on an appetite of indulgence and temporal pleasure. It’s easy for my friends in the world to point out my flaws, of which I have many. They think I’m crazy not to join in their kinks and mock me if I fall and do.
I know that I’m not better then my worldly friends, but the Kingdom of God is. The longer I walk in the Holy Spirit, the less I sin and fall short of the Glory of God. Yet the less I sin and fall short of the Glory of God the crazier the world thinks I am. God plucks out my favorite emotional infections and sin, exposes them and heals them. It isn’t pretty, but it is real and the fruit of this Healing is the Power and Love of Christ filling the formerly deep crevasse of darkness with love and light.
I have fallen short of the Glory of God, and I know it. God, however, hasn’t. The Glory of God is healing me in this world, but only so I can serve Him. The crumbs of serving him may trickle down to me, and what beautiful and amazing gifts they are.
In Christ
John