This baffles me.
I'm unable to figure out how to keep the best of things.
I want to cling to the good of the way I was raised, including things I learned about God, the body of Christ, church as an establishment/organization.
But some of where I came from, and the particular beliefs and even more the practices of the denomination I grew up as part of, provoked much pain.
I become more and more aware of it as I "grow up."
A few years ago I participated in a prayer gathering where we spent significant time celebrating the good, and equally significant time repenting and asking God for forgiveness for some of the less good. It was excruciating at times. Honestly. But I'm appreciative of the experience and memory.
How do we do that in our own lives, shed the "flesh" and cling to the new creation that we're becoming? How do we embrace the beauty but shake off the dead and even deadly extensions? Is it possible to truly live in the vision God has which includes His incredibly generous grace and mercy? How long, Lord?
Oh, this web reference is pretty interesting, too...if you care.
4 comments:
Dearest Gracie,
It was good to "hear" your voice as I read the last few weeks of blogs. I think of you often and wonder how life and all that goes with it is treating you. COngratulations on your new job, they are lucky to have you.
Hugs and Prayers, Danell
Gracie,
I think it's kind of hard to "cling" to a work in progress when we can't see the final outcome. Maybe we just have to embrace the process of becoming more like Christ.
We pray, "may your kingdom come..." i believe we are working toward a present reality and not crying out "Maranatha". It isn't something we look forward to, it is something we bring about by living according to kingdom ways. It may not revolutionize the world in our lifetime, but it will revolutionize our world and impact all those other worlds into which we collide on a daily basis.
Jesus himself announced the nearnest, if not the arrival, of the kingdom. Yet his ministry was over a small area of the earth. Still, it was a present reality for the whole world.
i think it can be a present reality, simply because Jesus told us to pray for it to happen on earth as it is in heaven. i don't know if that means we'll personally experience the fullness of it, though there are some who think so. For sure, we are called to move toward it.
hi danell.
miss u like crazy.
yes, j, we do have to embrace. sometimes i just long for the outcome tho.
and buddy, keith, seriously, u do have it all together don't you?! :-) Your confidence inspires hope. It's possible. But not simple. thanks for the reminders.
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