10 days ago

10 days ago I posted about Dean falling. It’s amazing how he has already dramatically grown in his ability to stay balanced! He’s almost constantly standing up on his two legs, and holding onto whatever support he can find around.

He fearlessly attempts to walk and climb, and is learning his current limitations pretty rapidly, one fall at a time.

Dean has also learned to fall with a bit more grace than he did a week ago, which results in less pain for him, and a much more expedient return to his previous position to try again.

I see all of this and I immediately think of what Paul wrote to the Corinthians about being in Christ. He said that ‘if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.’

This is what new creations do…they learn rapidly, grow rapidly, growth is constant, sometimes painful, but each failure leads to a faster restoration and more learning and growth. They have spurts where they grow more than others, but they don’t stop growing.

Although the theme seems to be a reoccurring one on here, I really suck. Not in a woe is me or self deprecating way, but in reality it is a fact that, apart from Christ, I really, really suck. I complain, I whine, I forget the historical fact that I’ve been placed into Christ by grace.

Of course, even in my suckage God has given grace. I’ve grown through it all. But when reading Paul's 2nd letter to the Corinthians, there was a key verse before that new creation verse that really jumped at me when reading it… Paul said, “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh” This includes ourselves. My perspective about people around me, the Church, atheists, agnostics, and “Christians” has to change. This is a crucial part of being a new creation in Christ….it’s obvious, but it’s new and real to me right now. So by God's grace, through faith, my mind is changing about people.


“2 Cor. 5:16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

New creations don’t stop growing.

So Dean fell down today.

He's been pulling up on everything he can get to and he's so brave, but with little balance to go with it. This leads to your typical tumbles and spills that come along with a little human learning to be a biped. Although, it's likely the first of many, today we couldn't catch him when he fell head first onto a plastic block on the floor.

For a few seconds everything stopped. Time, life, everything! It was Awful!

This suspension of time and life, paired with the loving fear I experienced made me realize a few things about God that I never understood so well until right then.

1: God experiences pain when I fall because I tried to walk on my own.

2: After 30 years of life, I still suck relentlessly and I need Jesus' life in me more now than ever, because I'm doomed to fall without it.

These aren't revolutionary new ideas. They may be old hat for many people, but they became more true and real to me today than ever before.

Now for bedtime with the fam.

Priorities.

With determination to write something today and so little time left to write this, I think of what matters most.

Christ.

He is the only reality I should be consumed with. Not bills that are past due...not my flesh...not my failures or past mistakes.

Just Jesus.

I in Him and He in me. That's my reality. All sins are forgiven and forward I go in Him. Reality.

Sometimes, when simply living life, it's easy to forget to remember what's real and really important. My opinions, feelings, and preferences aren't really important.

Truth is, and Jesus Christ is that Truth.

With determination to write something today and so little time left to write this, I think of what matters most.

Christ.

He is the only reality I should be consumed with. Not bills that are past due...not my flesh...not my failures or past mistakes.

Just Jesus.

I in Him and He in me. That's my reality. All sins are forgiven and forward I go in Him. Reality.

Sometimes, when simply living life, it's easy to forget to remember what's real and really important. My opinions, feelings, and preferences aren't really important.

Truth is, and Jesus Christ is that Truth.

Really Real Reality

I keep waiting for God’s sovereignty to overwhelm me and make me incapable of living in myself, filthy in sin. How foolishly I've forgotten about the balance between His sovereignty and the responsibility He has given me in Him.

As someone who professes belief in Jesus Christ and the Truth found in Him and the Bible...We just have to live in Christ. Just live in Him, make decisions, take action, change, but all in him.

It's ALL about Him. This is real Christianity simplified. He lives through us.

Faith without works is dead. So...Works are clearly important, but they MUST come from Faith.

IF we Love Him, we WILL Obey Him. Right?

Is it then wrong to, in Faith, Obey Him with our flawed love believing that authentic Love will manifest by His grace?

Since He has revealed all of these truths…and we’re conscious of our situation and the Truth…I believe it is eternally best if we just choose to obey by His grace through faith.

Of course, we can't make this choice apart from Him, because apart from Him we can do nothing. That is, whatever we do apart from is nothing.

Only in Him am I capable of living out the life I desire and that He requires. However, since He has placed me in Him, He is now living in me and I am living in Him. Because of this, I can be confident that, when I step out to obey in faith and out of love for Him, He is able to perform that work in and through me. He, Jesus Christ, is my confidence and my source. I no longer need to flounder about sinfully waiting for Him to do something apart from me. I am a part of Him and He is in me. This reality makes me able to do all things.

I really can. He said so.