Not real sure where i got that title...I'm thinking it was an Anne of Green Gables book or the like...but having had a couple of cups of coffee AFTER 7pm makes for an awake Jenn at 12AM!!
So what to do at such a time when the rest of the family is asleep?!!! Well....write in my blog of course! Hahahaha!
So what to write....a reflection of 2016? Nah...I'm such a forward ever kind of person that it just about kills me to even have backtrack when i drive...like this past week i have been acutely aware of ALL the backtracking I've had to do by keeping on the main roads just so that i wouldn't get stuck in the snow! And which by the way...we are getting serious amount of snow here...with more to come...so if any of you saw that giraffes in the snow picture i posted ....that may not be far off!
So...how about a look forward?! Here are some of my recent thoughts that I will hopefully be able to tie together. I've actually been rather pensive these last few weeks...here is one of the recurrent themes that keeps popping up... Change... and what it means to BE a Christian.... having been out in the workforce these past two years has "opened" my eyes to what other people may think /perceive Christianity is about...and ...how lonely, how empty, how incomplete, how hurting, how angry, how hopeless people really are without Christ and His Bride (the Church).
But first...back to change. It has been interesting to me over the years to see how resistant people are to change. An object at rest tends to stay at rest comes to mind.... Let me give you a couple of examples that may or may not have anything to do with Christianity... money and diet. Both are touchy subjects. We could start talking about budgets and where and how we should spend our money and people can start to get uncomfortable, what with getting out of debt, paying bills, savings, charitable giving....and then percentages to go along for such things...and people could start putting up defenses and getting defensive....I've seen it....experienced it. I remember a brother in Christ talking about how oftentimes when people go to get immersed into Christ that they either physically (well that might be a good idea on one hand) but rather mentally keep their wallet (money matters) out of their conversion(immersion in water IS where conversion happens) because after all that's their money...they earned it ..they worked for it, and who is anyone to tell them how to spend it?! Now diet...this is one that totally caught me off guard...truly...and to this day i still wonder at how deeply food is a part of us....when you start talking about what is good/bad to eat many people have MANY different ideas... and especially if you start talking about... oh... say...being gluten free....or that grains are bad....Now WAIT! hold up...I'm not here to discuss whether i think grains or gluten are good or bad...but what i do want to point out is that people have some VERY strong opinions either way...and it is surprising to me that people do not want to change the way they eat for any reason... and not just that... but it is HARD to change what we eat...we may have all the good intentions in the world to eat well and healthy...but... we get busy...are tired... AND hungry and very likely will throw out good eating for the sake of just eating.
Change is a Huge part of Christianity. HUGE. God has not called us to be the same old people, living the same old lives, living in the same old sins. He called us FROM those things. He called us to be holy JUST AS He is holy. He has called us to be righteous JUST AS He is righteous. He tells us that IF we sin, we have an advocate(i like to think of that as a lawyer) Jesus Christ. He doesn't tell us that WHEN we sin but IF. God's expectation is that we get to a point where we do not sin. Let that sink in. God wants us to get to the point where what we practice is holy and righteous. Of course, we're not going to be perfect in practice right out of the waters of our immersion/conversion, but God wants us to have the picture that we CAN be righteous and holy just like He is. God goes to great lengths in the New Testament to give us this picture...so many verses....one of them, my favorite is Galatians 2:20, another 2 Corinthians 5:17, Colossians 3:5-13, Romans 8:12-14....just to name a few...and truly there are so many more....He wants us to have that picture right now. He wants us to see ourselves as already having obtained it(righteousness and holiness) so that our brain will process that and our sub conscience will accept that so that we will in turn live that out. Because who we think we are IS who we are.
Which brings me back to the sad state of people who are outside Christ. Always looking for something to fill the void that lies within them...a void that God put there that can only be filled by Him....it can not be filled with material possessions, money, another person, oneself, alcohol, drugs, addictions, drama, or whatever else you can think of...God put that void there on purpose because He wants to be with those who truly want/desire to be with Him. He wants to have fellowship (enjoy the company of) with those who love Him not because they have to but because the WANT to. God gives hope. He heals. He completes. He offers companionship. He loves. He fills. BUT...in order for that happen...there must be change. One must be willing to lay down his own will and desires and tendencies to do God's. What that means ... is submitting to God. And yet we have another area that is not easy for people to do... and that basically comes down to this...are we going to do what we want to do... or what God wants us to do? Are we going to wholly obey Him...or just the parts we want/like? Obeying God, doing His will, submitting to God is going to REQUIRE change on our part...let's not kid ourselves...are we willing to change? I am.... YES!!
