Well, it’s been a few days (o.k. weeks) since I’ve posted :-) I probably have no good excuse, but I rejoice in what God has been doing in the past few weeks. God keeps reminding me that it is blessed to be meek, for that one will inherit the earth; to be poor in spirit, for that one will enjoy the kingdom of heaven! The amazing thing about sin in our lives is what it accomplishes. What our sin shouldn’t do is lead us to guilt, shame, condemnation and a desire to work harder the next time to avoid it or conquer it. What our sin should do is point us to our Great Warrior-King, Jesus, who has defeated Satan, sin and death and gives us His perfect righteousness.
God has been teaching me through seeing my own sin so clearly that my proper response to my sin must end up with worship. First off, I know that I no longer will suffer the condemnation and death I deserve for my sin. It has been suffered and taken for me in Jesus! I no longer have to work at defeating my sin that so easily entangles. It has been defeated for me in Jesus! So what is my proper response to sin? It is seeing the victory I have because of the cross and having that cause me to worship Jesus, even in that same moment of my sin! Grace becomes that much sweeter in the face of sin. As Paul stated clearly, “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more!” (Rom 5:21). Does this mean I keep on sinning? May that never be the case! (Romans 6:1). It means I worship my God in light of seeing how gracious He truly is in the midst of my sin. This will enevitably bring about less sin and more worship in my life! Less work and striving and more REST.
As a response to what the Gospel keeps teaching me, I’ve been meditating on the Psalms and have begun a type of "personal Psalm writing," where God is using the Psalms to lead me in conversation with Him. This has been the biggest lesson He has been teaching me these past few weeks. That I have had a great disconnect between knowing the truth and communing with the Truth. It’s the difference between knowing the cold hard facts about the Person and living, experiencing, walking and communing with the Person, Jesus. God keeps breaking my heart in a good way and leading me to sweet repentance in the truth that I have not been in communication with the God who I so desperately need to fill my thirsty longings. I have been attempting to quench my thirst in my own broken cisterns, but this has of course led to only more ruin.
So I would like to take you with me into the Psalms in these continuing posts, letting you in on what God is teaching me as I commune with Him. I pray they encourage and inspire you to maybe do your own “Psalm writing” – and above all, may HE be glorified in who He is, how GOOD He is, and how loving He was to crush His own Son for my soul!
God, thank you that I am completely yours.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
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