While listening to a guest speaker at church this past Sunday, I was reminded of an encounter I had with God's Spirit some years ago that redefined my approach to my spiritual life.
I had become increasingly aware that my spiritual life was constructed around (a) trying hard to please God, and (b) "do's and don’ts."
Well, no matter how hard I tried, I always seemed to come up short on the first point, because God was this guy who demanded perfection...and I was far from perfect, try as I might. Finally, I came to a point where I was able to embrace that truth - I would never be perfect - and further embrace that God knew that and provided the solution for me in the person and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I embraced the good news that Jesus Christ took my sins and "falling short" into death with him, so that I could be fully alive and well pleasing to God as I am. Now that was "good news!"
Even with a new understanding of my good standing with God I still found myself living in a world of "do's and don’ts." I had all these little rules in my head of how I should act/live as a Christian. And that is a tiring way to live!
I remember being in my car one day and dialoging with God's Spirit about it (yes, I pray out loud in the car, and I even hear God's Spirit speaking into my heart). The conversation went something like this...
"God, I know all these rules are wearing me out, and I want to stop living this way and learn to walk in your Spirit, but if I don't have my rules what's to keep me from sinning all over the place?"
The Spirit of God spoke these words softly into my heart and mind, "But I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature." (Galatians 5:16)
I thought about that, "Focus on living in God's Spirit, and not on living by rules and regulations. Humm...but to do that...I'd have to trust that you will produce holy living in me, instead of me doing my own version of holy living."
To which I heard, "Exactly! It's a faith struggle instead of a performance struggle!"
My spiritual life had take a turn into a new and fresh direction that day, as I made the decision to focus on doing relationship with Jesus Christ, and trust God to be at work in me through that relationship to produce a new kind of life.
I had embraced two fundamental cornerstones of faith. First, to trust that the finished work of Jesus Christ truly had made me well pleasing to a loving God. And second, to trust that God would produce holy living in me as I focused on knowing and walking with Jesus Christ.
I won't try to recap the message of our guest speaker this past Sunday. But I will tell you he was speaking about the love and grace of God in a very effecive way. And it brought me back anew to one of those important "God encounters" I had experienced in my own life. It was a memory that both refreshed and challenged me. God does that from time to time, brings us back to "square one." It's a good square to revisit ;-)
NOTE: If you want to know more about how to live in God's amazing grace, there are two books in my "Recommended Reading" section (left sidebar) that I'd suggest. "
Tired of Trying to Measure Up" by Jeff VanVonderen, and "
Abba's Child" by Brennan Manning.
