Am I overthinking the Christian walk?
Christian,
Do you ever feel like you are doing it all wrong? That the way you are living life is completely out of whack from the way that God intends for you to be? If so, I am in that boat right now. I feel like my spiritual disciplines are completely empty. God, I'm praying to you, but do you really hear me? God, I feel like I am not correctly "obeying" you. How much is enough? Am I trying to please you by my obedience in reading the Bible? Am I trying to please myself through my own obedience? Why does simply being his child seem harder than it should?
God, I feel like I am in a desert and it hurts so badly. I do not even know where to go in our conversation. I feel like prayer is a one-way conversation. And the worst thing of all, I hate myself for feeling this way. I truly do. Preaching the Gospel to myself seems sugarcoated and futile. God, I don't want to feel far away.
"Why are you cast down, O my soul, why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in the LORD."
Look up.
Look up.
It hit me. What good does it do me to wallow in my sin and failures? Did Jesus Christ not die on the cross for me? Of course, I am a failure. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). But then what? "And are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." When guilt and shame eat me alive, I must remember that I cannot purify myself.
Jared Mellingers says it perfectly in his article Look Up,
"We try to escape anxiety by analyzing our soul to measure how much peace we are currently experiencing. We attempt to treat shame and feelings of worthlessness by turning inward to examine our self-worth. We battle persistent guilt by meditating on our many sins."
If you have read the intro to this post, you can see how this applies to explicitly to me.
The Christian life is not one of defeat, but one of victory. This victory was won on the cross.
"Death is swallowed up in victory.'
O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Let this be the anthem of your souls. Not only has victory been won, but in Christ, we are free from the bondage of sin. Free from condemnation. Those who have died with Christ also LIVE with him.
The entire reason that our sin is shown to us is to show us the sufficiency of Christ in our weakness. Thank God we have a Savior that we can draw near to on the throne of grace.
Look up the the radiant cross, dear friends.
Do you ever feel like you are doing it all wrong? That the way you are living life is completely out of whack from the way that God intends for you to be? If so, I am in that boat right now. I feel like my spiritual disciplines are completely empty. God, I'm praying to you, but do you really hear me? God, I feel like I am not correctly "obeying" you. How much is enough? Am I trying to please you by my obedience in reading the Bible? Am I trying to please myself through my own obedience? Why does simply being his child seem harder than it should?
God, I feel like I am in a desert and it hurts so badly. I do not even know where to go in our conversation. I feel like prayer is a one-way conversation. And the worst thing of all, I hate myself for feeling this way. I truly do. Preaching the Gospel to myself seems sugarcoated and futile. God, I don't want to feel far away.
"Why are you cast down, O my soul, why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in the LORD."
Look up.
Look up.
It hit me. What good does it do me to wallow in my sin and failures? Did Jesus Christ not die on the cross for me? Of course, I am a failure. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). But then what? "And are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." When guilt and shame eat me alive, I must remember that I cannot purify myself.
Jared Mellingers says it perfectly in his article Look Up,
"We try to escape anxiety by analyzing our soul to measure how much peace we are currently experiencing. We attempt to treat shame and feelings of worthlessness by turning inward to examine our self-worth. We battle persistent guilt by meditating on our many sins."
If you have read the intro to this post, you can see how this applies to explicitly to me.
The Christian life is not one of defeat, but one of victory. This victory was won on the cross.
"Death is swallowed up in victory.'
O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Let this be the anthem of your souls. Not only has victory been won, but in Christ, we are free from the bondage of sin. Free from condemnation. Those who have died with Christ also LIVE with him.
The entire reason that our sin is shown to us is to show us the sufficiency of Christ in our weakness. Thank God we have a Savior that we can draw near to on the throne of grace.
Look up the the radiant cross, dear friends.
Comments
Post a Comment