The danger for the Christian is not that
he or she might fall into terrible sin. It
is that the comfort of one’s own goodness and intelligence is enough to get
along. Great sin creates a rush of
horror and it wrecks the personal confidence one has. It is then that the Shepherd is known
intimately to be good. Experientially
the blood of Christ must work its way through and through until the love of God
is certain. Before then it seems a
fantasy, this mercy of God, this dependence upon Christ for everything. We have life worked out, we are pretty good,
our job may not be perfect but it pays the bills, our loves aren’t always
agreeable but they keep us warm and responsible. Yet this is a sham; fool’s gold. We are dead in our sins and hopeless without
Christ. It is not damaged goods but
utter wreckage we have and that great need we faced when we were lost in our
sin has not diminished a whit since we came to Christ and were born again. We need Him just as much now as that spot of
time we faced ourselves fully and saw the hatred and filth and hopelessness and
cried out to God for a Savior. God has
not called us to succeed. He has brought
us into complete immersion in the life of Christ that we might fully live in
Him. Are we to pray by the day or the
week? It is moment by moment that we
need our Lord and it is in those moments that we succeed at the point of His
call. Why do we become satisfied with
the ebb and flow of Holy Spirit living when we can be living on the mighty
Mississippi of filling? Certainly we can
act as if it doesn’t matter whether or not we are in union with Christ at any
given moment of the day but it is sheer arrogance to think we have enough of
God to function well. What does it take
to make us see our need? A fierce burst
of anger, a jealous rage, a wicked spell of depression, a broken heart, the
flaring fear of loss, a dirty little mind that feeds off lust, a swelling
loneliness that public places exacerbate; what makes us pause long enough seek
out our Savior? There is a gate that is
wide as Kansas and it takes us into the far away country where everything is
plastic and full of selfies. But there
also is a narrow way where we are never alone and we can live with the Glorious
Christ who loves and nourishes our souls and who massages our troubled minds
with tender hands. Can you pause just
long enough to gaze into the mind of your Savior? Do you need to take time with Jesus?
To him who is thirsty I will give to drink
without cost from the spring of the water of life. Revelation 21:6 NIV
