WATCHWORD:
19 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” Galatians 2:19-21
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27
Meditation:
God’s Will vs. Our Way
I looked out the window and there was snow in the air! I told God, in no uncertain terms, that I didn’t like that! So, God changed it. Yes, He did. He added rain to the snow and I liked that even less. I decided not to complain. There is no telling what He would change it to, next. Ice?
Are you unhappy with your lot in life? How are thing going in your relationship with the Almighty? Are your intellectual thoughts and beliefs challenging your faith? Have your emotional opinions and thoughts interfered with your worship of the Lord? What causes you to remark, “That was a good sermon” after a church service? Was it the message or the messenger? Was your heart into it? Why? Was it because you agreed? Ever leave a service thinking “that was a waste of time”? Same questions – Was your heart not into it? Why?
I think there are times when God lays it out to us and because of our own judgments, we accept, or we reject. We apply our intellectual capacity and grade the presenter. Or maybe we show up at our time with God with this enormous gunnysack full of hurt pride, anger, grief, loss or loneliness. Perhaps we hurry to get through our meditational readings because of our busy schedule? Don’t give it much thought because…got to get going?
There is so much in our lives that crowd in around us and cause stress. I don’t think we understand when Christ tells us “My Peace, I give unto you.” Then He elaborates on that by saying, “I do not give to you as the world gives.” Is it a matter of priorities? Our emotional or intellectual or practical side says this is more important, this to-do list, this schedule. My time with God can wait. Where is peace in that thinking?
What do you suppose Paul meant when he said, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live? Do you think he meant, I am going to make a good-faith effort to imitate Christ? Or maybe, I will really try hard to follow Him, as soon as I return from the grocery store? Forget the grocery store, that is us. Trying hard to follow? That wasn’t Paul, either.
This is what Oswald Chambers thinks Paul means by “…it is no longer I who live…” “My individuality remains, but my primary motivation for living and the nature that rules me are radically changed. I have the same human body, but the old satanic right to myself has been destroyed…I live by faith in the Son of God…It is no longer a faith in faith, but a faith that transcends all imaginable limits—a faith that comes only from the son of God.”
What do you think about that? Paul’s dedication to Christ channeled his whole life in ways that we are familiar with because we read about it in the Bible. Maybe you share my own thoughts that it’s a heavy lift for me at my age and stage of life. Or is it? At the heart of what Paul has said, is dedication to the Lord in all aspects of our lives. I find great comfort in my walk with God in Thomas Merton’s prayer words, “I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.”
Too often, we are our worst grader, our most unforgiving self-critic. We need to lighten up on ourselves and our busy life and know that He is God. So, the snow turned to rain, praise the Lord. So, my team didn’t win. Praise the Lord. I got distracted and ruined the dinner. Praise the Lord. My heart goes out to Ukraine and I feel their pain. Praise the Lord! My life is in His hands. Trust that, believe that.
It is time to listen and follow the message, and not get distracted by our personal comfort or our own thoughts or emotions. He is God. He is God. He is God, and I am not. Praise the Lord! Amen.
Today’s Lenten Passage to Ponder:
1 Peter 5:6: Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
Thomas Merton’s Morning Prayer:
“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.” Amen.
