Infiltrate
I read a comment this week that struck me. "Yeah that has to do with faith, but this has to do with security..." The commenter was right, to some extent, but the thought took me back to my days in politics and the countless times I heard that "faith must be separate from politics, decision making, work, etc."
It is the age old question, if I have faith, how much of my life does that faith infiltrate. Well friend, if you are a Christian, someone who believes Jesus Christ died in your place on the cross to satisfy the wrath you had accrued for disobedience before God, then the answer to how much of your life is infiltrated is all of it. Every last nook and cranny of all of your life, experience, work, education, political involvement, relationships, what you do to celebrate, how you root for yours favorite sports team, how you spend money, where you decided to live, who you associate with, and everything else is to be shaped, influences, and ruled by you faith in Christ.
Sure, you can find other preachers and lesser faiths that suggest you just need Jesus for the end, for eternity, and you can go on living under your own rule and ascribing to the currents of the day. But I am sorry, they are lying to you.
Jesus gave all of himself so that all of you would be his. He owns you. And in the most gloriously freeing way, that is good news. He is your safety, security, purpose and passion. And he desires to be in everything of who you are. Your art, your rest, your loves, your struggles and your decisions on everything else.
Now, I know that his teachings and the rest of the implications in the New Testament on this side of his fantastic grace are hard and they don't always match our political leanings or inbred inclinations. But they are good and the better way. So today, let Jesus infiltrate all of your life. Every speck of it. That is where his grace is found, not only for you, but for everyone else on this currently broken heap headed toward redemption.
Its a tall order. But it is good. Let's go.
It is the age old question, if I have faith, how much of my life does that faith infiltrate. Well friend, if you are a Christian, someone who believes Jesus Christ died in your place on the cross to satisfy the wrath you had accrued for disobedience before God, then the answer to how much of your life is infiltrated is all of it. Every last nook and cranny of all of your life, experience, work, education, political involvement, relationships, what you do to celebrate, how you root for yours favorite sports team, how you spend money, where you decided to live, who you associate with, and everything else is to be shaped, influences, and ruled by you faith in Christ.
Sure, you can find other preachers and lesser faiths that suggest you just need Jesus for the end, for eternity, and you can go on living under your own rule and ascribing to the currents of the day. But I am sorry, they are lying to you.
Jesus gave all of himself so that all of you would be his. He owns you. And in the most gloriously freeing way, that is good news. He is your safety, security, purpose and passion. And he desires to be in everything of who you are. Your art, your rest, your loves, your struggles and your decisions on everything else.
Now, I know that his teachings and the rest of the implications in the New Testament on this side of his fantastic grace are hard and they don't always match our political leanings or inbred inclinations. But they are good and the better way. So today, let Jesus infiltrate all of your life. Every speck of it. That is where his grace is found, not only for you, but for everyone else on this currently broken heap headed toward redemption.
Its a tall order. But it is good. Let's go.
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