A Year Through God's Eyes
Friday, June 24, 2011
One Spirit
I Corinthians 6:17-But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him.
I had to go to the school today for the Badger Comeback Band rehearsal. This is a time every year where the graduates of KCHS come back together for a pretty substantial reunion of classmates. Along with the celebration, there is an alumni band that gets together and plays a few songs before the program begins. As I was getting my instrument out tonight about to go to my seat, I checked my rotors to make sure they were functioning after having sat for the better part of a month without being used.
Well, to my surprise (said with a sarcastic glint in my eye), the rotors were frozen solid. I couldn't get them to move even after a few minutes of working them over with oil. I finally decided the next time our repair person makes another call to the band hall, he needs to take my instrument with him to be serviced.
This of course got me thinking about my relationship with Christ Jesus. How could it not? Anyway, the obvious analogy is that if I don't spend time with my Creator, our relationship becomes like those stuck rotors. They can be functional again, but not with just a little bit of oil, i.e. a band aid to go over the problem. No, they will need to be taken to a master who can restore them back to their original functionality. The same with me. But, as you can see from my title to this blog post, as well as the verse I've got that starts it off, it goes SO much deeper than that.
The call placed on my life, is that if I am to call myself a Christ-follower. A true believer. One who is joined to the Lord, then I am one spirit with Him. Now, I don't know about those of you who have schizophrenia, or any other types multiple personality disorders, but for me I've only got one voice on the inside of my person. It's the one who's telling me what to write right now. However, what that verse is saying, shouting to me is this: Jesus is the only voice I get to listen to!!! This is because His desires are my desires, His commands are my commands, His thoughts are my thoughts, His concerns are my concerns, His convictions are my convictions, and on and on I could go. I heard a pastor put it this way: "See, we live in a nation that promulgates this very powerful myth that we're free, we're all free. We're free to choose our own slave master. But we're not free. The Bible says, if the Son sets you free, you're free indeed. You're not free apart from Jesus. All you can do is choose your slave master. It can be drugs, sex, food, power, comfort, security, independence, dependence, whatever your thing is, accomplishment, achievement, self-loathing, self-medicating. Whatever it is, all we can do is just choose our Pharaoh—we choose our slave master." If I'm not choosing to have Christ as my master each and every day in every thought and action I have, then I cannot say that I am one who is joined to the Lord.
This is not to say that I can be perfect. There's only one man who ever fit that billing, and I'm not Him. What it does mean is that daily, I'm being sanctified through Christ, and every day I'm given the choice to either go my own way or go the way of Jesus. That's part of the purpose this blog serves; as a daily reminder to me and checkup of me needing to follow Christ's way. Not because I begrudgingly have to in order to be holy, but because I GET to as my act of sacrificial worship for the day! With that in mind, I also want my prayers to have focus and power, so here goes:
1) That I would have the mind of Christ in all my actions and thoughts.
2) That I would be the spiritual leader in my house. That means praying WITH and FOR my wife (unity) and daughter (purpose).
3) Africa: That I would be open to what God chooses to reveal to me. That I would be obedient to pray for the others going. (Today: Caleb)
4) The men of our church-specifically Will, Kevin, and Caleb
5) The projects going on at our church, that people would be saved in our community.
6) The pains of our sister churches: Village Church leadership, Compass Church, Dynamic Church, TSESA (sp.?), church plant potential here in KC area.
7) What is in my life right now that is impossible without God?
8) That I would have a heart that continually chases after the worship of God. All I need is Him, make it a reality in the depths of my heart, Lord.
I had to go to the school today for the Badger Comeback Band rehearsal. This is a time every year where the graduates of KCHS come back together for a pretty substantial reunion of classmates. Along with the celebration, there is an alumni band that gets together and plays a few songs before the program begins. As I was getting my instrument out tonight about to go to my seat, I checked my rotors to make sure they were functioning after having sat for the better part of a month without being used.
Well, to my surprise (said with a sarcastic glint in my eye), the rotors were frozen solid. I couldn't get them to move even after a few minutes of working them over with oil. I finally decided the next time our repair person makes another call to the band hall, he needs to take my instrument with him to be serviced.
This of course got me thinking about my relationship with Christ Jesus. How could it not? Anyway, the obvious analogy is that if I don't spend time with my Creator, our relationship becomes like those stuck rotors. They can be functional again, but not with just a little bit of oil, i.e. a band aid to go over the problem. No, they will need to be taken to a master who can restore them back to their original functionality. The same with me. But, as you can see from my title to this blog post, as well as the verse I've got that starts it off, it goes SO much deeper than that.
The call placed on my life, is that if I am to call myself a Christ-follower. A true believer. One who is joined to the Lord, then I am one spirit with Him. Now, I don't know about those of you who have schizophrenia, or any other types multiple personality disorders, but for me I've only got one voice on the inside of my person. It's the one who's telling me what to write right now. However, what that verse is saying, shouting to me is this: Jesus is the only voice I get to listen to!!! This is because His desires are my desires, His commands are my commands, His thoughts are my thoughts, His concerns are my concerns, His convictions are my convictions, and on and on I could go. I heard a pastor put it this way: "See, we live in a nation that promulgates this very powerful myth that we're free, we're all free. We're free to choose our own slave master. But we're not free. The Bible says, if the Son sets you free, you're free indeed. You're not free apart from Jesus. All you can do is choose your slave master. It can be drugs, sex, food, power, comfort, security, independence, dependence, whatever your thing is, accomplishment, achievement, self-loathing, self-medicating. Whatever it is, all we can do is just choose our Pharaoh—we choose our slave master." If I'm not choosing to have Christ as my master each and every day in every thought and action I have, then I cannot say that I am one who is joined to the Lord.
This is not to say that I can be perfect. There's only one man who ever fit that billing, and I'm not Him. What it does mean is that daily, I'm being sanctified through Christ, and every day I'm given the choice to either go my own way or go the way of Jesus. That's part of the purpose this blog serves; as a daily reminder to me and checkup of me needing to follow Christ's way. Not because I begrudgingly have to in order to be holy, but because I GET to as my act of sacrificial worship for the day! With that in mind, I also want my prayers to have focus and power, so here goes:
1) That I would have the mind of Christ in all my actions and thoughts.
2) That I would be the spiritual leader in my house. That means praying WITH and FOR my wife (unity) and daughter (purpose).
3) Africa: That I would be open to what God chooses to reveal to me. That I would be obedient to pray for the others going. (Today: Caleb)
4) The men of our church-specifically Will, Kevin, and Caleb
5) The projects going on at our church, that people would be saved in our community.
6) The pains of our sister churches: Village Church leadership, Compass Church, Dynamic Church, TSESA (sp.?), church plant potential here in KC area.
7) What is in my life right now that is impossible without God?
8) That I would have a heart that continually chases after the worship of God. All I need is Him, make it a reality in the depths of my heart, Lord.
posted by Nathan at 10:56 PM
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