Thought for the Week

“I want to always love You and be what You want me to be forever.” This was my closing sentence last time. Since God loves me (and you) perfectly, I think this should be my response to Him. When I was a child, we sang a hymn during worship services with these words: “Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole, I want Thee forever to live in my soul. Break down every idol. Cast out every foe. Now, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.” A chorus followed. That song resonated with me. I did and do “long to be perfectly whole.” But I am not. “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do what pleases Him”. (1 John 3:22) Here’s the rub: I do, I desperately do, want to keep His commandments and to please Him. When I confess my sin, wrong-doing, my breaking His commandments, He forgives me and cleanses me, from all unrighteousness. (see I John 1:9) I am at that moment, perfectly whole. I want to please Him. That involves faith. “Without faith, it is impossible to please God.” (See Hebrews 11:6ff). I have faith in Him. I know He never fails. The failures are all on my part. I know that too and confess it. Part of my faith believes God will take care of my failures. It is why Christ came and completed God’s plan of salvation. I would encourage you to read, study, meditate on, and totally involve yourself in Romans chapters 6 through 8. Here, Paul reminds us we should not live in sin (the acts and lifestyle of sin) but we should live in the spirit (the acts and lifestyle of Christ). He says we are dead to sin, but alive in and to Christ. I think I can illustrate: A frog’s eggs hatch and become tadpoles. They live in the water. If we take them out of the water they will die. But over time, those tadpoles are metamorphosed. They are totally changed and become frogs. Now, if we take a frog, who used to be a tadpole and lived in the water, and we put him back into and under the water, he will drown and die. It is because he is totally changed. We may not be able to pinpoint when the total change is completed. But at some point, the tadpole will die out of the water, and the frog will die in the water. At some point the Christian will be glorified, totally changed (see II Corinthians 5:17ff) I used to live in sin and it seemed fine to me. But I received Christ. Now, sin has a deadly effect on me. I know what sin will do to me if I attempt to live in it. As soon as sin get into me, I begin to gasp for breath/life in Christ. I must confess that I am gripped by sin and desperately need to rid myself of it. I cry out to Christ for help and am rescued by Him. I know and must remind myself, that to me, sin is deadly. Christ has life in Himself. He wants me to have His life in me and one day, He will complete my metamorphosis. In the meanwhile, I want to live just as close to Christ as I can. I want Him to have absolute control in my life. I never want to offend Him or allow sin to enter my life. He lived me first. While I was a sinner. I love Him back. I am considered a ‘sinner saved by His grace’. His love for me is boundless and free. But it is what makes me want to live a life without sin. I fail far too often. He never fails. No wonder I love Him. He loves me (and you) perfectly. I thank Him for that love and His support in helping not to sin.

Scriptures to Read

Deuteronomy 6:5 & 11:1 & 30:20

Joshua 22:5

St. Matthew 22:36

I John 4:17-18

Psalm 42:1-5

St. John 14:15-21

St. John 15:9-17