I. am. Searching.
I'm searching for a new way to move about in Christ's love. I read a post by a fellow blogger today talking about how he had felt complacent, but had seen Christ move. It's an interesting concept really, just when we are sitting around and waiting, God speaks to us and makes us realize that we need to stop waiting and start acting. As soon as we do, He.Moves. This bothered me for a moment, because I have been doing just that, I've been sitting and waiting to see what Christ has in store for me. I took Proverbs 19:21 "You can make many plans, but the Lord's purpose will prevail" completely incorrectly for the last month or so. I thought that it meant that making plans was unnecessary, and sitting idly by and waiting for God's purpose to prevail was part of the job. WRONG! I realize that while I MUST know that God's plan for me will prevail in time, I still have to make a plan, I still have to have goals and dreams, and strive to live out the word in my daily life. It's something that I struggle with. I had been doing well with everything, and then slowly but surely, I started to revert to my old ways. I started to swear more often, I started considering going out and partying on occasion, I was distancing myself slowly, subconsciously, from Christ. It wasn't because of anyone or anything that was going on in my life, I think it's because God started doing some AMAZING things in my life, and so I got into that mindset that I had redeemed some of the things I had done in the past... WRONG!, Redemption doesn't come that easily, well it does, but it's not something that we can DO in order to receive God's grace, it's making a lifestyle change permanently. It was little things that I began to notice in the last couple of weeks. I stopped reading as often, I wasn't praying as much, I was allowing myself to get angry or frustrated more often, about things that really don't matter, I wasn't being Me. This morning I skipped a class, it wasn't necessarily on purpose, it was one of those, hit the snooze button, and get up in a couple minutes turn to a couple hours type deal. But I believe with all my heart that there was a purpose for that, there was a reason I woke up late, and missed my first class of the day. It's so God could give me this understanding:
I. don't. deserve. His. Grace.
We don't deserve it, we can't earn it, that's why it's called Grace. The word grace has so much meaning in my life, especially as of lately. It's amazing what God can do for us. God can put us into a situation, or put someone in our lives, and at first it looks like we are going to help them with their walk in Christ, and before you know it, we are stumbling and they are helping us to our feet. I've experienced it first hand. I think too often we get lost in the moment, we get angry, we get frustrated, we get jealous, we get worried and we lose sight of what it is God is doing for us. We lost sight of the fact that His will will be done. It's interesting sometimes, that people can teach you things about yourself, without saying a word. They can say or do the smallest thing, things that you appreciate or make you feel good about yourself, that also make you realize that you can be a better person, a better man, a better Christian. I realize now that when people compliment me, or tell me how they feel, not only does it boost me up, and give me some confidence, but it makes me take a step back and ask myself "How can I be better now, and tomorrow, and the next day". I'm always looking to improve the way I live my life for Christ, and something as simple as one person's perception of me, or expectations of me, can allow me to work harder at the pursuit of being an imitator of Christ. Thank you to those people, that person that points out my faults or the things that I've expressed I don't like about myself, but they point it out in a loving manner, or without words at all. I'm excited to see God's purpose prevail in my life, but I'm also excited to continually seek that purpose.
Prevail.Protect.Provide.
Those are the three things God will do for us, the 3 P's of Grace. Today starts a new movement, in my heart, today... today is a new day for me. I will no longer conform to the society that I am forcibly a part of, I will move, I will carry God's word, I will allow Christ to prevail. I was remembering back to an earlier blog post I wrote, about Passion and Purpose, and this quote came to mine: "We must infiltrate the culture, to influence the culture." Let's stop standing idly by, let's push complacency away from our lives, and started working towards a movement, the movement God has called us to be a part of. Let's pray for the knowledge, the wisdom, and the patience to know when we are supposed to be still, but also realize not to be still for too long. Let's start a revolution. Christ's love is ours to share, not to hide and horde for ourselves. A movement is upon us.
Grace and Peace.
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