Great Blog Jen!

Thanks for the encouraging compliments guys! Deb, you're back! Welcome!

This came out of my recent (and repeated) recognition that I'm not worthy of being a child of God. (I knew that in my head before, but not in my heart.) Yes, I'm born-again. I seek God's fellowship, read the Bible, pray, and so on. Still I surrender myself -- my real self -- to Him again and again as I walk the narrow way.

I seek to serve Him, and when I see how inadequate I am -- in those times where I still stand face-to-face with Christ -- it becomes apparent that it won't be me who builds part of His kingdom here; all I contribute is my willingness.

It really is a privilege that I'm not worthy to have.  Thank You for that privilege, Lord!

Isa 6:5

"Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The Lord of hosts."
NKJV

This is a very good blog, Jen.  Thank you!

Jen, you wrote:

"Paradox: 1.a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.

So much gospel truth is paradoxical. Dying to live. Loosing to gain. It's hard, yet with Christ the burden is light. Sinless perfection is needed, yet unattainable (in this life)."

The greatest paradox of all is that Christ himself is our life and yet we live, yet he lives.  So this begs the question: is sinless perfection unattainable by Jesus?  When we look at our self and come to see that all we are is an earthen vessel, a clay pot, we often forget that it isn't the clay pot that is being perfected; the clay pot is merely coming to the place where it lets the glory that it contains to be itself.  The clay pot stops trying to be the contents and submits itself to the fact that it never was supposed to be the "contained" it is merely the "container."

 We live in constant failure because we are really deceived into living as if God has called us to "be like God."  Since we actually are born the first time believing that, God has given us a list of rules that we should be living up to if "we would be like God." That's the Law.  The sole purpose of the law is to reveal our true state when we "are in the flesh" [see Romans 7; Roman 8: "but you are no longer in the flesh if..."].  Modern Christianity has taken this whole thing a step further and added, to the law, Jesus.  So now we have "the law" (external list of rule) and we have the example of Jesus (an external list of rules that our particular denomination emphasises) and we are told that we are supposed to live up to that example.  All we do is end up in Romans 7 with the expectation that "sinless perfection is needed, but unobtainable."

We have this glory in an earthen vessel so that the surpassing greatness of the power may clearly be seen to be of God and not from our self. Add to this the paradoxical statement of Romans 6: "Shall we continue in sin that grace might increase? God forbid!  Don't you know that all who have been immersed into Christ have been immersed into his death? The dead he died he died to sin once for all...therefore consider yourself to be dead to sin and alive to God in Christ...therefore do not let sin reign in you mortal bodies...

The vast majority of Christians have learned that they are justified by faith but they do not really understand that they also live by faith.  Not a faith that acquires something but a faith that merely receives what God has already provided in Christ.

If you come to believe, in your heart, that your flesh has already been executed (crucified), in Christ, and that you are dead not only to the law but also to sin, and that Christ himself is your very life where he is in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure: then you will begin to expect sinless perfection...not from yourself...but from the one who dwells in you.  And you will come to see that "if" you sin it isn't because "you" aren't trying hard enough or are committed enough but because "you" have rebuilt what you have once destroyed and you are not abiding in who you are in him.  He does not sin! And when he live through us we do not sin.  If we sin it is because we are living again, the container is back to trying to make itself into the contained instead of expecting Christ to live, we have returned to trying to live for him.

"You shall be as God" was the first temptation and is the very heart of sin and it is still with us with a Christian face on it.  Paul said that he endeavored to speak of nothing "except what Christ has accomplished through me." If we walk by the spirit we will not carry out the desire of the flesh.  We are constantly being delivered over to dead for Jesus' sake so that the life of Christ may be manifest in our mortal flesh.  All paradoxes!

He does not sin; when we abide in him we do not sin.  That is not an excuse to say: "I can't expect sinless perfection because I don't always abide in him. But rather to say that there is no excuse for our sin, and we can expect him to be made perfect in our weaknesses (not in our strengths)--he gets all the glory.  And "if" we sin we know that Father is faithful and just to forgive us if we confess our sin.  We know we feel into that sin because we were somehow tempted not to abide in him but to in some way turn to our self, either trying to attain to our own perfection or to walk in our own initiative.

For those who have the ears to hear: something to think about.

Best regards, yours in him,
Craig

I LOVE JESUS.................HE ALWAYS GUIDE ME.............TO SURVIVE MY DAILY LIFE

VERY GOOD BLOG.................TQ

Jen,

Excellent! As Christians we have a tendency to think that as we are regularly attending church and doing all the "Good" things that we are one with the Master.

For 15 years I practiced what I thought was right only to have all that I had known taken away suddenly with one full sweep. I was divorced, asked to leave the only church I had known for 15 years, asked to give up literally all the ministries I had participated in. I thank God for my dear God Father Joseph Afram who invited me to church after several months of total separation physically from God, by my own doing.

Now for the first time in my life I am at peace with God. It took losing everything dear and precious to me to bring me back to the Master's feet. God blessed me with a devoted, beautiful woman from Romania who I thoroughly enjoy sharing God with daily in prayer, reading the scriptures and in the chior at the church. All that I lost has been replaced ten fold because I sought forgiveness and humbled myself before Christ.

Thanks for the wonderful insight.

Steven

Thank you so vey much!
Your exhortation is a real good start for the new year.
Keep it up!

Thanks for taking the time to read this and comment everybody!

 David Dix: "the lone ranger mentality" is a good desription. It's hard to overcome that, especially if you don't see it. Sometimes, too, it's an issue of trusting others, especially if you've been damaged by "good" Christians.

I agree with you though. We find it hard to be weak and vulnerable.

Your words left me wondering how can i realy be clothed, fed, given something to drink?. You have touched ma heart in this new year beginning. Thank you and continue doing that.