That's what it's all about! - Clap! Clap!

So, the average person who lives to be 70, will have spent 20 years of his life sleeping, 6 years eating (at least 8 years, if your name is Cyndi), 5 years dressing(ok add another year if your name is Cyndi, I have a problem picking out just the right outfit, which always ends up being wrong anyways, why do I bother), 2 years on the telephone, 3 years waiting, and 5 months tying shoes. I'm not even gonna mention the years spent online...

So we all jump in and say "That's what it's all about, clap-clap!"


WHAT????


In my devotional time this morning the simple verse "the just shall live by faith" opened up a super jumbo sized can of worms for me... these 6 little words are so freeing and uncomplicated, but for some reason I prefer "the extra complicated with a slice of difficult on the side please."


'I marvel that you have left the gospel of grace — the unearned, undeserved, unmerited favor of God — just so you can get all tangled up in rules and regulations.' I loosely quote from Paul...

I don't know how it is for most of you, but I spend a large portion of my day worried about what I'm doing or not doing that is pleasing or not pleasing God... I set my own traps and fall into them regularly. And it's a gluey sticky mess that's not easy to free myself from... Seriously is this what it's all about? Is this the life that I was promised when I first believed?


"So Christ has really set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law. Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision (or rules and regulations) to make you right with God, then Christ cannot help you. " Gal. 5:1-3

Woops! how did I get here again? Relying on all the "good" stuff I do, feeling like "I've got it going on, I'm all good". When I really break it down it's actually a little bit comical how I think the "good" stuff I do for God is actually "good". It's a little like when Emmy proudly cleaned up her pee on her carpet yesterday by taking a tea towel, dipping it into the toilet then proceeding to "clean up her mess" with an extra-large sized smile... yeah... that was good. YUCK!

In light of Emmy's example, I'm surprised how easily I jump right into playing this game... I put my whole self in...

And soon we can become Judiazers... FYI the Judaizers if you didn't know where the people that said it was impossible to be right with God with out having your foreskin cut off... woah!

I can start looking a little too close at people, and the private parts of their lives and I can hurt them — not love, embrace and bless them. I become self-righteous, and look at others saying, ‘ If they'd only read their bibles they wouldn't be in this predicament? Why do they that watch that junk? What’s wrong with them?’ Hypothetically of course... ;) I would never, I could never, Ok I do, but I wanna pretend I don't.... I'm sorry!

Then suddenly I blow it, I don't keep my own rules and standards that I think I need to to be right with God and I'm up a creek without a paddle, and I think to myself... "self, what we're you thinking, you've blown it and this one's gonna be hard to work out with God, He's gonna be disappointed in what a loser you are"

We put ourselves in the pressure cooker that for so many of us is the Christian experience, which is either that of a self-righteous jerk who goes around inspecting other people's privates— which we all know we have NO business doing!!!! Or one who lives in the doldrums, trying to escape the slimy walls of the deep deep pit we dug for ourselves.


Up and down, up and down, get me off this crazy thing Jane!


The just shall live by faith.

‘Lord, it's all done, there's nothing more to add. All the junk I've done— past, present, and future, are forgiven. I can come to You anytime I want to. I don’t have to prove to You that I'm spiritual. I don't have to do this or get rid of that. Lord, I can just love You and appreciate the Cross — and I’m free...

There's no middle ground with God, I LOVE that about Him!

No matter how many good things I do, He's not gonna love me more and no matter how many times I blow it today he's not gonna love me less!!!

YES! That's what it's all about, so I'm gonna put my whole self in and shake it all about today as I rejoice that I live by faith, nothing more nothing less, I belive and that means I'm free!

Clap! Clap!