I am fully convinced that unless we come to understand and see the weight of our sins (which we'll never fully grasp) more...we won't fall as helplessly in love with God as we can. I'm not saying I've got this all figured out by any means. I'd be a fool to attempt to claim such a thing. But, I am saying that we too often forget that we've not only been saved FROM something, but that we've been saved FOR something greater.

Revelation 2:4-5 says "Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place."

Jesus was writing a letter to the church in Ephesus. As members of the Church of Christ...we need to be aware of forgetting where we've come from. We've been made worthy of God's grace through Christ and Christ alone. No matter how mature we think we are, let's not forget we've all fallen short of God's glory.

Romans 3: 22-24 "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified FREELY by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

As Matt Chandler (my favorite speaker...oh man...) simply stated "If you throw a glass of clean water into the ocean and then scoop up water from the ocean, it's not going to be clean is it? You can't just throw one glass of clean water into an ocean of salt water and expect it to be clean." That's not verbatim, by the way. Haha.But all he's saying is...we can't save ourselves and we need Jesus every day because otherwise it's the same as trying to clean up the ocean with one 8oz glass of clean water.

But it's true. We must allow the Holy Spirit to do a transforming work in us and renew our hearts.

As my other favorite speaker, Francis Chan said in his book "Crazy Love"...we need God's help to love God. And we need God's help to know God.

Yep. Just some thoughts.

In Christ,

Alex

Oh yeah...and if anything I ever say is Scripturally unsound...let me know, please. I'd really appreciate it.

I can't even tell you how amazing he is. There aren't enough words in all the world to do that.

I was at a funeral today for Mrs. Judie Raether. I haven't met her, but she's with Jesus now and lives are still being touched by her. God used her in ways I can only dream of. She adopted I think...was it eight children? I'm not sure, but it was a lot. They were from Milwaukee and she loved them like her own. She also had her own children. The words spoken at her funeral that really blew me away were these ones. "If you have boundaries, take them down. Whatever you think is important or whatever boundaries you put up around yourself as far as people and time and effort, take them down. God will use you."

How many times do we put up boundaries for ourselves? Boundaries for how much time we can spend doing something? Boundaries for how much we can do for a person? Why not just let go of all our pretenses and let God do the boundary setting? God tells us in the Bible exactly how to live; Judie Raether was a living translation of the Word. Amazing. God puts up boundaries for us naturally. The boundaries that say to avoid what makes others fall down. Avoid bringing shame to others. Live at peace with one another as much as possible.

Above all...let's stop trying to "do the right thing" or "make the right move" and let Christ live through us. That's the only way we'll change. The pastor said that today. It's true. Really. We'll never be perfect because we were born sinners. But we have the LIVING. BREATHING. LOVING. God of all inside of us. Who can hide that?