There are days when I wonder if I am ‘good enough’ to even call myself a Christian. There are days when I
get fearful and I plot to run away to some retreat. Sometimes I get
short-tempered and regrettable angry words out-run my self-control. Evenings arrive when I realize I have largely wasted
the day, missing God-given opportunities while daydreaming about being someone
else, somewhere else. Sometimes I don’t act like I love Jesus. Shocked, are you? Not if you know me. “But, Jerry, you’re a pastor, a person who
has been following Jesus for 50 years.” I
am but I am also a garden variety human being. I am not making any excuses for
my lapses, nor am I in any way proud of any of those sins. Looking at myself in
the mirror confirms the message of God’s grace.
Paul, the apostle of Christ whose spiritual revelation gave
us more than half of our New Testament, did not boast of being a super-man. He
admitted to being a lot less than perfect, to experiencing life at its lowest. At
the same time, he reveled in the radiance of Christ Jesus that filled his soul. He says
"For God, who said, “Let
light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show
that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." (2
Corinthians 4:6-7, NIV)
What a contrast of realities we find in that inspired Word!
God does the miraculous, making a Creation moment in us, through Jesus! At the dawn of time, He spoke to the chaos of
darkness, calling light into being. When the world was captive to sin, full of
evil, He spoke again and His Son entered that world to be Light that reveals
the love of God. He speaks to you, to me, with the voice of the Spirit, and
when we turn in faith to Him, light dawns in us, transforming us from the inside
out. That sounds so thrilling, doesn’t
it? It is! But … we’re still just clay
pots!
In the ordinary places of life, in the daily things of work,
He
makes us different. If we determine that somehow we must make ourselves wonderful,
that we must turn ourselves into perfection embodied, we create an impossible
expectation, a crushing burden of religiosity that will exhaust us, demoralize
us, and produce anything but the fruit of the Spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
and self-control. “Try harder” produces
anger, fatigue, fear, hypocrisy, and defeat!
If we ask, “Am I man enough to do this?” the only answer is “No, but He
is God enough to make me who He wants me to be”
He is the treasure held in
us, the radiance that shines through us. In our authentic love for Jesus we are changed, but not through self-help
and rigid disciplines. Our ordinariness is enveloped by His goodness, His
radiance, so that people see Someone in us that makes a clay pot into a thing
of beauty. I am not (nor are you) ‘good
enough’ but He is. Our ‘goodness,’ our ‘righteousness’
can never be earned or attained. It is received, a gift of God, that makes us
more than we could ever hope to be by ourselves. "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though
outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is
unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:16-18, NIV)
Let His light shine in
you today.
Failure? Take His grace.
Success? Give Him
praise.
Struggle? Receive His
power.
Victory? Rejoice in His
provision.
Here is a word from the
Word. "Therefore, since we have been justified
through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace
in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5:1-2, NIV) Clay pots full of the treasures of the
Lord! Now, that’s amazing.
____________
So Will I (100 Billion X)
(Be inspired!)
(Be inspired!)
God of creation
There at the start
before the beginning of time
With no point of
ref'rence
You spoke to the dark
And fleshed out the
wonder of light
And as You speak
A hundred billion
galaxies are born
In the vapor of Your
breath the planets form
If the stars were made
to worship so will I
I can see Your heart in
ev'rything You've made
Ev'ry burning star a
signal fire of grace
If creation sings Your
praises so will I
God of Your promise
You don't speak in vain
no syllable empty or void
For once You have spoken
All nature and science
Follow the sound of Your
voice
And as You speak
A hundred billion
creatures catch Your breath
Evolving in pursuit of what
You said
If it all reveals Your
nature so will I
I can see Your heart in
ev'rything You say
Ev'ry painted sky a
canvas of Your grace
If creation still obeys
You so will I
So will I
So will I
If the stars were made
to worship so will I
If the mountains bow in
rev'rence so will I
If the oceans roar Your
greatness so will I
For if ev'rything exists
to lift You high so will I
If the wind goes where
You send it so will I
If the rocks cry out in
silence so will I
If the sum of all our
praises still falls shy
Then we'll sing again a
hundred billion times
God of salvation
You chased down my heart
Through all of my
failure and pride
On a hill You created
the light of the world
Abandoned in darkness to
die
And as You speak
A hundred billion failures
disappear
Where You lost Your life
so I could find it here
If You left the grave
behind You so will I
I can see Your heart in
ev'rything You've done
Ev'ry part designed in a
work of art called love
If You gladly chose
surrender so will I
I can see Your heart
eight billion diff'rent ways
Ev'ry precious one a
child You died to save
If You gave Your life to
love them so will I
Like You would again a
hundred billion times
But what measure could
amount to Your desire
You're the One who never
leaves the one behind
Benjamin Hastings | Joel
Houston | Michael Fatkin
© 2017 Hillsong Music
Publishing (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)
CCLI License # 810055
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