Feeling Guilty?

Someone shared with me today that they wished they felt more emotion regarding what Jesus went through to pay for our sin.  This is something I have felt at times myself.  When I recognize some sin I have just committed, though I know in my head that that action put Jesus on the cross and drove the nails into His hands, I am somehow able to move on after a brief moment of repentance, and go about my day, as if no one was affected by my action but me.  Shouldn't I feel more shame?  How can I be so unfeeling?  I have questioned this at times, and wondered what is wrong with me.

But are we called to feel shame and regret?  Can lack of emotion be a sin?  Or would beating myself up over my short comings only be another subconscious attempt to pay for my own sins?

I was talking about this with Derek tonight, and while I don't know that it's all crystal clear in my mind or anything, I now believe that somehow Christ's victory over sin in my life is also victory over shame and guilt.  While I do regret my sin, and therefore confess it openly to my Heavenly Father, it has been paid for in full, and so any feeling of shame or guilt that I try to put on myself is only my own attempt to share some of the wait of it with Jesus.  But He took it all.  He felt all of the shame and guilt for me.  While He hung on the cross, He felt the full responsibility of having put an innocent man on a cross, even though it was He, Himself.  How's that for a mystery?

"This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."  1John 3:19-20

 "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."  Hebrews 10:22

"For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God."  Hebrews 9:13-14
      
"For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them."  Romans 2:14-15  

I think this last passage points out that in allowing our conscience to condemn us, we are seeking to live by the law or attain our own salvation.  

I believe that the greater we come to know and grasp the holiness of God, the greater our understanding of our own sinfulness will be, but this understanding and regret does not call for us to beat ourselves up over it.  Christ has already taken care of that for us, and an attempt to share the wight of it with Him only mocks His sacrifice.


Speaking of the emotion Christ experienced for us... I love this song by Keith and Kristyn Getty.

Making Sense of 1John 5:1-5

Believing Jesus is the Christ (by faith) = being born of God v. 1

IF you are born of God THEN you overcome the world (victory) v. 4

THEREFORE

Faith is victory  v. 4 

AND

IF you believe Jesus is Christ THEN you overcome the world

IF you are born of God THEN you overcome the world (victory) v. 4

IF you believe Jesus is the Son of God THEN you overcome the world (victory) v. 5

THEREFORE

IF you believe that Jesus is the Son of God THEN you are born of God

Obeying  God’s commands =  loving God v. 3

Loving God = Loving God’s child v. 1

THEREFORE

Obeying God’s commands = Loving God’s child

IF you love God + obey His commands THEN you love the children of God v. 2


I always enjoyed my logic class in college.  How fun to apply it in this way!

Reminiscing on God's Faithfulness

One of the wonderful things about blogging is that you read your thoughts from times gone by.  We so quickly forget the things God has done in our lives - the little key moments in life that alter our thinking or grow our faith but are quickly forgotten in the midst of busyness.

In Deuteronomy 8, as Moses shared God's message for the children of Israel just before they entered their promised land "flowing with milk and honey," he warns them over and over again, to be careful that you do not forget the things God has done in your lives [my paraphrase]! 

 ² And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

¹¹ Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, ¹² lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, ¹³ and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, ¹⁴ then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God,

¹⁷ Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ ¹⁸ You shall remember the Lord your God

 Reading back on my xanga blog today I have been overwhelmed by the countless times God has spoken to me, comforted me, directed me, provided for me, and taught me.  He really is involved in the every day occurrences of our lives - we just don't choose to recognize it most of the time.  This is another reason blogging is so good for me.  It causes me to consider God and His kingdom and what they have to do with me today.

I just read this post and it caused me to praise God in my heart for the way He uses His word and His people to point me to Him so clearly.

I thank God for using things like Xanga to remind me of His goodness, His love, and His perfect plan for me.

You may not be a writer, or even if you like to write you may not find time for it, but I encourage you today to find time to remember, and find a way to mark the ways God is working in your life today.  Like the standing stones that God commanded the Israelites to set up as momuments to His work in their lives, I think we too should erect monuments of some kind to His work in ours.

What kind of standing stones do you use?

Humility in Cooking

I don't claim to be a great cook, but I do claim to have a general knowledge of how to cook a simple dish (nothing gormet).  Most of the time I have success with cooking, and I suppose I'm fortunate because I do like to try new recipes fairly regularly.  But every once in a while things go wrong, and I learn something new about cooking the hard way. 

Yesterday I learned that you never put a piece of raw chicken in the oven to bake until it is completely thawed out.  I like to buy chicken in bulk at Sam's and save money, so I freeze it to make it last.  This means that when I cook with chicken, I take it out of the freezer several hours before I'm ready to cook.  I did this yesterday.  But it was apparently slightly frozen still in the center.  The chicken fingers were apparently not meant to be.  It's a shame, too, because it was this really yummy coconut chicken with homemade honey mustard sauce. 

Today I learned that all brownie mixes are not created equal.  I used to think that you could make any brownie box stretch to fill a 9x13 inch baking dish.  Not so.  Going for the cheapest box won't work anymore apparently.

Key moments, my friends.  I'm thankful that these things happened on days I was not cooking for company.

Keep Dreaming of Paradise!

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One Day

Have you ever listened to a musician perform a piece of music so well, that you found yourself holding your breath as you listened, and when the piece was finished, you felt robbed?  Such music that could only come from a lifetime of practice, dedication, and genuine passion?

Have you ever seen a piece of art, that astounded you, inspired you, and made you long for...  something?

Have you ever read a book so thought provoking, that you find yourself looking at life through a completely different lens and could help but share at least a quote or two with someone else, if not insist that they read the entire work?

Have you ever watched a skilled dancer perform astonishing feats with such poise and control, that you found yourself looking up local dance studios, convinced for at least the next 24 hours or so that there must be some way you could fit lessons into your busy schedule?

I have.

I want to play music so lovely that the angels pause to listen and wonder at the beauty Heaven ordained.

I want to paint with colors so vivid and a message so clear that all who look are drawn instinctively into worship.

I want to write words that grab you like a tragedy and re-aline your gaze, bringing the things that truly matter into focus, and freeing you to run toward Love.

I want to dance with a grace that caresses each moment, like a flame that shimmers and grows with an undying energy and passion, as if somehow to offer my spirit back to He Whose breath brought it forth.

If you find yourself, like me, amid this enigma of conflicting desires, wanting one moment to give your all in one way and the next in another,

If you ponder at the seeming mismatch of your talents and aspirations, and wonder what you might have done differently,

If you find yourself settling for a little of this and a very little of that - all welling up to an offering of slight means indeed,

If you feel life slipping away from you quicker than you can make it count and merely sigh at the things you wish you could do,

Then take comfort in the promise.

  "But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.  The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14

One day we will know why we desired these things all along. With all constraints gone, we will learn to realize them fully and fan them into flame for eternity before an Audience of One, in Whom we shall finally find our true joy.  To God be the glory shall be the beat of our hearts as we compose, create, dance, orate, sing, write, perform, and recite.  No more regrets.  No more what-ifs.  

Only a clear purpose and a singular focus.