Kyle is preaching out of the wisdom (Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes) books for the next several weeks. I figured it to be good because Kyle is that kind of a guy. Last week he talked about the difference between wisdom and foolishness as not so much a specific choice about a one time situation, but as a pathway. This pathway is the way of wisdom leading to life, this pathway is the way of foolishness leading to destruction. Kyle is going to cover, at least at last report, wise and foolish pathways regarding friends, wine (alcohol), sex, work, and more. It had me wondering what would I do different if I looked at my struggles with food as not just a decision about what and how much to eat at any given meal, but as a journey down a foolish path that will lead to destruction. What is the larger decision regarding a change of direction, a change of pathway, in terms of the way I approach food? What have I bought into regarding food that guides me in the direction of gluttony, carelessness, and disregard? I'm not trying to ignore the reality that in any given struggle sometimes all you can do is just make the right choice this time, and not worry about what's down the road. Living in the present in that matter is often crucial. It has become somewhat clear to me, however, that addressing the bigger picture in struggles and making heart and path changes is an absolute necessity to see change. I'm pretty sure I'm talking about actual repentance.
I'm a confessing fool, especially since I started blogging. (Is that really a good thing? hmm...) I've said stuff in my blog with an honesty that is beyond what I've ever said in the past. I believe for sure that naming your struggles is very important. I've named them with increasing clarity. Forgive my bluntness but how the hell do you actually repent? Seeing things from a larger perspective and seeing a need for a deeper change than just eating habits is great, but how do you actually do this? How do you change paths? I understand and believe the language of Jesus and the rest of the New Testament writers when they said stuff like "the truth shall set you free" and "you are a new creation" and "tearing down strongholds" but my life just doesn't seem to look like that. I know I am not alone here, we all have that struggle, whatever it is. The one that owns us. I know we are broken, and part of this life is struggling and groaning for the time when we have ultimate victory, ultimate freedom. I also want to believe Jesus when he said that the Kingdom of Heaven, the reign and rule of Christ in my life, is here now. Where is the balance between these realities? How do we become what we were born to be?
Talk to me, people, let me hear where you see the same struggles. Let me hear where you see real change and repentance. Isn't this at the core of some of our real struggles? Our churches are filled with chained and bound people, me, and you, all of us. Yet Jesus and others in the Bible had the audacity to say we didn't have to be bound. I know struggle will always exist until God's kingdom is wholly restored, but shouldn't there be alot more broken chains laying around the altars and pews and dinner tables and baptistry's where we live and worship?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I am where you are. What does it mean to trade in our heavy burden for the light burden Christ tells us about? What does it look like to be anxious about nothing? What does it mean to be rid of the old self and live through the new self? I am at a point that I desperately desire and need to know.
I got reminded yesterday by an old bible school friend about a quote that was said almost every day by our teachers. "Let your position overwhelm your condition." The first several chapters of Ephesians are all about our position in Christ NOW. Our condition is nowhere near our position, but the more we reflect and study our position, the more our condition starts to change to match it. I so often forget that I am blameless, forgiven, redeemed, perfect, sinless, and a sanctified Child of God...and so I no longer live like one. Lord I have faith, help my unbelief.
Good post and great comments. I appreciate your honesty in asking that question.
Post a Comment