Dig It Out!
Dig. What is necessary for the very best kind of
work is to dig. Sometimes it is to dig
through barriers. When Jesus was
teaching once there was a large crowd and some guys wanted to get their friend
close to Him. They dug through the roof of the house and let their friend down
in front of Jesus.
The roof was a barrier to what they
wanted to happen between their friend and Jesus. People who have helped me get close to Jesus
and stay there have had to have radical commitment to the process.
What are my barriers?
Philippians 3.
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for
the sake of Christ.
8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of
the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have
lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ
9 and be found
in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that
which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on
the basis of faith.
10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his
resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his
death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this,
or have
already arrived at my goal,
but I press on to take hold of that for which
Christ Jesus took hold of me.
13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself
yet to have taken hold of it.
But one thing I do:
Forgetting what is behind
and
straining toward what is ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize
for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a
view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will
make clear to you.
16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
17 Join together in following my example, brothers and
sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live
as we do.
18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even
with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
19 Their destiny is
destruction, their god is their stomach,
and their glory is in their shame.
Their mind is set on earthly things.
20 But our citizenship is in heaven.
And
we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who, by the
power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform
our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Getting ourselves and our friends
close to Jesus is definitely worth it.
-Forgiveness.
-Healing.
-A renewed view of the beauty of our beloved family.
-A flexibility to handle new things that Jesus gives us.
God,
Give us the love and persistence to get ourselves and
others close to your Son Jesus whatever the cost. Help us to "Dig it out!" when necessary.
Amen.
Mark 2.
Larry Wishard
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