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