"If it seems slow, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed."
Hab. 2:3 (NLT)
"If we look forward to something we don't have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently."
Rom. 8:25 (NLT)
Something else I was reading that completely blew me away. This happened late last night, so I didn't really get to blog about it, but it has stayed with me. Ann had said something to me before about liking to read the General Electric Power Company chapters. Thankfully, she told me that's Galatians, Ephesians, Phillipians, Colossians; because there for a minute I was really confused!
Anyway, I started reading and was completely bowled over when Paul said in Galatians 1:15-16 that God chose to call Paul in God's own time, and at that time he revealed Jesus in Paul. Not to Paul, in him. Jesus was there the whole time! He's in all of us the whole time! Then when he says in 2:20 that "... it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (NKJV).
I had never fully realized how my stubborness had truly worked against me all this time. It never occurred to me that Jesus had been there with me my whole life, but I refused to see or hear him for all those years. I used to think it was a good thing that I was so stubborn. I used to relate with pride that my first full sentence was "Me do it meself!" Now I don't think I should be quite so proud. Yes, perseverance is a good thing. But out and out stubborness is not. So this led me to consult my Touchpoints for Women to see what it says about obedience:
"If you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the nations of the earth, for all the earth belongs to me." Exodus 19:5 (NLT)
Hmmmmmmmmmmm, I thought. Wonder what it says about submission?...
"When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is happy." Proverbs 29:18 (NLT)
Okay, point taken. I need to pray for more patience, less stubborness, and to be a little more submissive. That's a tall order, but He can handle it!
4 comments:
Jenn, I'm not so sure that Christ is in each of us from the beginning. I think that He is only in us after we decide to let Him be there. Of course, my children who spend much more time on things theological than I do might be able to correct me on that. I do believe that it was part of God's plan from the very beginning to reveal Himself to Paul in the manner He chose. If you've read the passage in Acts about Paul's conversion, then you'll see that Paul says Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus. I believe up until then, Jesus was NOT living in Paul. It was only after his conversion that Jesus lived in him.
See, I thought that, too. But I was reading again last night and found a passage, something about the Holy Spirit speaking to us, being with us if we would just listen. So maybe I wrote it wrong, or misunderstood; maybe I didn't mean that He is in us, but He is always right there with us. The point that was so awesome to me was that He is not up in some remote heaven, listen to whispers from His children. He is right there with us, guiding us if we would only recognize that He is there and with us. But so many of us (myself included) are too stubborn to acknowledge Him. We try too hard to "do it meself" and so don't know how to accept the help and forgiveness He is so ready to give. Does that make sense? Or am I still not getting it right? Sometimes, I think it's so clear to me, then other times it's all muddy again. Maybe I should do like Everett said in his blog, and "trust not in my own understanding".
Something I've learned over the years--Don't try to understand an infinite God with my finite mind.
That sounds like sound advice to me!
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