In Christ

Last night at Grouplife we started our 7-week focus on Romans 8, and zeroed in on what it means to be "In Christ". To me, being "In Christ" means that in everything you do, say, or think, you are reflecting and channeling Jesus Christ. You are a fully devoted disciple and it is obvious to the world around you that you are. But the best part of being "In Christ" is that though it is not necessarily going to be easy, following God full-heartedly does make something easier. Being "In Christ" means you have an identity. Before you searched & searched and couldn't find who you truly are, but as you follow Christ and live in love, your purpose will unravel and your identity will be clear. Not being able to find an identity is frustrating and it will never make complete sense if one tries to search on their own. But with our lives "In Christ" and our identities built on Him, we gain a new confidence and direction, something only Christ can pour into us.This quote from the book Captivating explains it in a great way (the references can be changed to male, of course):

"A woman in Christ ... knows whose she is, and therefore knows who she is. " -Captivating by John & Stasi Eldredge pg. 199

This quote is totally reaffirming that those who realize they belong to Christ and are in him ultimately know who they themselves are. God gave us each personalities and crafted each of us a beautiful lifestory, and by being "In Christ" that story of who we are meant to be unravels. But when we do not follow God, we stray from our identities - who we are meant to be - and in that, we are lost.

I think anyone who believes that they are "In Christ" can remember when they were lost. But now that we've found God, our life has become new in our true identities. To me, that is what is crucial. Anyone who is "In Christ" shows clear evidence in their lives that they have changed and that they are drastically different from their past in perspective and interactions. Yes, God has made us into new creations - the old has gone and the new has come. And in that new life is our identity in Christ, and it's the most fulfilling life ever, even beyond what we could hope for.

Liberation from Lies

This past week I was at our church summer camp, in which the speaker, Bob, preached to us about the truth of Jesus' love for us. He challenged us to confront the lies that we tell ourselves everyday and to tell these lies (which are of Satan, who is the father of all lies) to go back to Hell where they came from. He stressed that the Truth about Jesus will set us Free.

This message was super crucial for me to hear and internalize, because all of my life I've been telling myself that I'm disliked, unattractive, and useless. These labels are lies straight from the devil and he is using them as footholds to get into my life. Since God lives within me, Satan can't truly have power over me, so instead he uses my own self-doubts to weasel his way into my perspective on life and decision-making. That is the way he drags me down from God. (Luckily, God will always pursue me. When I begin to get far from Him, He will bring me back to His Truth, like by talking through Bob at our summer camp. Hurray!) The problem in the whole situation is that knowing this truth sometimes is not enough to actually believe it. Since I've been listening to Satan's lies for so long (since 2nd grade) it is difficult to remember to fight the lies. Rather than confront the lies head-on, I let them exist within me and still listen to them. Therefore, in order to be liberated, I need to immerse myself daily in God's Truth and when I feel the lies begin to penetrate me, to turn immediately to God. The Truth is that I've been blessed with people who love me, that I'm created in God's image and that I'm filled with a purpose. God's Truth will liberate me by knocking down all of Satan's footholds. Boy, am I glad that the Truth will always conquer the lies!

Fill Up

The sermon for Grouplife on Wednesday was marvelous. Rory was talking about how digging into God's word is like fuel to fill up life's tank and it got me thinking. So, first I think I should set out some foundations of what he was saying. He focused on this verse:

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success
-Joshua 1:8 (ESV)

And said:
Some world religions, Buddhism for example, are about ridding oneself of all desire, becoming empty. And meditation in those cultures is about being able to think about nothing, which is kind of an oxymoron in itself. But what God wants for us is to fill us up, rather than leave us empty. The meaning of meditation in the Joshua verse is to read in on God's word, so that we may live our lives exactly how God has communicated that we should.

After hearing that, I thought of a different sermon that I'd heard at Leavenworth. And I find myself constantly coming back to this idea that: When it comes to a relationship with Jesus, if you are not growing, you are dying. Nick mentioned this at the winter retreat, but it's basically the idea that you cannot rely on your past experiences to sustain your faith. They are not enough to keep you strong in Christ. Growth must not only be intentional, but also routine. And you could easily apply these principles to exercising. If you exercise really hard once a year, it's going to get you nowhere, but if you exercise half an hour every week, the routine commitment will lead you to make progress in staying healthy and growing stronger.

In essence, what I was thinking was how you could combine both ideas. Experiences, like camps and learning at church and being with God's people, will make the capacity of our tank grow larger and larger in order that we will be able to hold more knowledge and understanding of God. But, unless our tank - our potential of knowing God better - is filled with the fuel from God's word, the past growth of our tank that has prepared us to gain more wisdom and a closer relationship will all be useless. Again, it can be applied with exercise. The more we exercise, the more we get the ability to exercise longer, harder, and in increasing complexity. The improvement developed from routine activities is exponential. The more you read the Bible, the better you will get at picking out the wisdom and applying it to your life, and pretty much living out God's hope for you. I guess the idea is to:

1. Fill up life's tank with God's word.
2. Make your tank capacity grow.
3. Repeat, constantly.