Smeagol is Free!
A hermitudinal view of...stuff...


5.28.2006  

Reminders

Yesterday morning, I sat on the couch in my room, reading Psalm 103. I'd felt a very keen need to sit with God, and to gaze at and meditate upon Him; still do, truth be told. But yesterday was different. I sat there, and He told me of His lovingkindness, His compassion, His patience. He told me not to forget those things, reminding me that He is gracious and ever so slow to anger. He whispered that He is perfectly aware that I am made of mere dust, and knows ever so well that I am weak and cannot long endure in this world. He gently told me that I am in utter need Him, and that He delights in fulfilling that need.

Wow.

This morning, however, I went again to the LORD and Psalm 103. I read through it in its entirety, then journaled on verse 10: He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. I don't have my journal handy, else I'd squint at what I wrote and share with you some of my thoughts in a somewhat more verbatim nature than I will now, but I do clearly recall being drawn inevitably toward the cross. Why the cross? Why not? God has not dealt with me according to my sin, nor has He rewarded me according to my inquity. The reason He can do so? The atoning work of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, removing it from me as far as the east is from the west: that's the reason. If the cross had never happened, and Jesus never died a death to atone for sin, then the question as to why God doesn't deal with me according to my sin and iniquity would still be unanswered. Yet, that's not the case, so the question is clearly answered.

And oh, how that answer resounds!

I told Jim last night...or was it early this morning? Yeah, early this morning. Anyway, I told Jim that I can very easily fall into the trap of living with a fear of sin and death gripping my heart. I'll prescribe to myself a life whereby I once again put myself under the Law, rather than the freedom I have in beholding the glory of God in the face of Christ. That type of fear, that fear that recognizes neither our glorious redemption nor our glorious Redeemer, is not the type of fear that ought to grip me. When I am told to fear the LORD, it is to fear Him in such a way that I hold reverence for Him. The difference between the two, as I understand it, lies in what I perceive as having power over me. In other words, do I see sin as having power over me, or do I see Christ's victory over sin as having power over me, thereby freeing me to live for Him and revere Him? Furthermore, do I see God as being glorious, sovereign, and powerful to save my wretched, helpless and needy soul? Do I live like I do?

The answer to that is ongoing, one I need to gaze upon again and again and again. Fortunately, God loves to show me those things, again and again and again. After all, He is mindful of my need of Him.

posted by Bolo | 4:01 PM
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