Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Journey!
Well this is my first time blogging for the New Year! I don't really know why i haven't blogged much... maybe it's because it seems that the idea is dying out abit all around... maybe because myspace kinda stole my heart for the last while... maybe because i lacked inspiration... or maybe i'm just too plain out lazy?... = Probably a mix of each!
This New Year has been going quickly... I can hardly believe that we are already in February... It's been a productive year so far however... I've had the opportunity to do some reading and studying... I've had the opportunity to preach/speak at church a couple of times.. I've watched the last of this year's NFL season... I've worked a lot... I've started eating a little bit better (New Year's kind-of resolution)... and i've tried to enjoy life more!
"Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to COMPLETION until the day of Christ Jesus." - Philippians 1:6
Lately, i've noticed that life isn't something that you master or make right once and for all but that it really is a journey! (Thank you Matthew Paul Turner)... I think i've missed the mark a lot in my faith due to failing to comprehend this truth. When faith is thought of as a destination rather than a journey it assumes that you are to somehow ARRIVE at a certain point and never waiver again. I wish life were this simple. I wish spiritual growth in my life can be seen as a straight line that only moves upwards... unfortunately it looks more like a squiggley line that is all over the place, up and down with not much consistency! I think the way i grew up gave me the assumption that faith was a destination. I was almost taught from various people, churches etc... that faith changes you and takes care of everything problem free!!! When the problems started to come however, i would quickly get discouraged and write my faith off as maybe fake, too weak or pathetic on my part. The problems always came whether it was trial in the form of illness etc... or struggle with sin, behaviors etc... Problems seem to be the one consistent part of life... they always come... and we always have to deal with them.
Christian faith was presented to me as the ticket to problem free life, and i'm beginning to see that maybe this type of Christianity isn't Christianity at all. As i search the sciptures and see what the heroes of our faith had to go through and deal with, I see that faith is full of twists and turns... some great and some barely able to bear! But that's what TRUE faith entails. And Jesus has promised to be WITH us throughout it all.
I'm learning that there is NO such thing as ARRIVING in areas of our faith. Whatever growth we may have, we are still weak/imperfect people who depend on the grace of God and Holy Spirit's strengthening to maintian that growth... and in an instant we can easily move 2 steps forward or Backwards on the journey... and that's ok. Making mistakes isn't so much an indication of lack of faith, as it is more of proving that we are indeed human. We are on a journey and not all journeys go problem free... What matters is that we learn lessons on the journey, that we change as we go and that we enjoy the ride... Paul says that he is confident that Christ will CONTINUE the work that He had started in the people at Philppi! I believe that he will do the same in us... We just have to stay the course and remember that perfection isn't a possible goal. We must aim for it, but we won't ever arrive to the destination of perfection while on earth, but rather we can journey with Christ and leaning on His Grace/Strength we can become a little more like Him in the day to day until we reach our Final Destination and that is in Heaven! God's been showing me to realize that I need not expect perfection, He just expects me to FULLY lean on Him and Fully give my life, plans, desires, goals etc... to HIM! He'll do the rest of the work... This isn't a NEW revelation so to say, as i've known it to be true for a while, but knowing and embracing are 2 different things... Here's to enjoying and enduring the journey in 2007... Jesus help me!
// posted by Jordan Mc @ 2:54 PM 
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Hey I still blog! not as often but at least once or twice a month. That was a good blog, Kind of what i've been reading about lately. Job and The Barbarian Way....I dont' know if that's the best name for the book, maybe the name just turns people off but it is true and a different way of thinking, not conservative at all. If this is what you've been thinking about lately, i think that would be a good re-read for you. I knwo you said you read it already.
What an awesome post Jordan. You expressed a lot of what I really struggled with in College. Being a new Christian it was hard for me to believe the whole "life will be ok now because you are a Christian" thing because there were so many things in my life that contradicted it. I almost quit 2nd year...everything. I almost quit school, church and even was on the verge of giving up the faith but by God's grace He brought me to that place of understanding that it is a journey and no matter what other people want me to believe I need to believe what the Bible tells me.
So thanks for reminding me of this important lesson.
Oh ya, Congratulations on your recent engagement!!! Good on you man.
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So thanks for reminding me of this important lesson.
Oh ya, Congratulations on your recent engagement!!! Good on you man.
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