Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you! –Isaiah 64:1,2, NIV 2010
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I failed. Miserably.
Truth is, I’m not in the mood for a special “I-thank-Thee-for-Thy-harvest” Thanksgiving post. Honest: I just arrived from church, and the pang of guilt is driving me crazy. On Thanksgiving, you say!?!? One of the worst days to have any bad feelings!?!? *Sighs*, allow me to explain… I feel like one of the lepers. Those ten men afflicted with a damning skin disease; the affront of God’s holiness, shunned and trialed for the sorrows. They would be separated from the rest of the world, waiting up and living off what it was brought to them. They were ostracized, broken out, and they became the “untouchables”. That is, until Jesus came. And what did He do? They called, He answered, simple as that! And they left with their skin softer than a baby bottom. However, something happened… One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. –Luke 17:15 & 16, NIV 2010 If all of them were healed, how can ONE man run back to Jesus and fall at His feet? What was the rest thinking, missing the chance of a lifetime!?!? Also, that same man was a Samaritan –a half-Jew (and Jews and Samaritans hated each other). Since that event happened near the border of Samaria and Galilee, that would be the logical place for him. It was no coincidence: it had to happen. And yet, what surprised me is that I can’t conceive the man running a half-a-mile dash in the rain in order to worship Jesus. While the rest of them were walking home, he decided to ditch it and thank Him for what He dutifully owes. Again, my amados, I failed…Miserably. (The pang of guilt appears as a response to a hard-to-swallow message God gave through a preaching, a call of distinct holiness.) I let my old-man carry my body, and the more I prayed, the more I fell. (You know what I mean…And I don’t want to talk about it.) I made myself a leper…and I need to call and be cleansed…And run back and give my life again. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. -1 Peter 5:6,7, NIV …And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.-Hebrews 10:22, NIV How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. –Psalm 119:9, NIV The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. –Romans 5:20 & 21, NIV 2010-11 |
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