Now, before you sign off, and right off this whole blog experiment based on an assumption of my morbid self-deprecation...let me explain...no, there's too much...let me "sum up"!
Try as I might, I have not been able to demonstrate any consistency at be loving, unselfish or even (on especially tough days) pleasant. The call to love others seems way too much to actually achieve most days. I don't believe I am a pessimist...I just see myself for what I am: imperfect. I know the truth of Christ, and that He is the "hope" of the world. I get the context of Creation and purpose, and I have discovered reason to life and yet...sigh...I despair at times over my inability to be the kind of authentically loving man I want to be...
Hope in myself alone has proven to be an expectation without effect...and my "hope in Christ", until about a year, ago was largely in myself as well...I thought I had to become something to please Him, as if I could overcome the world as He had.
What I have found is that change is more about "willingness" than "willfulness". If I was able to become better on my own, by simply willing myself, then Christ wasted His time and pain.
This year's resolution is the same as what has been growing in me over the last...to stay in "posture" and allow my Creator Father to "work in me to will and act according to His purpose" (Phil 2:13)
Posture is defined (paraphrased from Merriam-Webster) as the "stance which enables capability".
My formula for posture has become R+R+Q+T = S2 (Isaiah 30:15-16)
Repentance & Rest - for / from my past = Salvation
Quietness and Trust - for my future = Strength
This formula enables my capability; my ability to change. It's a posture of receiving my life from my Creator...constant relationship with Him (abiding) - dependent on Him for everything, including my next breath and heartbeat.
So has it worked. Resoundingly - YES!
A resolution to stay postured, has been producing real change, for I have seen where He is working in me in places I could not change myself. Restoring relationships that were broken, and providing peace and courage for every circumstance.
Okay - too much to say! More to follow...
Happy New Year!
Wow.
ReplyDeletePerfect first post. Thanks for joining up, Dave...can't wait to journey with you.
Dave, all I can say is that I resoundingly concur. I was speaking with someone who was feeling defeated by their apparent insufficiency to rise above their circumstance. In the lowest point of their confession they lamented, "I know I should just ask God for more strength to do better at being like Jesus...blah, blah, blah." I suddenly shot forward and retorted, "that's the whole issue! You're trying to be Jesus-like in a Self supplemented by God when you have to, instead of an all Christ as source M.O. in your life. Until He can BE your strength instead of an additive to your self-muscle, you'll be a miserable pseudo-Jesus and miserable follower of Yeshua."
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this testimonial, Dave. Good stuff.