Saturday, September 24, 2011

HIS Righteousness

I am finding that delicate balance of being in the world but not of it.  I am learning, however and always will be.  When Jesus determined the time was right to shine his brightness into my life he did it by displaying complete love, kindness, and acceptance.  HE accepted ME.  Sure there were many things that needed to change (and I was aware of it)  but his acceptance of me right then and there trumped my current sinfulness.  It had to... because if it didn't, at that moment, I don't think I could have approached him.

So I began on the path with Jesus.  Now looking back over the past 11 years.....

I used to get so worked up about people. People professing belief yet not obeying. And that's understandable.  But the anger of my flesh did not produce the righteousness of God.  You could say I was busy "pleasing" God and not "trusting" God...with people.

Sometimes Christians can be afraid of certain sins and not others. I used to be this way. I used to have a homosexual boss. Eeeek! Homosexuality! Really? Aside from being amused by his mannorisms and making the occasional joke about him behind his back, I thought oh man, he is FAR from God. One day God spoke to me at work and showed me that my bosses sin of homosexuality was no different than my other co-workers sin of heterosexual fornication, or yet another co-workers sin of unbelief.  How about Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses? What about idolatry?  What about the idol of spending too much money on your own comfort, finding comfort in food, or comfort in smoking instead of contentment in being still and knowing HE is God? Not sharing your money with those in need? Making out with your boyfriend/girlfriend? Being prideful because of your prolonged obedience to God's commands?  Thinking your better or more spiritual than another person?  And the list goes on and on. 

It's all missing God's mark of perfection. 

We are all just people created in the image of God and happen to be deceived by different doctrines, lifestyles, sins.

Look at what a loving God we serve.  He patiently corrects and rebukes us with the precision of a surgeons scalpel.  God's commandments and word can never be compromised but don't throw a person away when they are stumbling around, even when they "should" know better...because God doesn't.   Trust God that you are not condoning anothers sin just because you are lovingly trying to restore them.  Some people flounder and go through deep valleys. I go through them too.  And we can never think we are more righteousness than another because really, it is JESUS who is the righteousness one that put's his spirit within us....apart from that we are still just that filthy rag that that floundered in sin until God lovingly looked upon us.  HE keeps us from sin.  I don't ever want to stop living that truth.  I want to stay tightly knit to the vine of Christ, being gentle with other people, because my own goodness gets me into a place where I end up needing repentance.






Ephesians 2 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Victor, The Homeless Chihuahua

I want to tell Victor's story, but I first have to make something clear. I hate chihuahua's. There, I said it. My closest friends have them but I have always secretly hated them and kept it to myself. I like big dogs. Plain and simple.  Ok, now that that's out I don't feel like a liar anymore.

Victor is a homeless chihuahua that lives on my street.  The homes on my street pretty much have no fences so Victor is free to roam as he pleases.  When I first moved in, I saw this strange animal take notice of me and then run for his life down the dirt path next to the neighboring garden. Seriously, I did not know what the heck it was. I thought it was a rabbit because it ran too awkwardly to be a cat.  

Then one day we were BBQing on the back patio and this animal comes out to beg.  He had no collar and some matted fur. I figured it was the funny animal I saw running weeks prior.


So we fed it, but it would not let us pet him.  My husband kept saying he was just using us.  As the days went by we named him Victor because it is the name of a street on his turf.  We also noticed him frequenting our back door when it was dinner time.  But now we are noticing some new behavior in our peculiar little buddy.


He is coming around a lot more.  He is also venturing into our home, when he feels safe, and when we leave the back door open. For a few days now he will come in, without letting us pet him, and then run back outside when we get too close. Even though I hate chihuahua's I think he is sort of cute.  When I open the door he sits there and wont come in...then I will shut the door he scratches on the door to enter....repeat.

I even think his ears are so cute. They are huge like Dumbo compared to his little face.  They swing all around his head almost to communicate emotion.  And the coolest part is the peace he gave me a few nights ago. I was sitting on the patio and he comes running up, happy to see me.  But of course he sat five feet away to protect himself.  It's almost like he wants a home but is afraid. I wondered what his little story was and what he had been through.  Was he just a fashion that went out of style to some trendy twenty something?  Has he been fighting the mean streets of Utah for months now, while his sensitive heart has become bitter and cold?  (I need to get a life, I know)

So I thought about little Victor.  Then this whole scenario came to me.  I know in the past God found it pleasing to himself to speak to me through situations and this little dog brought one of those spiritual applications.

Victor is so accustomed to the big bad world that he is finding it hard to trust whats best for him.  He wants to draw near to me but will retreat back outside due to fear and comfortability. And truth be told, I think he likes some of the shennagans he is used to out in the darkness!  One night I saw two huge cats tear through the yard and after them comes Victor in a snarl.

I can't help but see a correlation to us and how we are with God in our first encounters with him...or when we have ventured back into "the world" and know we need him.  We have made a mess in the world.  Our fur is matted, our hearts have grown cold....and we know that spiritual things fill us, and they warm us.  We know that they nourish and satisfy, while the sin and temporary fun always leaves us empty.

We come near to God, at his door, yet keep looking back into the world because it's comfortable and it's enticing.  God opens it but we stand in the doorway...and linger.

I'm not sure what Victor will ultimately choose.  He is learning to trust.  He is lonely.  He is getting closer everyday.  I just want to bathe him and clean him up but I cannot force him to stay.  And just like our heavenly father- he will only clean us up if we let him.

Hopefully Victor will grow tired of chasing tail in the garden and start living life more abundantly!