I Am Dying to Live...

"When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride"

Where have I been... Why haven't I posted? What am I doing? The crowds shouting to know what is going on, are deafening! Well, not really, just a handful of people have asked those questions. Well, if you must know... I couldn't really tell you. For the past few weeks I have been here, just thinking. In some ways I feel like a wind up toy, walking and walking.... but stuck facing the wall and going nowhere. I am at a place in my life, where I am examining every personal investment I have made so far, including my family (i.e. husband and kids), professional/jobs, leisure activities, the way I spend my time, etc. Really, I have begun to put everything under the microscope of my faith.

This has been hard. I got to this point because my home, my life, my relationships, my schedule, my focus, my goals, they all seem out of order, out of control, or out of sync with what I really believe. I am reevaluating all parts of my life and the results are rolling in. So far, they are not good. In many ways, the current state of affairs in my life is a result of the long term consequences of ignoring my own sin.

For about a year now, I have been in this state. Last year it got so bad I wanted to run away from home. Chad assured me, once again, that it was not a good idea to run away, as he has had to assure me of that more than once in our marriage. Fortunately, we were struggling financially, so I just got a job. In true form, I threw myself into it and as usual it helped to distract me from the things I was avoiding. You see, I am a true escape artist. That is my method of operation. I don't usually run away, although I have threatened to go to the beach for three months on numerous occasions. Instead I run to something else or to someone else. People, relationships, jobs, (you should SEE my resume), interests, ministry, they all help me to avoid things. One thing really. There is one constant theme in this story. The one thing I am usually trying to run away from is the one thing I can never escape. Me. Myself. My selfishness. My pride. My sin.

For a long time, I have been choosing myself... putting myself first. Even if it does not appear that way to you, I have been impure in my thoughts, motives, actions, and deeds. Nothing I have touched has been untainted by this self consumption that I have perfected. The revelation of the level of my sin has triggered many of these blog entries. As I quoted John Piper a few entries back, I grow "uglier and uglier"... This deep cleansing of my soul has brought me back to a place where I have lived once before. Back to "The Crash of 1998". The difference is, I have not crashed. I know the truth of grace. I am not helpless. The truth has set me free. I am free. So, I am daily bringing this to the Cross. I am "pouring contempt on all my pride". I am submitting myself to the crusade for the murder of my selfish desires. I am in spiritual boot camp. I am being pushed further now than I have ever been. So much further than my comfort level. This hurts. It is painful. In many ways it feels like grief, causing a deep constant sense of sadness, but with hope. This is the fight. I am fighting for the "joy of my salvation" I have been paralyzed in my effectiveness as a Christian by my refusal to fight. So now...I am being purified, conditioned and trained. Wrestling with my self. Killing my "self". Giving up things I don't need, in training for the real race.

I really did not want to write about this. I don't know if you are overwhelmed by my processing, I really hope not. I hope that at the very least, you can see that I love my Saviour, and I intend to love him more. Out of that deepening love for Him, will flow the correction of the internal and external order of my life. I will quote my pastor (Davy Stephenson) and I don't really know if he was quoting anyone when he said this, but, the root of all of my sin is pride... "Pride is the overwhelming preoccupation with self. Humility is, therefore, an overwhelming preoccupation with the Lord." That may not be exact, but you get it. So I can only say, that what I am going through is just a difficult, necessary process, to produce in me, the one thing that can keep me from ever coming back to this place... the one thing that can keep me from forgetting what I have learned, the ONE and ONLY thing that can distract me from my selfishness... humility.

So bring it on. Shove my face in the mud. Step on my back. Push me. I want to give more. I want to live in the shadow of the Cross, not in the glare of my sin. I am dying to live. If I need to die to live then so be it.

"Fight " by Jennifer Baker

"Fight"
Jennifer Baker
April 7, 2009

Desire has gripped
The corners of my heart
Paralyzed by the thoughts
I keep in the dark

My soul is frozen
Every place, every part
Petrified by the thoughts
That could tear me apart

Destruction and chaos
They are waiting to see
If I will let them
Take a full hold on me

So I put on my armor
I go to the fight
Every long moment
Of every long night

My contentment is stolen
Peace has been lost
I am moment by moment
Counting the cost

Sin has found me
Again and again
I turn my face away
As I give in

I want to escape
But I am held somehow
By an immovable force
That wants control of me now

The two inside me
Struggle and hate
No tolerance for the other
Their war is my fate

Confess your sin
He is faithful and just
Confess your sin
And then you adjust

Walk in His way
And Follow Him
But I walk away
From the peace within

My flesh is strong
My heart is weak
The night is long
The day is bleak

But I will not give up
I will wrestle and fight
I will not give up
As dark as the night

I long for the freedom
I have known before
I pray for release
Through the open door

Let me out of this pain
Let me out of this hole
Renew my mind
Restore my soul

I’ll believe what you said
I will let go of this now
I’ll believe what you said
Though I don’t know how

Give me your courage
Help me tonight
Give me your strength
So I won’t quit the fight

-AMEN

"Everything" by Lifehouse

I need you to watch the video that I have attached. A friend of mine sent it to me a while back, and I find it just incredible. From my perspective I see a girl, adored by her loving creator. He teaches her to dance with freedom, shows her the “abundant” life. She really loves it, she loves him. She dances around in awe and wonderment. She knows true joy.

Then, sin approaches. It is the world knocking at her door. She didn’t really go looking for it. In spite of this beautiful Saviour she dances, what seems like the same dance, with evil. It seduces her first with love, attention, probably sex. She is still dancing, but confused. Then money and power are thrown at her feet. She frantically scampers around to catch the money that has fallen to the floor. She is desperate for it. Then she is introduced to vices, like alcohol… things that make her feel better... but it isn’t enough. Then enticed by beauty yet also condemned, she meets this beautiful woman who I think represents perfection. Alas, all of these other things lead her into darkness. She cuts herself, to numb the pain. Then it seems she is hopeless and bound. She reaches for a way to end it. No more chains.

But, she remembers the dance. The freedom. She desires it above all other things. She turns back to the source of that peace she once felt. But so many things are in her way... so many temptations, sins, disappointments, failures, addictions. But, she is sure. She is desperate for it. So she fights! She suffers. She is beaten and pulled. She wants to turn her back on those things that magnetized her to the darkness. She can not do it herself. Like a hero, he ferociously, defends her. He then takes her place and fights for her. He saves her from their attack. He holds them off with his two hands and in one move he destroys them. He destroys the power they have over her life. She then trusts and relies on the source of that great power... for the power to be free. She is free because he makes her free.

I love how physical this video is. Notice she did not pick up her pink polka dotted monogrammed Bible and walk off into the sunset unscathed in her pretty Sunday dress. She had to FIGHT! It was harsh. It was violent! She must have been bruised in the process. Surely she has some battle scars.

Let me just be honest, because if I am not, I really shouldn’t be doing a blog like this… Lately I have been saddened over the state of my heart. And please don’t believe that is easier for me somehow, to be more vulnerable, than it is for you. This is hard to say. My heart breaks over my condition. I just have a deep struggle with sin that becomes more and more apparent to me the more I understand the truth of grace.

In many ways I am her. Except the end of my video would show me fighting the same fight over and over again. I forget so easily. Everything I have learned, as powerful as it is… I forget. I get comfortable and I forget. I stop fighting and find myself eat up with sin, wandering off again... being beaten and I realize I am not fighting. No, it is Jesus that I love! "Wake up oh sleeper!" FIGHT!!!!!! The coolest thing is, He never stops fighting for me, even as I wander off.

Here is a little bit of one of John Piper's Desiring God blog. It is a real source of encouragement for me as I find myself uglier and uglier...:

Never Let the Gospel Get Smaller from Desiring God Blog

(Author: John Piper)
Here is a simple exhortation that I have been trying to implement in our family:
Seek to see and feel the gospel as bigger as years go by rather than smaller.
Our temptation is to think that the gospel is for beginners and then we go on to greater things. But the real challenge is to see the gospel as the greatest thing—and getting greater all the time.

The Gospel gets bigger when, in your heart and grace gets bigger:

• Christ gets greater
• his death gets more wonderful
• his resurrection gets more astonishing
• the work of the Spirit gets mightier
• the power of the gospel gets more pervasive
• its global extent gets wider
• your own sin gets uglier
• the devil gets more evil
• the gospel's roots in eternity go deeper
• its connections with everything in the Bible and in the world get stronger
• and the magnitude of its celebration in eternity gets louder

So keep this in mind: Never let the gospel get smaller in your heart.