I realize I have not blogged in quite a long time, and a lot has been going through my mind lately, so I'm gonna see what comes of it through this post.
I have been listening to a song over & over again that I really cannot get enough of; it's called 'All I have is Christ'. I talked to a few friends about this song a few months ago when I first heard it, and they made the point that the author/singer is not just saying "Oh ya! I got Christ! It's a great life! Woop woop!" No. This song is clearly the portrait of who we were before dying & being raised up into Christ, what He did to us [redeemed & saved], and who He is constantly sanctifying us to be [living, humble sacrifices offering ourselves to Him]. These are the lyrics:
I once was lost in darkest night, yet thought I knew the way
The sin that promised joy & life had led me to the grave
I had no hope that You would own a rebel to Your will,
And if You had not loved me first, I would refuse You still..
But as I ran my hell-bound race indifferent to the cost,
You looked upon my helpless state, and led me to the cross.
And I beheld God's love displayed, You suffered in my place.
You bore the wrath reserved for me, now all I know is grace!
Hallelujah! All I have is Christ!
Hallelujah! Jesus is my life!
Now Lord I would be Yours alone, and live so all might see.
The strength to follow Your commands could never come from me.
Oh Father use my ransomed life in any way You choose.
And let my song forever be, my only boast is You!
Hallelujah! All I have is Christ!
Hallelujah! Jesus is my life!
How am I even worthy for Him to consider reaching down and saving me? Why would He want to cover me in His grace & mercy? Why do anything with my life, when He is God in heaven whether I'm here or not? BUT--good news--He chose to demonstrate His love for me (& you) while we were yet sinners... Praise be to God, to say the least!
Lately I've been thinking about what "living and holy sacrifices" really look like (Rom. 12:1). While I was in Bali, one of the men I met while I was there showed a lot of interest in what my national partner was telling him about following Christ. Through our rough, broken translations, he made it seem like he was telling us he wanted to be like Jesus, referred to Rom. 12:1, and said he wanted to die. With our confusion and inability to successfully translate, we were telling him, "No, there's no need to! Jesus already did that once, and for all!"
A few days passed by, and our national partner finally made it clear to us that he was saying he wanted to BE a living sacrifice for the Lord Jesus Christ, as Jesus was the sacrifice for us sinners. Praise our Father! The problem with this, though, was that Pak was not willing to lay down his life, yet. He was still interested in the things of H* that he could not quite surrender his old life and put on a new self in Christ Jesus. He is still in our prayers.
All this to say, while being living sacrifices to the Lord, and allowing Him to work in & through us with the gifts and talents He's blessed each one of us with, we clearly are all different members. "For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another." Rom 12:4,5 Thank the Father that not all of us have desires to serve to homelessness & the hungry, or that we all are called to fill the schools and teach education, or that we all are meant to heal diseases and provide the best kind of medicine to the sick... praise God. If so, what would this world look like if a 'group' of them got neglected? Who would we be if we believed that one struggle was more significant than another? I am thankful for the body of Christ. May we be challenged daily to be living sacrifices for Him.
Here's a video of the song I mentioned above:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY-idvZYF0U