Feels like forever since I last blogged. Quick life update. Spent some time in Iowa over the fourth of July, which I was able to spend with family. I love my family. It is amazing how I can look at my siblings, as not only family but best friends as well. I give all the credit to Jesus. Jesus lives within each one of my brothers and sisters and I know that is why our relationships are so unique. While I was in Iowa I said good-bye to my sister Ashley and her husband Joe for a while, since they left for their 27 month adventure in Mali, Africa where they will be working for the Peace Corp. I’m completely jealous, but also am excited to see how God molds their hearts during their experience. Other than that my life is exactly the same. No job, great friends.
Today I am going to take a break from the topic of community, though I have a couple more areas of community I want to discuss. This will be done later. Right now God has been throwing something else my way. For about the past few weeks God has been challenging me with this idea of being an intentional Christian.
This whole concept for me is hard to convey on paper, but let’s give it a shot. Through my own personal walk, being completely “on fire” for Christ one second, wanting to live out a life completely dedicated to him, feeling attached and devoted, wanting to love others, and allowing God to enter into various areas of my life which then transcends into a luke warm or a semi- 62 degree relationship. This is a concept; I believe every Christian can relate to, which is referred to a lot of time as the “spiritual rollercoaster”.
I hate the spiritual rollercoaster. I love it when I am completely sold out for Christ. So why? Why is it like this? Why can’t we just get it and live it always. This is what I’ve come up with so far. Quite simple, I think its cause we live in a world covered with sin.
The sin acts as a barrier to having a continuous whole-hearted relationship with Jesus. As humans we are slaves to sin, but the freedom lies within Jesus, righteousness. This is where the intentional part comes in. As Christians we must be intentional, each day, about being in an active relationship with Jesus, to seek righteousness and break us from this bon of sin. It’s an intentional lifestyle.
Romans 6:16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey – whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
We’ve made the point over and over, that life, as a Christian is not easy. Jesus calls us to much more than what “the world” offers. To reach that, to chase after that, I have to as a Christian intentionally and actively seek God everyday. A visit to church on Sunday, reading scripture every once in a while, praying when I want to, seeking God when it’s convenient, are areas that are going to keep me in this rollercoaster.
Noraa Nitram-
ReplyDeleteLove the post! So many of the things you wrote echoed in my heart as well. Don't we all want that "spiritual high" to be more continous and true of our lives and to live more intentional lives.
But I have a few thoughts. Look at the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew 17. Peter, James, and John go to the mountaintop with Jesus and see Him in all His glory with Moses and Elijah appearing. But after this amazing experience verse 9 says "they went back down the mountain." I don't think we are called to stay on the mountain top. This way when we encounter the Lord in these mountaintops, the experiences are that much more meaningful and valued. Otherwise would we start to take the mountains tops or spiritual highs for granted? Would they hold as much signifance or be as life changing if they happened more?
Any what about those times when we are practicing all the spritual disciplines, pursuing the Lord, and being intention yet we still feel distant from the Lord? Like with Job, who was righteous before God. Do these times where the Lord feels distant make us appreciate more those times when He feels so close?
Just some thoughts to ponder along with your post. As much as I wish we could stay in those moments when we are spiritually on top of the world, I think we go through other seasons to make our mountaintop experiences a grander display of God's glory in our lives!
Bubs...it's inevitable that while we are on Earth the rollercoaster must be a part of our spiritual lives...we can think our sinful nature for that. :-) It's the ups and downs of the "rollercoaster" that requires us grow in our faith and realize the NECESSITY of relying on Christ. Without the valleys there would be no rise to the mountain tops, literally. But when we meet our Maker someday...we WILL be in eternal worship of Him and it will be beyond-belief-better than anything we could ever imagine or dream.
ReplyDelete(yes I know you are singing the song in your head right now...yes....its also inevitable! hehe)
But truly...Eternal worship, eternal joy, eternal love, eternal grace.....what a most magnificant place it will be. It will make the rollercoaster WELL worth the ride!
Love ya,
Big Sis' Aubs
P.S. sounds like a great sermon you had..can I access it on the internet? I would love to hear it.
Duh...I just figured out the title...I am a dork.
ReplyDeleteHmmm.....but if we are on the mountaintop, we don't need these expierences to bring us closer to God. We are there. If you are on a spirtual high, you are on a spiritual high. You are seeking God. Does God need to bring you off the mountain top to teach you something? i believe no. I believe God provides the answers through prayer and scripture.
ReplyDeleteI look at it this way. No matter what you are faced with, God provides answers. God is freedom. I don't need to fall away from righteousness to learn that.
would we take the spiritual highs for granted? The spiritual highs would become a lifestyle. It wouldn't be as if we would forget God on our spiritual high, God is apart of it. God is the spirtual high. I don't believe you can take God for granted, when your high on God.
Also, Megan you asked if a contintuous spirtual high would hold much signifigance, because it would be taken for granted. Would it be life changing? A continuous spirtual high where you are seeking Christ, that would be world shattering! And I believe it is possible. I am an idealist though, but I don't believe anything is impossible with Jesus.
I like your idealism Aaron, but I don't know if I agree.
ReplyDeleteI suppose you then would have to define what a spiritual high is. How high is that? We may never be able to be on a continuous spiritual high because if a high is as high as I think it is that would put us in constant perfect relationship with God. And we all know that's not possible. Only Jesus can and does do that.
I don't believe that you need fall away from righteousness in order learn. God is bigger and more clever then that, but when you do fall, you learn. In our horrible sinful disgusting nature we fall, then sometimes we seek, and we find.
It's not necessary but I do believe it makes us appreciate the highs even more so, and also grace.
We are human and sometimes it takes being away from something to see how great it is. Not because thats what God needs us to do, but that's how sinful and human we are.
I think you're speaking from God's point of view, and Megan is speaking from our point view.
Interesting stuff. I like.
Oh, p.s. you spelled intentional wrong.
ReplyDeleteI think that Julie is right, the "spiritual high" needs to be defined.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that we've jumped into a conversatioin about a perfect relationship with Jesus. Which is not what I intended in the original post. My fault.
When I spoke of a spiritual high, i was mostly referring to a disciplined and close relationship with Jesus. Not a perfect relationship, because of sin, but a continuously seeking relationship, because of sin.
Yes God teaches away from spiritual highs, but as Julie said, you don't have to fall away from righteousnes to learn. God uses that though.
A point that i needed to make was, I believe that low points are expierenced within spiritual highs. Death, poverty, divorce, etc.. are not avoidable because of our relationship with jesus, because they are apart of this sinful world. But your relationship with Jesus is what decides, how you react to those type of circumstances.
The high that I was defining is not perfect, but it's a disciplined lifestyle, in which we seek Christ intentionally.
another point to ponder...I'll keep it short and sweet.
ReplyDeleteIsaiah 48:10
"I have refined you, but not as silver is refined.Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering. "
Don't forget the fact that God teaches us, molds us and uses us in our suffering. Not that He needs us to suffer in order to teach us, but we, in our sinful flesh, need to sometimes suffer in order to be refined and become more like Christ, who endured the greatest suffering of all.
I liked the post, i know it has been something we' ve been discussing for a little while now. I do think your life needs to be very intentional or you can fall away from whats right and that road God sets before you. So many things in this life pull for our attention everyday and we chose where to give that attention. Its not just a natural thing to give it to God, in fact; i would say the opposite.
ReplyDeletewhile i was at summer staff a theme of mine there was how to continue the attitude of worsship that seems so easy and powerful while at camp. After discussing this with a few of my leaders and pondering it some time I think its so easy in a yl camp environment becasue your intentionaly doing actions in the name for christ and giving so much of your time and thoughts to him. In real life it seems so much harder to keep the right mindset but it is deffinetly possible to hold on to that mindset of worship. I think this becasue i have tried while at home and while it is imensly more difficult i can still optain this goal. also i had leaders at camp who while in the real world talked about how their attutude, lifestyle, spiritual walk, is the same as the time they spend in camp environments. It just takes effort, maturity, and the willingness to persist through the distractions.
Aaron, I don't comment much, mostly because I'm not as bible savy as you and the other bloggers. What you said about your family is so true. My father once said to me, "I'm so lucky that I not only love my children, I also like them". At the time it went over my head, but it's so true. I am often amazed when talking with friends and they complain because their in-laws are coming to visit. It's so sad. I always tell them so, I tell them I love my in-laws, every single one of them and wish they would all visit often. I love spending time with them the same as I love spending time with my own family.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading all the blogs, the one verse that stands out to me is not noticing the plank in my own eye. That is my immediate goal, to concentrate on myself, my own faults and try to fix those before looking at others. It's not easy but this is inspiring.
Have you ever thought of seminary?
FAD
favorite aunt debby