I am convinced that certain pass times were invented by God for the sole purpose of helping to inspire men to speak truthfully to one another about life’s deeper matters. Fishing, for instance, is a good way to get me to talk about more than the weather.
Not that I fish mind you. I tend to be a little dangerous with a rod and reel. But I like to watch; So when my brother-in-law and I walked up to the little pond behind the farm in Maine I knew we were in for a good conversation.
As he fished we talked about a lot of things: dogs, kids, fish, jobs, family, all the stuff you have to get out of the way so that you can actually talk about what’s on the inside. Then we went deeper.
When the bugs overwhelmed us we returned home and continued our conversation over a game of chess.
I knew I was going to lose as soon as I sacrificed my king’s right to castle.
As more of my men tumbled into the dungeons of Cliff’s queen our conversation turned to things spiritual.
Have you ever been in a conversation with a friend only to have the Holy Spirit hi-jack the thread in order to reveal His truth to everyone in the room? That’s what happened to Cliff and me. There we were between the death of pawns and rooks, discussing our personal walks with God, when suddenly Holy Spirit began to teach us both about how sanctification works.
We were talking about things we were going through and how hard we were both trying in different areas of our Christianity when suddenly this word just tumbled out between us.
“Christianity is meant to be accepted not accomplished.”
We both stopped, realizing that the words weren’t ours. I went for my notepad while we both kind of reeled in the shock of how God had just butted in with this thought.
It’s true though isn’t it? We started our Christian lives simply by accepting Jesus’ atoning death. We have to finish it up the same way. We can no more sanctify ourselves than we could redeem ourselves. Sure we need to be obedient to what the Spirit tells us, but in the end it’s all His work…all His power that makes us perfect.
“After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? “Gal. 3:3
Reinventing the We'll 
Thanks for sharing, Pastor J 🙂
I like much those moments of revelation !
Salvation is “not by works” … therefore not ‘accomplishable’?
If we believe, we are saved … that makes it ‘acceptable’?
I’m feeding on this thought a while. Thank you for the jump start to my morning!
Blessings,
ann
Indeed! Believing creates accomplishment but so often I get it backwards and I try to do my way into believing. Don’t we all? We start by thinking if I can just fix this or that then God will love me. The problem is by coming at the problem from that side we never actually accomplish the victory; So many walk towards eternity never being certain of God’s love because they feel they haven’t done enough. But when we come ’round right we realize God loves us and forgives us if only we accept his atoning death. Once that acceptance is had the victory is certain to follow! I have found it in Him! Thanks for commenting
Serious thought, Pastor J
“Believing creates accomplishment but so often I get it backwards and I try to do my way into believing. Don’t we all?”
Hmmm … I just went over to Margaret’s blog and look what I found!
http://123hallelujah.wordpress.com/2011/07/12/i-do-believe-help-me-in-my-unbelief/
“We start by thinking if I can just fix this or that then God will love me. The problem is by coming at the problem from that side we never actually accomplish the victory;”
You think He’s trying to tell us something? Believe by faith? Accept it and move on? We believe, He heals. We believe, He frees . We cannot ‘do’ anything but believe … but He can do whatever whether or not we believe… interesting. He’s laid out so much for us to walk into and all He asks is that we believe.
Why don’t we get it right?
Pondering,
ann
I always love it when Holy Spirit drops the same thought into more tthan one life. It’s how we know He is really speaking to his church!
You’ve brought me back to this comforting truth that I let escape me too often! Thank you! I think it’s why I stopped reading so many of the books that try to tell me how to walk with God. They are good books, nothing wrong with them or the authors. It was just what He revealed to you . . .that’s what He wants me to know and understand more. 🙂
Thank you and God bless you for sharing this today!
You are most welcome! Thank you for your word today as well!