{"id":1552,"date":"2021-06-12T20:46:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-13T00:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/?p=1552"},"modified":"2021-06-12T20:46:18","modified_gmt":"2021-06-13T00:46:18","slug":"dying-to-run-well","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/?p=1552","title":{"rendered":"Dying to Run Well"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With all this talk of what we\u00a0believe, it might be easy to think that is all there is to living out our faith: just believe what is true and right and good, and off you go, running fast and straight. But Jesus said it clearly\u00a0to anyone with ears to hear, that receiving His Words was only the first part of a process. “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24)<\/em>\u00a0We can listen and learn and accumulate understanding as if we are stockpiling treasure, but growth\u00a0will not happen until our hearts and wills are engaged to put what we believe into practice–\u00a0and this is where things get sticky. I heard a preacher say once\u00a0that “Transformation occurs when we bring truth to bear on our souls….[it] is an active engagement, not a passive by-product.” (Rob Reimer)\u00a0<\/em>Change from the inside-out is more akin to battle…or the messy\u00a0hard work of remodeling…or the labor pains of birth…actually, Paul says it is a\u00a0death by execution. “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.” (Galatians 5:24)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s easy to skim over that sentence, make it symbolic and spiritual because it is\u00a0hard to hear in that matter-of-fact tone, and it is definitely not the kind of thing I want to write on my To-do list for today. The thing is, the passions and desires of my sinful nature live fully and messily in this everyday world, and we can pretty much guarantee they will not go quietly to an execution. There is no tidy way to go about this process, and\u00a0Paul doesn’t really make it optional. It will take God’s\u00a0radical interior makeover of my heart to make me\u00a0want Jesus more than I want my happiness\/comfort\/convenience….to make me begin to shed those hindrances that so easily entangle a runner’s feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No question about it, putting what we\u00a0believe into practice might\u00a0be the hardest thing we\u00a0ever do. Bending mind and will and emotion to conform to ideas that go against your very nature (no matter how lovely and true they are), will not feel like a good\u00a0choice in the heat of the here-and-now. It will require the battle gear of Faith’s shield and Scripture’s sword, determination to run this race well, and a steady focus on the end goal of pleasing our Father the King; it will require running this faith-race of life the way Jesus did…in complete trust of His Father’s love and plans.\u00a0“For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not a coincidence that\u00a0Paul sandwiches his gory,\u00a0earthy\u00a0observation\u00a0about\u00a0the cost of living\u00a0out our faith between detailed explanations of what it means\u00a0to live in the power of the Holy Spirit. He knew that the only way we would ever have what it takes to put Self to death was by depending on our Divine Helper.\u00a0He ends with this challenge: “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25) <\/em>The very One who made us alive again\u00a0and calls us to follow Him, also makes His home\u00a0with us and enables us to run this race. If I believe that, and am willing to plant my feet on that bedrock of Truth\u00a0to\u00a0wrestle with my\u00a0wild emotions and destructive thoughts till they bow in obedience to that Divine Power, Jesus\u00a0promises to make it happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul says that\u00a0living in Jesus’ presence\u00a0not only enables us to throw off the old ways of thinking, but also causes new habits to spring up:\u00a0“love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control”<\/em>\u00a0 (Galatians 5:22-23)….<\/em>Jesus’\u00a0own character traits taking the place of what has died, and enabling\u00a0us to run the race like He did. Let’s just be careful not to confuse what is good with what is easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My free will, and His power and sovereignty, working together to produce transformation on the inside? It is Mystery, and it is Truth. This is way too big for my To-do list for today– but it is on God’s agenda for me, so the only question is how well I will cooperate. Lord, help me to grow in my understanding of You and to put it into practice, even when it means the death of Me and what I want. I want You more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~~~~~~~<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. <\/em><\/p>Philippians 2:12<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

~~~~~~~<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0The greatest burden we have to carry in life is self. The most difficult thing we have to manage is self. Our own daily living, our frames and feelings, our especial weaknesses and temptations, and our peculiar temperaments– our inward affairs of every kind– these are the things that perplex and worry us more than anything else, and that bring us oftenest into bondage and darkness….You must hand yourself…all over into the care and keeping of your God, and leave them there. He made you and therefore He understands you, and knows how to manage you, and you must trust Him to do it. <\/em><\/p>Hannah Whitall Smith<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With all this talk of what we\u00a0believe, it might be easy to think that is all there is to living out our faith: just believe what is true and right and good, and off you go, running fast and straight. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith-in-action","category-knowing-god"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9XvNH-p2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3774,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/3774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}