Don't Give Up!

"So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever. "
(2 Co 4:16-18, The Message).

The goal for this week is to renew our spirits in Christ and find ways to keep that renewal happening every day. Confession, trusting on the foundation of our faith, hoping in the promises of even better times ahead. We can do that in many ways: prayer, study (like reading this along with the scripture of the day, every day.), study groups, worship, Holy Communion, and sharing your life of faith with a "spiritual" friend. (I don't mean just a friend who is spiritual, but someone who shares a similar belief system, a Christian on the journey with you. It can be someone the same age, or generations different. And you don't have to be at the same place on the journey. It is just someone with whom can help you think and learn about faith and yourself, someone to keep you accountable.)

Each of these things is meant to help experience the life Christ promised was possible and meant for us. We have to believe this truth, that there is a richer part of the human experience that is found only in God through Jesus Christ. This is not to say that we cannot enjoy life without Christ or church because many people do experience a full life of apparent blessing. I've seen it in my own family and my own life. But I have discovered the fullness of this life of faith in Christ. It's the difference between the image of a simple window pane to one with great style, like the one pictured above (at a church on the Mount of Olives). The Christ-life (the Christian life) has a different quality to it and it is worth all of the difficulty and work it takes to share in it. Every sacrifice we make for the sake of Christ will reveal a new blessing for us. Every pain we endure is a new pane in the stained-glass window of our existence. We might not see it all right now, but when we step back and look at our lives, or as others will see us, the whole picture comes into focus. In other words, the more we strive to experience God, the more we do. The harder we work at discovering who God is, more is revealed. The rich life in Christ is being unfolded to us day to day, so DON'T GIVE UP!

It's only January 6th. I hope you haven't given up on your New Year's Resolutions just yet and especially not given up on Christ. He sure has not given up on you. Hang in there; keep plugging along, even if you don't think you are getting anywhere. You are going to make it! Christ will see to that.

In his Grip ><>
PC