In the Beginning
"In the beginning"... by that I mean, my very first blog. It was only a few months ago, I didn't even know what a blog was... now, I have my own!
I nearly named my blog "anchored chaff", because for a large part of my life I was like the "chaff blown about by the wind," spoken of in Psalm one, but I have been blessed with the gift of faith, and Jesus saved me about 11 years ago. I am no longer blown about this life by the whims of the world, but now, I have purpose, now I have direction... hallejulah!
I said that I have been blessed with the gift of faith. As I read in 1st Corinthians chapter one, I see that the Jews seek after a sign and the Greek after wisdom. You see, so many today need proof to believe, but Jesus said, "blessed are those who will believe, but have never seen," and that's what I mean, I'm blessed to have been created... kind of simple, I guess... that way, I'm able to believe... so, to me, faith is a wonderful gift.
Mercy is yet, another wonderful gift of God, because it was God's mercy that allowed me to live long enough to recieve His wonderful gift of grace. For many years, until I was 36 years old, I lived a reckless life that was determined by all of my surroundings... like the "chaff in the wind," I don't consider myself to have been liscentious, but I did many things that could have sent me to eternity without a Savior... but God was merciful.
But there is something I had to learn early on, I knew that God had forgiven me, but I was never going to grow any further in Christ until I had forgiven myself... I had to turn the scapegoat loose into the wilderness. Then, one day, God showed me something in His word. There are passages in God's Word that I refer to, in my own terminology, as "Rocks." These are the solid stones that I can stand on in my faith when the enemy comes to place doubt in my mind... they are passages in the bible that I use to ward off his attacks... for I know him to be a liar, and that all of God's Word is true. So, God showed me the following passage, that made it possible for me to forgive myself... and to continue to grow into the saint that He has set me apart to be.
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:10-14
This is the passage that truly freed me from years of carnal living in disobedience to God. From that point on, I knew that there was nothing to be done about my past, but there was plenty to do in the future... and God has led me on such an adventure so far that I can hardly describe it!
Now, this passage is starting to have new meaning to me, as God's Word is the "Living Word," it is now encouraging me, not only to forget my failures and cast then into the depths of God's forgiveness, but now I am learning that I must also forget my success', lest I become complacient and stop growing to be more like Christ.
Oh my! The wonderful God that we serve! And I have so much to say about Him... so I hope to get enough time to blog... and blog and blog.
God bless...
