You may think that living the Christian life is either extremely boring, or nearly impossible. Waves of guilt and shame combine with a constant feeling of inadequacy to create a life of judgement and self-condemnation. At every turn, you encounter another reason that you don’t measure up or need to be doing more. You obsess on what you see as your failures and think that this mental self-mutilation will somehow make a difference next time. You heart lays bleeding and torn after you’ve beaten yourself with all the messages you have received throughout life from those who have done you wrong. Comparison and self-righteousness hasn’t provided any relief, and you just want something real. Yuck!
I hope, in the pages to come, to show you the contrast of this outlook with the life I believe Jesus intended us to live when He died for us in the in the first place: a life of joy and overflowing love that fills us up with acceptance and belonging. That acceptance and belonging then spill over to those around us as mercy and grace pouring out over every step.
The Christian life doesn’t require us to do more or be more; rather, it provides an exchange of our junk for God’s perfection, strength and peace that allows us to live in a completely differently. This life is about rest, not more striving. It is about love and belonging, not more rejection. It is about being able to live in the impossible while accessing the strength of the God of the universe to move forward. It is about living in the faith of Jesus, rather than condemning ourselves for not being able to drum up enough faith on our own.
God created us for relationship, first with Himself and then with other people. But these relationships often bring trouble as pain and discouragement result from their messiness. Relationship, in its proper place, provides the foundation for living. The order must be right, though, for us to enjoy it. Relationship with God is the basis for love, acceptance, rest, peace, joy, and everything else we need to live. Relationship with humans can be wonderful, but it must follow a relationship with God in order for us not to be mangled and torn up by the crazy humans we encounter through life.
I want to take you on a journey of transforming your life through the abiding life—the life of step-by-step, moment-by-moment connection with God, which becomes the most practical basis in the world for everything else. This abiding life transforms every day into one of beauty, sweet closeness and peace that makes no sense given the circumstances. It allows us to rise above any situation, seeing past it because our position has never been one of being drowned by problems. We are seated with Christ in the heavenlies (Ephesians 2:6), and we can embrace all of life from that position as we allow God to change our perspective. This shift doesn’t keep away the pain, but it does take our pain from something soul-crushing or life-ending to something we can use as a steppingstone to launch us forward. We can experience comfort and tenderness in the pain, rather than constant rejection, depression, and anxiety.
This may sound far-fetched—like a fantasy. You may want to bring me back down to earth and tell me to live more realistically. But I would argue that living in relationship with the One who made me, knows me inside and out, and knows exactly what I need is the most realistic life possible. If I can live free from all the pressures of the world, rising above the political situations, corruption, financial pressures and woes, I think the abiding life—living in relationship with God rather than living by a set of religious rules—becomes more practical and life-giving than any other way of doing life.
Even if you remain unconvinced, tiptoe along this path with me as I introduce you to the life God created you to live, thriving rather than surviving, a life in which you are not just living for the great someday but can experience heaven and eternal life right now.
My prayer for you is that you will experience the transformation of the abiding life, and never want to go back to the old way again. No one is ever too broken, too exhausted, or too much of anything to experience this life as God intended us to live it.
So, don’t hold back—let’s dive in to explore this life together and see what we get to leave behind, and what we get to push towards. Don’t you need a break, a rest from the pressures and cares of life? Let’s venture onward toward rest.
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Are you weary, carrying a heavy burden? Come to me. I will refresh your life, for I am your oasis. Simply join your life with mine. Learn my ways and you’ll discover that I’m gentle, humble, easy to please. You will find refreshment and rest in me. For all that I require of you will be pleasant and easy to bear. Matthew 11:28-30