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Ackk! My glasses are dirty again!

I reach for my specially-treated, purple cloth and wipe off the yuck. How does that stuff get there? Always amazes me that it just appears.

Usually, I don’t notice that my glasses are dirty, and I don’t realize I’m squinting. Sometimes, I get a headache. The change is so subtle that it’s overlooked. After removing the film and spots from my glasses, my eyes relax and I can see better.

As Trapper John said to Radar on M.A.S.H, “Clean your glasses and you’ll know where you are!”

Aren’t we like this spiritually? I know I am. Looking through spiritual lenses, I don’t realize the build up of smudges, spots, and blemishes caused by the things I say, do, see, hear, etc. Things get blurry. And get worse. It’s like gradually drawing down a blackout shade. So imperceptible that it isn’t detected. Until it is pitch black and I don’t know where I am!

I tolerate those tiny, subtle spots and unconsciously overlook them. I end up with a squinting spirit and instead of a headache, I develop a heartache. And the disconnect from the Lord slowly takes place.

Jesus died for those spots and blemishes in the lives of His Church Bride, “He gave up His life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to Himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault.” (Eph. 5:25b-28 NLT)

I need to ask the Lord to search me, to bring those things to my attention of which I may be unaware or have ignored. Praying David’s prayer would be a good start, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends You, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” (Ps. 139:23-24 NLT)

Have you been seeing clearly lately? If not, clean your spiritual lenses and you’ll know where you are!

                                                                         

Hooking up today with...

 

 

...and

Reflections of His Grace/Grace Cafe

 “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

(Col. 3:3 NKJV)

I died!

Yup. I died.

The old self? Buried. Left behind. Forgotten.

“My old self has been crucified with Christ.” (Gal. 2:20a NLT)

Calvary’s cross lays atop that grave of the old me and I’ve said toodles!

The new me? Alive and hidden in Christ.

“It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20b NLT)

And if you are in Christ, your old self is dead and buried also, right? “Your old, evil nature died with Him and was buried with Him.” (Col. 2:12 TLB)

Therefore, you and I are “a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17 NKJV), because “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there.” (Gal. 5:24 NLT)

But are we content to leave well enough alone? Nooooooo! We have to go get our handy-dandy, Lowe’s special, heavy duty, grave-diggin’ shovel and dig up our old selves again because self wants to come out and play.

Oh, we welcome that rugged cross to rest upon our sins, but we won’t let it rest upon our nature.  

Paul assures us through his letter to the Roman church “that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” (Rom. 6:6 NKJV)

But watch out! That old man likes to be dug up!

Unfortunately, after becoming a new creation in Christ, that old man has a stubborn propensity for raising his ugly head and yoo-hooing us from the grave. He likes to dangle his friends...impure thoughts, words, attitudes, sights, and feelings...right before our eyes.

And what do we do?

Yup. We reach for the shovel handle and start digging to accommodate him!

Then, we find ourselves saying...

“Well, halllloooo there, old pal negative attitude!”

“Howdy there, pardner selfishness!”

“Welcome back, ol’ addiction!”

“Glad to see ya, lust!”

But if “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you,” then, “dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation whatsoever to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.” (Rom. 8:11a, 12 NLT) Because “now you are free from your old master, sin” (Rom. 6:18 TLB), so “let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.” (Gal. 5:16 NLT)

Therefore, no more reaching for the shovel! No more grave digging!

And “That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don’t give it the time of day. Don’t even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you’ve been raised from the dead!—into God’s way of doing things. Sin can’t tell you how to live. After all, you’re not living under that old tyranny any longer. You’re living in the freedom of God.” (Rom. 6:12-14 Msg)

Do you have a handy-dandy, Lowe’s special, heavy duty, grave-diggin’ shovel?