I started a new Bible Study a couple weeks ago, The Broken Way by Ann Voskamp. I will be honest and say that I started this study with some excitement BUT also some fear. The passion of my life is to be more like Christ. To change and grow and become the woman, wife, mother, daughter, friend, pastor's wife, missionary, that He wants me to be, yet, at the same time, nobody, including me enjoys being "broken".
The truth is, the day I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior, when I was 5 years old, He also became the LORD of my life. I will admit that I have not always lived my life over the last 50 years as if that were true, BUT the the fact remains whether I admit it, or live it out on a daily basis HE is still LORD!
Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
So basically, IF Christ is my LORD, my old self-centered, self-exalting desires, MUST come to an end. That "old me" has been killed, crucified...and my life is NOT my own, but is now Christ living in me... Christ directing and empowering all that I do. It is NONE of me and ALL Jesus!
BUT HOW, do I do this... the ONLY way, is to get up each day, and present my life anew to Christ. To say, "Here's my life, Lord. Do whatever you wish to do with me today. You are the driver, I'm just your passenger. I trust you to take us and guide us through this day."
In Romans 12:1, Paul says that I am to present my body to God as a "living sacrifice". So I am to be dead to myself, but alive to Christ.
After 50 years, you would think I had this all figured out, and that I would live my life with this reality in focus everyday, but I don't. It is still a daily struggle. There are mornings, that I wake up and think, "just for today, I'll just do my own thing." Problem with that is, I miss all that He had planned for me that day!
Then to live "Cruciform" means to live my life in the shape of the cross. To live so that everyone around me sees Jesus, and NOT me! That my whole life is focused and centered on HIM and HIM alone. To trust HIM completely, to take the broken pieces of my life and fit them together in a way that will bring honor and glory to his name. Believing that only then will I have an abundant joyful life.
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Joy,
Thank you for this cup of tea. It's 3:30 in the AM and I can't sleep, but came across your blog. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. We have a lot more in common than I realized. I too was only 5 when I met my (our) Savior. Maybe we can share our little girl testimonies some time. I also love the word "cruciform", one in which I should be more of.
Blessings to you!
In Christ,
Melody
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