Great Quote

"In an effort to get the work of the Lord done we often lose contact with the Lord of work." - AW Tozer

I think every church should have this quote displayed prominently somewhere. Oh how easily and subtly we lose focus on who it is we started working for in the first place.

Also a couple of good thoughts from tonight's Matt Chandler sermon. First, I went through a little mini-depression last week and when I shared that with a few people, I told them I thought it was because I got stuck looking to much at my temporal life and lost my perspective on spiritual matters and Christ. So along comes Colossians 3 tonight:

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

Good timing...not a coincidence. It was confirmation that I was on the right path when coming up with a reason for my emotional state. Anyone looking at my temporal life from the outside would probably come to the conclusion that it isn't really going anywhere. I won't argue with that. It is often how I feel if I really get caught up in evaluating it. But spiritually...leaps and bounds over the past couple of years. This was reinforced by one of the guys in my care group on Thursday who said that he has noticed that I have become much more open in the last year. It's a good indication that I am caring less and less about displaying some type of "good image" to others and instead am much more interested in displaying just how weak and flawed I truly am because through that God can get the glory as he convicts, refines and purifies me. That's the growth that I care about. That is the way I want my life to be measured. It's what matters most.

The other piece of the sermon that resonated is something I have heard Chandler say before. I mentioned in an earlier blog that there were times that I was hesitant to immediately come to God for forgiveness after a sin because I felt like I was taking advantage of God's grace - choosing sin over Him one minute before and then coming right back to Him to ask for atonement. Like I am just wanting all of the good stuff God has to offer without any of the sacrifice and obedience.

Matt mentioned that a sign of spiritual maturity is immediately going to God when you have sinned...pressing into Him and pursuing Him even more. A sign of immaturity is pulling away from God when you have sinned so you can go clean yourself up, make yourself look better and then go back and present yourself to God. The latter alternative is a sign that you think you can justify yourself before God in some way, shape or form. On top of that, it will make dark times in your life even darker and more difficult as you become accustomed to only pursuing God when everything is going well.