Being One with God

BUTTERFLYLiving in the Spirit
September 18, 2015

Scripture Reading: James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a

Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures….

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. –James 4:1-3, 7-8

Just stop doing the bad things that are harmful to you is easier said than done. Truly dealing with what drives us to do the bad things that are harmful for us is even more complicated. We pray for God to forgive us for whatever our laundry list of perceived sins are in the morning. We then go through our day doing those things over and over again. In the evening we pray again for God to forgive us. We repeat this endless cycle because we are holding on tightly to whatever is driving our behavior. We are serving lesser gods.

I use to think the prophets of the Hebrew Bible rather overdid the whole idol thing. It is one of their constants. I rationalized, however, these were ancient cultures who worshipped actual effigies and our monotheistic ancestors in the faith had a real challenge to introduce these people to the God of love. I have decided those prophets were as right for today as they were back then. We are wrong in not seeing how lives are misdirected by their constant desire for things that do not satisfy. Though they may not be made of stone, the things we crave are our idols.

God desires wholeness for each of us. The theological term for this is Atonement defined as a theological doctrine concerning the reconciliation of God and humanity and the means by which such reconciliation is achieved.* Seeking God and being truthful with God and with ourselves are the first two steps to getting our lives back from our own destructive ways.

Living for Jesus a life that is true,
Striving to please Him in all that I do;
Yielding allegiance, glad-hearted and free,
This is the pathway of blessing for me.** 

Prayer:
O Jesus, Lord and Savior,
I give myself to Thee,
For Thou, in Thy atonement.
Didst give Thyself for me;
I own no other Master,
My heart shall be Thy throne,
My life I give, henceforth to live,
O Christ, for Thee alone.** Amen.

* http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/Atonement

**First verse of Living for Jesus by Thomas O. Chisholm. The prayer is the chorus of this song. See at http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/Living_for_Jesus_Chisholm/

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.