Heard a great message this weekend. Something new embedded in the familiar message we've heard before about the Mary & Martha methods of service/worship.
As ardent worshippers, there are time when we find ourselves a bit further from the flame than we would like to be. The chill of even slight separation from Christ is unecessary given God's faithfulness to forgive should we when we sin & repent; repentance being an about face from sin. The fresh nugget comes in here. Why are we reluctant to repent? Or even after repentence, still what hinders us from entering into worship before the king? Could it be that we frame forgiveness in the context of our earthly relationships?
Say, for instance, I have this disagreement or huff with a friend. We resolve it quickly because God said to put all anger, malice, wrath, etc. away from us. He also said not to let the sun go down on our anger. We resolve it quickly in the ideal situation. Even so, depending on the extent of the wound (& some would say the spiritual maturity level of the parties involved), it may take some time to heal; time to rebuild trust & open up again. This is natural but not necessarily healthy.
So we often reserve our affection in unconscious fear or hesitation because God might not be so ready to take us back or regard our gifts of worship as sincere. Afterall, we just fell on our face with our words, attitudes, sin, etc. God doesn't need time. Can you imagine God putting up His hands "Uh, not so fast. I'm gonna need a little time here." Rather, He is waiting for our turning; He is longing for our heart to race to His embrace.
Believe me, I've reminded myself quite a bit the past few years that God is not caught off guard by my failings or fraility. He is not surprised when we fall short; nor is He put off or roll His eyes the 1st or the 100th time we repent. He doesn't , He simply extends His hand in love, forgiveness & restoration. We simply must return the reach.
Oh, that we would have the same elastic love for ourselves, our loved ones & even those unloved.
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3 comments:
Nice post, Carmen. Oh, to love like God loves! It's definitely something worth striving for. (forgive me ending with a prepostion. :-) )
When I read your title, I couldn't help but think of the "elastic wedding band" (Sorry, for those of you who never resided in the basement, it's an inside joke!) Of course, there is a lot of "elastic love" that comes with a wedding band too!
Carmen:
Nice post. Now when I think of ELASTIC, or RUBBER BAND (or something like that), I'm thinking of my eye operation (called a scleral buckle) used to reattach retinal detachments (which is what I had). It's basically a silicon band (or a rubber band) they put around the eye to hold the retina in place. It's evidently the GOLD STANDARD for retinal detachments like I had. We'll see how much I'll be able to see in a few months. Right now I'm still a little blurry, but PRAISE GOD--the retina was successfully reattached!
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