Setting MInd on Things of the Spirit: Sermon on Romans 8:1-11

 Romans 8: 1-11

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, 8and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.  9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.


   I have said for many years that St. Paul oftentimes becomes pretty convoluted in his writing.  I mean, there are some portions of his letters which are straight forward and easy to understand.  It’s not hard to understand him when he says, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”  We get this.  We get this easily.  But then there are those portions of his letters in which we get bogged down.  There are those portions of his letters where he seems to ramble on and on and on, and the more you read, the muddier things seem.  I’d argue our second lesson is like that.  Paul talks at length about what it means to have one’s mind set on the Spirit and one’s mind set on the flesh.  One of these is good, and one of these is bad.  We get that part, I think, but I’m not sure we fully understand it–at least as it relates to the Gospel. 

   For I think many of us come away with the idea that Paul is telling us here, “Think about all the things God wants you to do, and then make sure you do them.  That leads to life.  But don’t let your mind get caught up in the flesh–the sinful stuff; the stuff that is against God’s law, because if you get caught up in this, then that leads to death.  It does not please God.”  This is where we tend to end up, but I’d like to remind you of something right now.  I’d like to remind you about where Paul started out before he became a Christian, and it also has ties to Jesus’ encounters with the Pharisees.  Remember, Paul tell us in his letters that he was blameless according to the Law.  Paul had fulfilled all the requirements of the Jewish Law–many of the Pharisees had as well; yet, Jesus nearly always had harsh words for them.  Here was St. Paul, following the Law to a tee, and here were the Pharisees doing the same thing, yet Jesus spoke against them.  Why?

    Why did Paul in the middle of these verses from Romans 8 say, “7For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, 8and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”?  Let’s take a moment to consider what it really means to have one’s mind set on the flesh and then to have one’s mind set on the Spirit.

    Before converting to Christianity, St. Paul had his mind set on the flesh.  Likewise, the Pharisees had their minds set on the flesh as well.  “How is this possible?” you might ask.  “Weren’t they following God’s Law?  Weren’t they following the Ten Commandments?  Weren’t they worshiping correctly and offering all the sacrifices to God in the appropriate manner?”  Well, yes they were.  So how is it that their minds were set on the flesh?

    Here’s the answer: they were trying to work out their own salvation.  You might ask, “How is that such a bad thing?  They are doing the right things.  Isn’t this what religion is supposed to get you to do?”

    If religion were only about what you do, then sure.  But you see, God isn’t interested in simply what you do.  He’s interested in who you are.  He’s interested in you to the very depths of your heart.  He looks into your heart and sees what’s going down deep in its recesses, and when God looked deep into the heart of the Pharisees–when God looked deep in the heart of St. Paul before Paul was converted, do you know what God saw?  He saw self-righteousness.  God did not see a heart bent on loving and pleasing God.  Instead, God saw hearts which were totally selfish.

    How could that be?  Think about this for a moment.  Why does a person follow the commands of Jesus?  Why does a person follow the Ten Commandments?  If a person follows them to work out his or her own salvation, then the person is following them for a very selfish reason.  What?  You might say.  Yes.  If you follow the Ten Commandments or the teachings of Jesus because you want to go to heaven, you are following them for a selfish reason because you are following them to avoid punishment.  You have a deep self-interest in avoiding punishment and getting rewards.  You are trying to save your tail-end.  You are only trying to please God for your sake, not for God’s sake.  Can you see this, or do I need to explain further?  And when you are trying to save yourself, your mind is set on the things of the flesh.  Your mind is set on yourself.  You are no different than those folks who engage in sinful behavior to make themselves feel good.  You are both sinful.  One disobeys the law of God to feel good about one’s self through indulgence.  One strictly obeys the law of God to feel good about one’s self through obedience.  Neither has God at the center of their heart.  Both are centered on themselves.

    This is why Paul says that a mind which is set on the flesh is hostile to God.  It cannot follow the Law of God and please God.  It is only concerned with itself.  Nothing else.  It may be doing the right things, but for completely wrong reasons.  And this is why Paul says, “Set your mind on the things of the Spirit!”

    Now, what does that mean?  How does a person set his or her mind on the things of the Spirit?  What are the things of the Spirit?

    Simply put, setting the mind on the Spirit means concentrating on the Gospel.  You know the Gospel.  I’ve been saying it over and over and over again in my sermons for the past 10 months.  I’ve repeated it again and again and again.  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world may be saved through Him.  This is at the core of what Christianity proclaims.  God took on flesh in the form of Jesus the Son, and He died for us while we were still sinners.  He died for us when we were not following the commands of God.  He died for us when we were centered totally and completely on ourselves.  He died for those who were disobeying God’s Law, and He died for those who were following God’s law to save themselves. 

    Jesus came to live the life we could not live, and He died the death we deserved in order to reconcile the world to God–to reconcile you unto God.  You didn’t do a blasted thing to help this process.  It was all on God.  It was all on Jesus.  Your salvation; your reconciliation unto God was accomplished for you when you were heading in the opposite direction.  When you begin to contemplate this, you are setting your mind on the things of the Spirit, and this changes you.

    How?  How does thinking about what Jesus did by dying for us change us?

    First off, remember, if you are trying to work out your salvation and avoid punishment, you are acting with a ton of self-interest and selfishness.  The same goes for thinking that you have to do something to keep your salvation.  I mean, there are plenty of Christians who believe Jesus died for them and saved them, but they also believe they have to work their tail ends off or they will lose their salvation.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Your salvation is complete.  It is done.  Period.  End of discussion.  Jesus paid the price for that.  Jesus lived the life you should have lived.  He died the death you deserved.  It is finished.  It was done by Jesus, and you can’t claim any credit for it.

    This is important to realize because it means you can’t be self-righteous anymore.  You can’t look down your nose at another person and claim that you are somehow morally and spiritually superior to another person.  You are not.  None of us are.  When you know that you were saved by sheer grace, and it hits your heart, all of a sudden, there are sins revealed to you that you didn’t even know you were doing.  As I’ve said before, one of the ones that was revealed to me was when I listened to Timothy Keller give a lecture on evangelism and he talked about being reclaimed by the gospel.  Keller talked about those of us who are clergy and how we really don’t get the gospel.  How?  Keller said, “I don’t know what extent it is for you, but to some degree your self-worth is tied to your ministry.  How do I know this?  When the worship attendance is up, your spirits are up, and when worship attendance is down, you get depressed.  Your self-worth is tied to your ministry to some extent.”  I hung my head because I knew it was true.  I wasn’t living out grace.  I was still caught up in trying to get my self-worth from other things.  This kind of sinfulness is revealed to you when the Gospel takes root in your mind.  You know you are broken.  You know you are still in need of healing, and it humbles you.  It humbles you so that you don’t see yourself as any better than anyone else–you see that you need Jesus just as much as that other person out there needs Jesus.  And a well spring of thanksgiving swells up in your heart because you know Jesus died for you when you were broken.

    And that leads you to say, “How can I show my thankfulness?  How can I show my appreciation to Jesus for what He has done?”  This is important because there are many who think that grace gives them sheer license to do whatever they want to do.  I can do whatever makes me feel good because I’m forgiven anyway.  There’s a term for this: cheap grace.  Cheap grace means you don’t understand the price that was paid for you.  Dr. David Lloyd Jones used a sermon illustration to get at this.  Let’s say you come home from vacation one day, and your neighbor comes over to give you your mail.  He says he saw a bill in your mail, and he paid it for you.  Dr. Jones said, “At this point, I need to know how large the bill was in order to know how to respond.”  If it was simply a matter of postage due, I can offer a word of thanks and go about my merry business.  But if it was a letter from the IRS telling me I had to pay thousands of dollars in fees that I didn’t have, well then there is a very different response.  That’s when I fall on my knees to thank you profusely.

    If we realize the size of the debt that Jesus paid for us, then we fall at His feet in thanksgiving and we seek to please Him–not because we are trying to get anything from Him but because we have already received it.  Not because we feel good about ourselves but because we know what Jesus did for us when we weren’t too good at all.  We follow the Ten Commandments and what Jesus taught us because of what He first did for us in dying for us and removing our debt.

    This is what the Gospel is all about.  Jesus dying for us when we were still sinners leads us to a place of humility.  It leads us to a place of serving God for His sake and not for our own.  It is far removed from setting our mind on the things of the flesh.  Thinking about the Gospel is setting our mind on the things of the Spirit, and that leads us to abundant life.  Amen.

A Schitzophrenic Church

Before anyone jumps on my case about making fun of those with this horrid mental illness, please note that I am using the term Schizophrenic in the sense of the second definition found at this online dictionary:

2.a state characterized by the coexistence of contradictory or incompatible elements.

To what now am I referring?

As I sat at our Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod Assembly (ELCA), I was struck by repeated commentary regarding race, ethnicity, and the church.

"We've got to overcome and get rid of this separation that plagues us."

"Sunday morning is the most segregated morning of the week."

"Why is it that I cannot get a call at most of your congregations?  It's because of race." said one African-American pastor.

I don't think anyone at the assembly, including yours truly, disagreed with any of those statements.  In fact, the only contrary thing I could think of was to ask a converse question of the African-American pastor, "Could I get a call in the congregation you currently serve?"  The answer I am sure would be, "No."  Why?  Well, it's race again, but flowing the opposite direction.  Same problem.  Different direction.

There is no doubt in my mind such matters need to be addressed.  There is no doubt that such obstacles exist and need to be handled better.  In matters of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality, most mainline denominations fail miserably.

But what has the answer been thus far?  What have mainline denominations done?

Two things:

1. Start ethic congregations.

2. Focus on identity theologies.

Think about those two things.  Think hard about them.  We start congregations specifically geared toward a particular community: African-American, Latino, Asian, and so on and so forth.  What does this do to end segregation?  Be honest!  What does it really do to end separation if we start congregations specifically geared toward particular racial, ethnic groups?  

Nothing.  Not a d@mn thing!  In fact, it actually makes the problem worse.

We say we need to address the problem, but our actions accentuate it.

And then we adhere to particular types of theology: black theology, Latin-American liberation theology, feminist theology, gay/lesbian theology, and so on and so forth.  Again: what does this do?

We talk about the need to overcome such differences, and then we grab and hold onto theologies which accentuate differences.

Schizophrenic.  

Of course, there will be those who will immediately point out to me that I am speaking (typing really) from a perspective of "white privilege."  Because I have a particular advantage because of my race/ethnicity, I have privilege and do not understand--with the corollary that I really have nothing to contribute to the conversation unless I sympathize (read, buy into) with the theology/practice of people of a different color, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, or what have you.

Again, divisive--exactly contrary to what the expressed hopes are.

It is not enough just to criticize.  It is not enough just to point out the contrary nature of things.  Providing a possible way forward puts one at risk of criticism, but one must begin somewhere.

Let's start with the Gospel.  Not the social gospel.  Not the liberation gospel.  The Gospel--God's reconciliation of the world  unto Himself through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

You see, within that Gospel, there is no one who has any privilege.  No one.  None stand righteous before God.  None.  None of us "get it" when it comes to living out our relationships appropriately.  We find our worth in all sorts of places instead of in Jesus Christ and what God has done for us.  We find our identity in all sorts of places instead of in Christ and what God has done for us.

And then Jesus says, "Come and die!"

Die to everything that you thought gave you worth.

Die to everything that you thought gave you identity.

Find your worth in Jesus.

Find your identity in Jesus.

Die to your race.

Die to your ethnicity.

Die to your gender.

Die to your sexual orientation.

"For as many of you as were baptized in Christ have clothed yourself with Christ.  There is no longer Jew or Greek nor slave or free nor male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus."  Galatians 3:27-28

Be reborn as children of God.

This isn't an easy task.  Our ethnicity, our race, our sexuality, our gender help define us.  We have spent a lifetime trying to learn what it means to live such things to the fullest.  We've been proud of who we are; where we came from; what we look like.  Such things do not die easily.  They do not die without grief and pain.  To give them up would be asinine under most circumstances.

"Those who wish to save their life will lose it, but those who lose their life for my sake and the sake of the Gospel will find it."  --Jesus

The reality of the Gospel--realizing that Jesus died for you while you were still sinful; that your salvation rests totally on Him; that you find your true identity in Him; that you find your true self in Him--offers the promise of a more abundant life when we die to all those things.  No longer do we have to hold onto such things to feel valuable or feel like we have a sense of identity.  

"You are my child, the beloved.  With you I am well pleased." --God the Father

These words spoken to Jesus at His baptism become the words spoken to us, and they give us all the value, worth, and identity we need.  They help us understand that every person is also created in the image of God and worthy of respect and love.  None of the other stuff matters.

As I responded once to a now deceased church member who asked, "I don't understand why you didn't adopt within your own culture.":

"God doesn't care.  Why should I?"

I believe the Gospel is the cure to the church's schizophrenia.   We must be claimed by it and claim it so that we can truly find our identity and our unity.  Only when we are claimed by it and die to our respective ideas of what give us identity--EVERYONE, not just one culture or two cultures, but all of them!!--and are claimed by our identity as children of God will we begin to see that what separates us are the very things already erased by the Gospel--by God's atoning love for each and every one of us.

Dying sucks, but on the other end of the comma, there is abundant life.

Are we, in the mainline, truly willing to die?
  
That remains to be seen.

I Know they are Trying to Help, but...

The subject line stood out in the church email inbox:

Winter Weather Threatening Weekly Contributions?

Now, admittedly, I live in Texas.  Winter weather does not often pose a problem for weekly services.  I've never had to cancel church because of an ice storm or being snowed in.  I understand this is problematic for other parts of the country in which I live.  Yet, I am all too aware of how weather does affect church attendance.

Late last year, we had copious amounts of rainfall one Sunday morning, and we only had 55 people show up for worship on that Sunday.  Given that there were flash flood warnings in abundance, it's understandable.  Yet, inclement weather isn't the only hindrance for church attendance.  Beautiful weather often is as well.  I mean, who wants to spend a Sunday morning cooped up indoors when the sun is shining, the breeze is slightly blowing, the temps are in the 70's, and there are numerous ponds stocked with fish beckoning--or, it is only a short drive from the coast?

The reality is: people have choices.  They have choices as to whether or not the come to church.  They have choices in how they choose to contribute.  Never mind that; however, there is a solution to the problem:

Bad weather often means low turnouts and reduced offerings. If weekly contributions are attendance dependent, break free in 2014 with electronic giving solutions from ... Services.

Consistent donations—no matter what the weather

Recurring contributions don't stay home when bad weather strikes. When your members start giving electronically, their contributions will continue exactly as scheduled.
For all your donation needs, there's a...solution.

I know this company is trying to help.  I understand that very well.  I understand their desire to make sure non-profit organizations--churches--have a steady stream of cash flow.  I understand there are churches who live paycheck to paycheck--or offering to offering to provide the correct terminology.

But I am still uncomfortable with the marketing behind this.

You see, I like to think that I trust the folks who are members of my congregation.

I like to think that I trust them to take care of the financial obligations of this church.

I like to think that I trust them to give to the Lord's work because they are cheerful givers.

I like to think that I trust them to make up their giving if they miss a Sunday or two or three because of absence.

My dad had an uncanny way of teaching me about the role of church; the role of clergy; dealing with offerings and all that sort of jazz.  First off, he made no bones about clergy being ordinary people.  "They put their pants on the same way we do," Dad would say.  But then, he'd go further, "Pastors should just preach the Gospel and then shut up."

Preach the Gospel and then shut up.

I thought I understood dad's comment then, but I think I was wrong because I hadn't begun to grasp the reality of the Gospel.  I think I understand it better now.

Preach the Gospel!  Preach what God has done through Jesus Christ.  Choose to focus on Christ crucified!  Proclaim the goodness of God and His grace!  Let the Gospel fall on the ears of people.  Let the Holy Spirit change their hearts and minds.  Don't focus on the Law and telling people what to do.  Let the love of God penetrate their hearts and bring them to the fullness of faith.  You are just the messenger.  God does the real work.

I think I get that.  It's awful hard to put that into practice.  I mean, if you see worship attendance slipping and offerings going down and people getting anxious; it's really easy to slip into platitudes.  It's really easy to slip into searching for solutions.  It's really easy to email companies and say, "Yes!!  Help me ensure this church's revenues don't slip!"  It's easy to check out the giving statements of individuals and families within the church and make a few phone calls to people who aren't giving what you think they should give.  It's really easy to focus on the instructions the Bible gives to tithe; to pass the plate; to give to everyone who begs.

It's a lot more difficult to preach the Gospel, shut up, and then allow God to go to work on people.  It's a lot harder to trust them to do the right thing when you are looking at fewer people in pews and less offering in the plate.

But if this faith is about our relationship with God and then our relationships with others...

Then trust is very, very important.

I know they are trying to help, but I'm going to go with trusting my congregation.  I'm confident they will do the right thing.

Be an Example of Jesus!....???

Perhaps it was youthful exuberance.

Perhaps it was a core thought and belief.

I'm not sure.

While attending a recent worship service, we were summarily dismissed with the following words or something similar:

Go into the world!  Be an example of Jesus!

The one dismissing us changed the wording in the bulletin which read this or something similar:

Go into the world following the example of Jesus!

Roughly a year or so ago, I'd not have given such a thing a second thought.  Roughly a year or so ago, I would have heartily done the exact same thing without reservation.  But now, I'm not so sure.

BE an example of Jesus.

How does one do that?

Now, if we are supposed to be great moral teachers expounding on what it means to love our neighbor as we love ourselves or teaching time and again what it means to treat others as we wish to be treated, then I suppose BEING an example of Jesus wouldn't be to difficult a thing to accomplish.  It's pretty easy to go around telling others what they should be doing.

But is that the sum and substance of what Jesus was about?  Was Jesus just an example of what it means to live with God and with one another?

As I read through the Gospels, I see Jesus wearing multiple hats.  First, He was a healer--and not just in the physical sense.  Yes, He cured diseases.  It was an integral part of His ministry.  But those healings had a greater significance.  They also were about wholeness--the healing of one's entire being.

In Jesus' day, if you were sick, then folks thought it was because something you had done to deserve it.  God was punishing you.  Illness not only carried a social stigma--no one wanted to be around a sick person; it also carried a religious stigma--you were on the outs with God.  When Jesus healed someone, He literally was showing God loved that person and had forgiven them.  It was a complete restoration of body, mind, soul, and community.  This is the healing Jesus offered then.  Am I capable of providing such healing?

Hardly.  I am far too limited in my abilities to do such a thing.  God has not granted me those kinds of healing capabilities.  As far as I know, I haven't really seen anyone who has the kind of healing capacity Jesus showed in the Gospel Narratives.  The only one who can bring that kind of healing, in my estimation, is Jesus.

Secondly, Jesus led with grace every time He encountered someone who was not of the religious establishment.  That's important in my estimation.  Every time He encountered someone the world had labeled "sinner", Jesus offered healing, salvation, hope, and even literal life saving.  Now, when He encountered the religious establishment, He kicked tail and took names.  He knew the difference between the two groups.

I'm not too sure I have that capability.  I like to tell folks how it "should" be.  I like to tell folks what they should be doing--regardless of where they are in life.  I don't like offering them love and compassion and grace right off the bat.  That costs me something.  They might not reciprocate.  They might thumb their nose at me in the long run.  They might abuse my niceness.  I'm guarded.  Plain and simple.

Jesus wasn't guarded.  He bestowed grace and healing.  He gave people wholeness and then asked them to respond.  He didn't expect them to do anything first.  He acted first and then asked for obedience.  It's just too darn easy to do things the opposite way.

Thirdly, Jesus' main purpose was the reconciliation of the world with God.  There really is no need to delve deeply into this one in this post.  Such a thing can only be accomplished by God and I can't eve come close to that example.

BE an example of Jesus!  How?  Is it even possible?

No.

I don't think it is.

This is why I believe Christianity isn't about what we do.  We can't do what Jesus did unless we are simply trying to tell everyone else what to do.  And if we take this approach, well, then, we will get nailed by the "do as I say and not as I do" crowd.  For if we preach the life Jesus called us to live and we cannot live it....

Grace leads me to follow Jesus with the knowledge I do it imperfectly.  Grace leads me to strive to walk in His footsteps as best as I can knowing I'll never even come close.  Grace leads me to strive to imitate Jesus knowing I will stumble and fall long before I accomplish such a task.

Before I encourage anyone to be an example of Jesus, I'm going to make darn sure that person knows the grace of Jesus.  Only He can orient a heart to follow Him.

If They Found the Bones of Jesus (Part 2)

Further thoughts about why I would cease to call myself a Christian if the bones of Jesus were found:

Christianity is not a system of morals.

Let me be very careful here.  Christianity does have a moral component.  There is no doubt about that.  We are called to live a certain way individually and corporately.  We are called to a high standard of living with one another.  Jesus outlines this very, very clearly.

But much of what Jesus taught was not new.  Even the command to love one's neighbor as one's self was quoted from the Old Testament and is found in some form or fashion in just about every world religion and culture.  Many of the great moral teachers taught the same thing as Jesus.  In fact, this is one of those arguments used by atheists to diminish the Christian worldview.

If Christianity were just one more attempt to teach the world morality, then if they found the bones of Jesus, I could easily continue to call myself a Christian without any sort of intellectual problem.

But Christianity goes much further than simply being a moral system.  It goes much further than simply being a system of justice.  Christianity is about God's reconciliation of the world unto Himself.

Without the resurrection, the proclamation of Christianity falls short.  There is no reconciliation.  There's just one more dead wanna be Messiah.

Without the resurrection, we are still under the Old Covenant with its legal code.  Either become Jewish and work to follow the law or one is screwed.  And then those sticky questions arise as to whether or not one can be a gentile convert to Judaism or if one can only be a "God-fearer."

Without the resurrection, grace is essentially null and void.  It's right back to works/righteousness.  And hey, I've already figured out, I don't even come close.

Without the resurrection, I'm toast.

Might as well enjoy what I can.

But if Christ is raised from the dead...

Well, that changes everything.

There are Moments

I hate running.

I have said so in this blog before.

And yet, I continue to run at least four times a week.  Mind you, I am neither sprinting nor doing any sort of distance running.  I do interval training, and if I could drop it and still see results in toning and shaping my body, I would.  But unless I do something which burns fat, my goal of becoming healthier and avoiding knee surgery in the future will not become achievable.

So I run, and I hate it.

Most of the time.

But there are moments, brief moments when something intriguing happens. 

My body does not feel like it is exerting anything.  My feet seem to glide over the pavement.  My breathing seems effortless.  It's a really nice feeling.  But then I come crashing back to reality.  It doesn't last for any length of time.  But it's there.  It's happened more than once.  It's real.

I've had such moments in my faith life as well.

When I reflect upon the words of Jesus--His ethical and moral commands, sometimes I cannot help but wonder if giving it all up would be easier:

If anyone begs from you...give.
If you are angry with someone, you've committed murder.
If you've looked at another with lust in your heart, you've committed adultery.
Take the log out of your own eye before you judge another.
It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.
Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Feed the hungry.
Give drink to the thirsty.
Clothe the naked.
Visit the sick and imprisoned.

Heck, that's just the basics.  There's more.  A lot more, and it simply isn't easy to follow.  It's difficult.  Far easier to fail than to succeed.  So, why even try?  Why even continue to strive for perfection when perfection is unachievable?

There are moments.  Holy moments.  Moments when I know God is real.  Moments when I know His presence and hear His voice.  Yes, they have happened in my life.  Some may call me crazy; irrational, I know.  But I am not alone in sensing God and hearing His voice.  There are others, and their sense is very much the same as mine.

When those times of questioning occur...
When those times of doubt occur...

I remember the One who suffered and died, for He is the one who has spoken to me and given me His presence at critical moments in my life.   He sets the bar high for me (and all who follow Him) knowing we cannot fully reach it; however, if He set it any lower, we might actually achieve it and become self-righteous.

And as we reach for that goal, responding to what He has done first to us, our spiritual muscles are honed and shaped.  He is ever working and molding us from within--a lifetime process of making us more and more like Him.

It's tough.  Sometimes, it hurts and brutally.  It would be easier to quit.

But, there are moments...