bookclub

"If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you must get into the water. 

If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them" (176).

In the daily struggles of focusing on God or understanding and holding fast to the sacrifice of Christ, I pray pretty frequently. I pray for peace and strength, for clarity and wisdom, I pray for things that will help me conquer my problems.

but I never seem to, for lack of a better word, try.

I don't dive into my bible, I read a chapter from my reading plan and sleep right after.

I don't read Christian books, I send an email every 2 weeks and flip through a couple of pages and call it a day.

I don't pour out love like how Christ has done for me, I ask how someone is doing and then shut off my ears.

Jesus came down as man, and as a man, experienced what the flesh encounters. I know this, and this is why I know I have a God that sympathizes with me. But why is it that I cannot conquer my problems like Christ?

I'm starting to realize I cannot look at Jesus alone, or God the Father alone, or lean on the holy spirit alone, but I must see how they are all one, singular Trinity of God. 

How in this unity, all things stream forth and all things return. So the things that I long for in my life aren't things that are to be simply given to me, but they are things that must stream forth and return; I need to be a part of this unity.

I think this is what it means to be a child of God. To abide in Him and He abides in me.