And now we will rest in grace, as we continue to abide…happy Friday <3
A week ago when I came to work the CDC had quickly changed their position on mask-wearing but when I got to work, our state was still under the original mask mandate. Shortly after lunch the Governor made a quasi-legal statement regarding backing the CDC and go as you are led, basically and it was somewhat like I imagine back on the days of early Merchant Street when Prohibition was ended. The vaccinated, or claiming to be, roamed with abandon, maskless and celebrating amongst others who carefully and cautiously remained masked.
There was no clear direction and it was a stressful day to work in the public sector.
Thankfully we have clear guidelines popping up on storefronts and places of gathering so I urge you to comply with what the owners of each business request and I again say, let’s err on the side of kindness whether we are vaccinated, unvaccinated, masked, unmasked…it’s not about policy, it’s about being the Light of Christ in every situation.
Which brings me to the topic of the week on the blog: abiding.
If you have missed the fun, catch up on the whole little rabbit trail I followed regarding what it means to abide in Him, and Him in us by checking the rest of this week’s posts.
This morning the thought was to give practical application, and God plopped two different references to the same thoughts that were gathering in my head to share.
In my daily reading of The Message, I found this passage in 2 Chronicles 29 where Hezekiah was rebuilding the Temple. If you have ever read The Message you know there are not exact verse markers by passages, but in the midst of 29:12-17 these words hopped off the page:
The priests started working from the inside and worked out – emptying the temple of the accumulated defiling junk – pagan rubbish that had no business in a holy place.
2 Chronicles 29: around verse 15, The Message by Eugene Peterson
Wow…
Does that preach all by itself??
Yes, yes it does.
Then in case I missed it, God plants this passage in my daily devotional book:
In Luke 11:39:
Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy – full of greed and wickedness!”
Luke 11:39 NLT
Same idea.
Working on cleaning up and ridding the ugly from the inside out.
And I as I have studied and read and meditated on what it means to “abide” or “remain” or “not abandon” Christ, I see that this is the work He does in me.
His Spirit made His home in me when I received Christ as my Lord and Savior. He is set to bring up the things in me that are not worthy of a holy place for Christ to dwell. And He is at work bringing to me the things that assist me in my desire to follow Jesus and His teachings.
This active work takes place as I remain steadfast in what I first believed.
I am a sinner saved by grace.
It is Christ and Christ alone who has the power to redeem me and in mercy He has.
I live in on-going sanctification, thus not a stagnate and unchanging life, but a transformed and being transformed more and more life.
It is a grace gift as much as the gift of salvation.
How blessed we are.
How loved and how precious to the God who made us <3