For the wages of sin are death but the gift of God are eternal life. Romans 6:23
As I sat in the chapel at Dallas Theological Seminary yesterday, and looked out at the many faces I will be studying the word of God with, my mind was overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by the fact that I even had the ability to claim a seat in that building as my own. I belonged there. God called me there. I was staring at my future. Powerful. And as I sat there and just took this all in, Chaplin Bill who leads us in worship, the entire faculty of DTS on stage, the international students coming to study at the Harvard of Seminaries (as it is known), the diversity of God's creation, the privilege to lead 6 women through their seminary journey as a Spiritual Formation Women's leader, my sweet husband of 10 years still sitting next to me, it hit me, LIFE is happening here. Life is happening to me! Everything breaths life. Abundant, Christ filled LIFE! The kind that gives peace and doesn't come with a price of the soul. Yes it takes time, effort, commitment, and a lack of sleep but not the price of taking a chunk of your soul once it is over. And what stood in stark contrast to all this life, of course, my past, my sin, my brokenness...death. For the wages of sin are DEATH. Ultimately that meant death on the cross for Christ and for those who don't believe, eternal death. But for us living in this body being sanctified, what does death look like? How about a 19 year old girl, who decides to give herself away at a party with a stranger and can barely remember the night? That felt like death. Or waking up and realizing something so precious had just been shattered, there's a chunk of the soul gone. Or what about the look in your child's eyes when you have just screamed at them for some innocent gesture that you didn't have time for, maybe a mistake, a glass of spilled milk, and you see it the moment the words penetrate their tiny beating hearts, a little bit of death just occurred. Our what about the day, the bags are packed, the family split up, the kids scheduled worked out with both parents, and that final look back at the one you committed forever to and you see it beneath the layers of bitterness and anger, death. Eye's that once held a gleam for there beloved, there is left a deadness. I've seen that kind of death in my life. I've seen the death of a childhood without abuse and alcoholism running the show. I've experienced the death of dreams of being a college graduate due to the overshadowing of alcoholism. Or the death of the dream that marriage was really forever. Sin, taking it's toll, taking it's next piece of flesh and what looked so alluring, like a beautiful shiny apple ready for a big bite, once the bite is taken, the realization hits that the apple is rotten and full of maggots. That is what sin is like. That's what we are so lured by and it takes and takes and takes until death occurs, and all we have is regret, broken dreams, lost relationships and a loneliness of the soul like you've never known before. Sounds so appealing huh? Not really.
So how then, does Life happen? How did a marriage that looked hopeless become a marriage full of love and LIFE again? How is forgiveness even possible when an innocent child is robbed of what every child should have? There is a bible verse that has had SO much meaning to me in recent days. 2 Cor. 10:4 tells us that we have weapons to fight with that ARE NOT OF THIS WORLD! Do you hear me, NOT OF THIS WORLD! We aren't talking about your failing will power or the advice from your neighbor about what to do about a situation or self-imposed measures to keep you from doing what you keep doing. No, this is something entirely different. What do those weapons do? They demolish STRONGHOLDS. A stronghold, A FORTRESS. Something built as to NOT EVER be destroyed. These weapons WERE MADE to demolish a well fortified place in your soul that doesn't want to budge. They have divine power to do so as the Word tells us. Does ANYBODY need some divine power today? Did anyone read the first part of this blog and think, I want, NO NEED, some life today? The Spirit of GOD who raised Jesus from the dead LIVES IN EVERY BELIEVER, Rom. 8:11 tells us. Do you understand that? Every last one of us who have accepted Christ HAS THE DIVINE POWER TO DEMOLISH STRONGHOLDS! I PROMISE. I tell you there was a time when I did not want to quit doing what I was doing but even in THAT time, I would pray and ask God to change my desires. What in the world gave me the power to even pray that prayer? A power living inside of me that I didn't understand and could do for me what I could not do for myself. Surrender to this power. Quit fighting the plan God has for your life. What in the world are you giving up? A maggot filled apple? I had tears of PURE, ECSTATIC, JOY yesterday as I sat in that seat. JOY, the emotion of GREAT delight or happiness as defined by Webster's. And it could of been SO different, had I not surrendered, had I not just kept going back to the truth I knew, to the God I knew, to the life I really desired even though this other life looked so alluring. Had I made a different choice, I WOULD NOT EVEN have a blog to write! Please hear me, IT IS NOT WORTH IT! Run and run far...It is a lie when the enemy says anything to do with sin can remotely give us abundant life. There is only ONE giver of abundant life and His Name IS Jesus Christ! Fall on your face and worship Him for the grace He has given. I'm so excited to share in my journey with anyone who chooses to read this blog. I'm passionate because I'VE been there, too many times to count, and I know the devastation sin brings. RUN, LIKE NOW! Open the Word and return to the one who so gently calls to us, "Come Home". HE is the giver of Life! LIFE! LIFE!
