Taking the plunge

Blogs always seem so self-centered. . . like who am I to put things out there. But I have enjoyed reading others' thoughts and comments, and have struck up some friendships and dialogue with others that has both challenged me and made life richer. The goal of these ramblings is to seek for Christ in all things. It is so easy in the jumble of things to miss Him. . . to put so much stock into getting new insights, or finding the right path, so much strain in just doing the right thing. . . that the living Christ is missed completely. I've recently needed to learn the lesson - again. I have been focused in the past few months on Ephesians 4 and Colossians 3, specifically the call to put off the old self and to put on the new self in Christ. Also, Romans 13:14: "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." There's a lot to say on these that has to be saved for later posts. I had become focused on the process. . . laying off the old and putting on the new. The knowledge of it was wonderful, and for awhile it meant life. The call of Jesus to deny yourself utterly and the lesson in Romans 7: "I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh" is a hard one to learn and the knowledge comes with a cost. I thought I had learned the lesson until Romans 7:21 exposed my lack. "So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand." I didn't realize it, but I had (secretly) held/thought/hoped that there would come a time when I would come into a fuller measure in Christ and that I would not be troubled anymore by my old self. Wrong because 7:21 says so. But also, I had just missed the point completely. I had harboured the false hope that someday I would have in myself what I needed to get by and go thru to the Lord. I had missed Christ in this. . . that no matter how long I walk with Him, no matter how great a measure of Christ I come into, life and sufficiency are always in Christ alone and will never be in me. Bible study is not Christ, worship is not Christ, new insights are not Christ, practices are not Christ. Oh for the living union with the Living Christ! The peace I wanted is not only in Christ, Christ Himself is that peace. The wisdom to move ahead in this world is Christ; Christ Himself is the wisdom of God, He Himself is the way. The strength I need is Christ; He is the power of God. For me, it's the old and ever-new lesson that I've still to learn. It's easy to miss Christ. And yet the promise of God is that we can be fully satisfied in this world by Him in Christ. . . fully satisfied. That's the meaning of 'makarios', the name of this blog. It's a Greek word that in English is the word 'Blessed.' The goal/hope of this blog is that. . . to search out and see Christ in this life in all things, to come into a fuller measure of Him, to be fully satisfied in Christ alone.