GodReflection: Conflict Zone.
I read his command to Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27). In such a text I see Jesus’s perfection and my imperfection.
No, I’m not far into Jesus’s sermon on the mountainside before I see the difference between his perfection and my imperfection. The contrast becomes clearer as I follow Jesus’s earth walk. His teaching illustrates the life I live within a Conflict Zone.
I see King Jesus bend over to wash dirty feet and hear his words framed for future centuries. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet (John 13:14).
It doesn’t take too much time when I do a self-audit to remember the countless feet I’ve failed to wash. Why Can’t I Do All That Jesus Tells Me To Do?
Could it be that performance Christianity is a burden we’ve bought into from pulpits, from others, and from ourselves? Don’t you suspect Jesus knows perfection is beyond our reach?
To make perfection my goal instead of Jesus makes it easier for me to deceive myself with the belief that my good works merit salvation. When I start to list my victories my reality mirror fogs over. In that moment I fail to see myself as a helpless sinner for whom Christ died on the cross and emerged alive from the tomb. I fail to remember that Jesus loves the helpless.
Nothing could be more obvious throughout Scripture. Both Father God and Son Jesus desire believers who have hearts burning to increase their heartbeats to become more in rhythm with the Holy. As one who is helpless it’s time for me to seek The Helper.
The life of a disciple is lived daily in this Conflict Zone. We see the perfection of Jesus in his life and in his teaching. He was the only man to walk this earth and never make a misstep or mistake. By his indwelling Holy Spirit, he draws us into his perfect life. It is through his power not ours that we grow in Jesus’s likeness. And, even as that takes place, all the while we stumble and fall within the secure grip of Jesus’s grace.
We Love the Lord our God, yet there are corners within our heart that we haven’t yet wrestled from Satan’s control. We want to Love the Lord our God with all our soul and with all our strength and with all our mind, however we know there is room still to grow with all our soul, with all our strength and with all our mind.
Let’s commit to keep our hearts in tune with what Jesus says as we walk on planet earth. And may we look forward to Jesus’s return to our planet earth to restore his creation to perfection and we will walk with our Savior without a misstep. All he says we will do gladly in holy perfection. It is a grand time to anticipate, don’t you think?
Stay tuned.
Dr. Gary J. Sorrells
A GodReflection: Why Can’t I Do All That Jesus Tells Me To Do?
God Reflection 