Jan 25 2009
anything and nothing
I was able to preach today. I am always grateful when I have that opportunity. You can catch the audio here. As always happens when I get to preach, I always have a few leftover thoughts that I wish I could have shared but ran out of time. I won’t bore you with all of those, but I will share just one choice quote that had to leave on the cutting room floor.
(Actually in the spirit of honesty, this is really more of a paraphrase, I am working from memory. You can find the original somewhere in the middle of The Great Divorce.)
C.S. Lewis once said something like this:
Anything no matter how good, if it is not given to Jesus, can drag you down into hell. Likewise, nothing, no matter how evil, if it is given over to Christ can keep you out of heaven.
The truth of that quote sustains me in my darkest times and challenges me in my brightest.
Today in the sermon we all had a rock. The rock represented those things that are obstacles to our following after Jesus. Things that we will nto release into his control but instead cling to on our own.
When I went to church I was pretty sure that I knew what my rock was going to be. It was as if I was pre-scripting the encounter I was going to have with God based upon the script I have used so many times before.
But as I stood in line holding my rock, I was startled. I got off script. I asked God, “What is holding me back from following you?” And with surprising clarity, I knew. It wasn’t a sin issue. That was what I planned to do with my rock. But that wasn’t it. I have long ago surrendered the evil in my life over to Jesus and I trust he can handle it. Instead I was confronted with something good. Good plans that I have for my life. Plans that are admirable and important. But nevertheless they were plan that I had not surrendered to God. They were my big plans. How many half-deals I have struck with God offering him most of my life as long as I still get to pursue these big important plans of mine.
And suddenly to my great greif, that was my rock. Those good plans, those plans so precious to me were my rock. I was glad that the line moved slow. It took me a while get up the nerve to set my rock on the stage.
I’m still not exactly happy about it, but I feel a great peace. I don’t pretend that the temptation to those plans won’t return, but for the moment, I feel a great release of conflict. I feel like I am following.
on the walk
-Ethan
