Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Abiding in Christ

I just came across this quote today in my time with the Lord: "We can't keep Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their bibles. But we can do something else. We can keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relationship with Christ. If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. This is what I (Satan) want you (demons) to do: keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds." --Don Currin

Since I've had some down time the last couple weeks I've been able to step back and see how often I get caught up in these very non-essentials, to the neglect of my intimacy with Christ. I've also seen how cultivating and abiding in that connection with Jesus truly does release a power that is so vibrant, energizing, and authoritative.

I also just listened to a sermon for Dr. Martin Luther King that addressed the very same issue, from a different angle. He talked about how America, satiated and tempted by its material prosperity, could very well sleep through the revolution that God was ordaining in terms of wanting to use our country to alleviate segregation and provide an answer to world poverty and hunger. He used the story of Rip Van Winkle to illustrate his point. It's sobering to think about not only my personal stewardship of my life and family, but also how we as a country steward our resources. It seems like as a country we are definitely more like Rip Van Winkle than not.

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