I am aware of the fact that blogging gives one the opportunity to relay thoughts. But, sometimes there is simply too much. The "Mortification of Sin" book is going well (if you have ever read you know how tiny it is and are most likely thinking that I should have read it in an hour, but there is just too much to take in for a speed read session). Many truths are being revealed to me with with the turn of each page.
I have too much on my mind to share all, but I really do want to mention a few things that have "stuck out" to me lately. About two weeks ago in small group, access came up. Access comes in many forms and relates to many things. The access we (by we I mean the adults--I listen) were discussing is our access to God. It is really amazing, beyond amazing really, the access we have to the creator of the universe. This also falls in line with adoration of the cross, for me. Recently I found that I had lost an adoration for Christ and His sacrifice. You may be thinking that I am a complete heathen and a wretch, and to that I must reply, "I am". I can honestly say that it was a very distressing time, but I also believe God has used it to teach me to value Christ more than I ever have. Back to "access". My Mom has always read the Bible to my bothers and I in the mornings around or after breakfast, and when reading the Old Testament I find myself getting very . . . well . . . bored. I feel horrible about it. One of the reasons is the descriptions of the many things the people of Israel had to go through to gain access to God. And it wasn't even them personally--it was the Priest, essentially a Levite that was aloud to go before God. To them it was normal. To me, a part of scripture that causes me to nearly fall asleep. I can say that now I really am trying to put forth more of an effort to appreciate it, and, with God's grace, I think I have had at least some success in that area. I have learned to have a greater value for it. It all really does tie together . . . . If you lose an adoration for the cross then you must look at what Christ and the power of His sacrifice has given us . . . access. When you lose adoration for our access to God . . . look to Christ's sacrifice. And, as in my case, when aspects of scripture pertaining to the sacrifices, the priests, the alters, and the critical way and order in which it was performed bores you, then you can first look to the cross, then to the acces. It really sounds simple now as I write it, but merely meditating on these things has made an impact on my life that has been far from simple.
2 comments:
Good thoughts, Caroline. One thing I was thinking about after that week at small group was that we were discussing all of those laws and steps in the Old Testament that the Jews had to go through in order to access God - the priests, the sacrifices, the rituals, cleansing, etc. - and how we just have direct access through Christ now, and how amazing that is, but we take it for granted. Later I was thinking, we talked about how tiresome and cumbersome it would be to have to do all those things to have access to God, but if we had lived during the OT times, we wouldn't even have been able to do that, because none of us are Jewish! If we lived then, it would have been a complete privilege to even be able to go through all of those steps to access God, but we Gentiles weren't part of that community. So it is even more amazing now that God has adopted us as his children who have free access to him!
Wow . . . I hadn't thought about that. Very good point! It truly makes it all the more amazing.
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