I have to lower my head in silence when I think of some of the things the Lord says about me that I sometimes wish He didn't say.
Like when He says I am a peacemaker...
and my offended self threatens to burst through the wobbly walls of my self-control.
Like when He says He has enough patience to wait until the last person has chosen Him…
but my patience cannot keep up with His dream for my neighbour.
Then there is the matter of being a Living Sacrifice...
Maybe it would have been much easier to be dead first.
DL Moody understood:
"The problem with a living sacrifice is that it keeps crawling off the altar."
And we do it so often.
If the sacrifice seems too unknown or too big or too difficult or too humiliating or too something, then my immature faith-self wants to get off the altar at midnight, like a 2-year-old from her crib.
On the altar we are safe.
Not exempt from earthly pain, but within the limits of His plan for us.
If I decide to get off, I walk into lion's country where defenceless Christians quickly become an early prey.
And we do it often. In our faith and in life.
When the going gets tough, the tough wants to get going.
Away. Far away.
It doesn't mean we don’t try.
We try to stick to our quiet times and pray and read the Bible and go to the groups where we don't necessarily want to be.
We try to forgive, even if they don't even seem sorry.
We try to love, even if it's like trying to hug a porcupine.
But when it gets too hard,
I want to get off.
Thank goodness that nowhere does it say that a Living Sacrifice is also a Perfect Sacrifice.
There was only One.
And as we grow in our faith by keeping our eye on the One, the road back to the altar becomes more and more familiar, less and less strange and frightening.
The Spirit leads us back.
And we go, not because He promises that things on the altar will now be easier.
But because we know that He is waiting for us there, despite the temporary dementia that made us forget about a loving Father who watches over His altar.
And what is on it.
Being a Living Sacrifice means I can choose to get off.
Being a Living Sacrifice means I can choose to climb back.
Every day.
"So, here's what I want you to do, God helping you:
Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work,
and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.
Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him.”
Romans 12:1 The Message
Your inspiration for the week: Good morning, Mercy