Gospel Musings: Thinking about the power of Jesus' blood in any life...

So, the Slye house has the plague again (thank you new strain of flu for coming to visit us) which means I have more time sitting down than usual.  So, I thought I would put some of my thoughts into words.

A sweet friend of mine and I were messaging each other and talking about testimonies and it got me thinking.  What seems more impacting to you?  A life radically changed from the muck and the mire of the world like mine?  I went from the deepest yuck of this world to the beautiful light that Jesus drew me into.  I went from a fog of drugs and alcohol and so much filth to being alive in Christ and in love with Him.  Instead of being high for a week at a time and all other manner of gross-ness, I was listening to Bible studies on the radio and telling anyone who would listen (and lots of people who tried not to listen) that Jesus is the answer.  It was such a sweet and beautiful thing (can I say that about my own story..haha) to watch Him change my life....change my name...from lost to redeemed and loved and found.  But what about the "church kids"?  What about people like Christian who grow up in church, with awesome parents that teach them what it really means to live for Jesus?  Not just a life of showing up at church but really living for the Kingdom....living for the day when He comes back.  Do those people have less radical testimonies just because they lived pure lives and didn't struggle with sex and drugs and the mire of the world???  Are their testimonies "boring"?  I have to say NO WAY!!!!  I think Christian's testimony is powerful in a couple of different ways really....

First, I think it's cool that God can keep a person FROM the yuck of the world.  Not that walking with God ever EARNS a person a single thing...but God is powerful enough to keep a person close to Him.  Christian has pretty much always walked with God....and his life is void of a lot of the drugs and alcohol and deep scars that so many of us have in our past.  What a beautiful thing!  To walk around life without the scars that a life full of drugs and sex and alcohol can leave!  It's a wonderful thing really!  And its a life that brings Jesus glory because He really is as powerful as His word says He is.  He really can keep us from the effects of sin!

But that brings me to my favorite part of this musing on the value of a testimony of a pure life....

A church kid living a pure life is a beautiful example of how much we all still need Jesus!!!!  You see, no matter how pure your life is...no matter how great or morally you live...you still need Jesus!  I think Christians testimony is so powerful because he is an example of how we can never be good enough on our own!  I'm so not trying to drag my hubs reputation through the dirt or anything but look at it like this:

Christian never drank or smoked or did drugs or any of that yuck.  But dude, he still struggled with pride and legalism and other sins that lurk in the mind but may never make it into actions.  But that was enough for Jesus to need to save him!  Our minds are enough to require the blood of Jesus to cover us!  For reals!  I think this is so powerful because there are so many people in the world trying to live a "good enough" life....to have their good deeds outweigh their bad.  A life lived purely is the best example that living well is not enough! 

Also I think its so cool because it keeps ME from the trap that I personally tend to fall in to: now that I am saved I need to live a perfect life.  I know that has been a lie that I have bought into in the past decade or so of walking with Jesus.  But that's lame!  That's like saying Jesus thanks for saving me and all but I can take it from here.  But I can't!!!!  I cant live a perfect life now that I am saved any more than I could have saved myself from my sin before Jesus crashed into my life!  Now, that doesn't mean that I don't have a responsibility to obey Jesus when He says to do stuff...I do!  It's just that anything I do is still not enough to make me right before HIM.  I love my crazy cool mysterious Jesus!  It's like my sweet Abigail.  One of her weekly chores is to clean the bathrooms.  Really this has been a bit rough for me because she stinks at it at this point.  I mean, she's great for a kid who just turned 8 but I am a bit particular when it comes to sanitizing counters and stuff like that.  So I let her do it and then come back through when I'm sure she's not looking (I don't want to make her feel bad!) and I wipe and clean until it looks just right.  See its kinda like that....He asks us to do stuff (His word is full of stuff for us to do, even when its an act of the will and not a super warm fuzzy feeling kind of thing) but He is fully aware that we stink at it and He smooths over our junk.  The problem that comes with thinking you have to live a perfect life now that you're saved is that you then lean on YOU instead of on HIM.  Proverbs says lean NOT on your own understanding..to instead acknowledge HIM...

That's what I think is so awesome about a church kid's testimony...no matter how good you are, no matter how much good you do you will always daily need to come back to Jesus for His strength and His power.  Whether its through reading His word or prayer or fellowship or even podcasts, we need to learn so we lean. The more we read His word, the closer we get to Him...the more we will obey Him because He saturates our lives!  Okay I think I am rambling at this point....hello fever...HA!  Okay I will wrap this up by saying that I am so stoked to hear ANYone's Jesus story!  If you've got one you want to share I would LOVE to hear it!  I am just so blessed by how God can change and transform and guide and direct and make this life a journey toward His face!  Goodbye for now from these two sinners saved by the grace of Jesus through His precious blood!