The Christian life that is. I really struggle with it. This morning the struggle started in Psalm 63:1
then:
The attitude of the heart that these passages describe is one of desperate longing. Not just thankfulness for a “Get out of Hell Free” card, but an all-consuming hunger for intimacy with God. Not an engaging addition to my life but the driving center point of my existence.
Further the Colossians passages have the some of the same words repeated, “Striving” being one. This word is the Greek word from which we get our English word “agonize.” Oxford defines agonize as, “to make desperate or convulsive efforts.” That seems to capture well what these passages are conveying.
The message is clear, I am to make desperate and convulsive efforts to first know God, and then transfer that desperate and convulsive effort into helping others know Him. The kicker for me is that Paul in Colossians 1:29 says that he is making that effort “according to His (Christ’s) power…” If I am honest, I really do not know how to do that.
When I strive I get sleepy. I am desperate to know how to better do this in His strength. I am weary of trying to do it on my own.
I am finding it is impossible.
then:The attitude of the heart that these passages describe is one of desperate longing. Not just thankfulness for a “Get out of Hell Free” card, but an all-consuming hunger for intimacy with God. Not an engaging addition to my life but the driving center point of my existence.
Further the Colossians
passages have the some of the same words repeated, “Striving” being one. This word is the Greek word from which we get our English word “agonize.” Oxford defines agonize as, “to make desperate or convulsive efforts.” That seems to capture well what these passages are conveying.The message is clear, I am to make desperate and convulsive efforts to first know God, and then transfer that desperate and convulsive effort into helping others know Him. The kicker for me is that Paul in Colossians 1:29
says that he is making that effort “according to His (Christ’s) power…” If I am honest, I really do not know how to do that.When I strive I get sleepy. I am desperate to know how to better do this in His strength. I am weary of trying to do it on my own.
I am finding it is impossible.
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