It's that time once again to go out and buy a new paper calendar--if you're a dinosaur or live in a cave without hot and cold running iPhones, iPads and 24/7 Facebook. The simplest cellphone will automatically update the time, Daylight savings or not. I remember the day when the only calendar was paper and hung on the wall or sat on your desk, I got two of those this year from companies I do business with. I couldn't figure out what to do with them or where to put them besides the trash, so I kept them to keep from feeling guilty.
Anyway all that was said to say Yippee! a new year is here in a matter of hours for me, some part of the world it is already here. People, in The USA at least, make a big fuss about it. I almost never have except in a previous life(style) to curl up around a bottle, get stoned and stay inside where it's safe. Now I pay it even less mind. Although I do like to look over the past year and see if I've moved along in my faith or personhood and figure what needs shoring up, throwing out or making brand new. It's a great time for that.
One of those things is, I don't ever want a shallow faith. I don't want to just show up at church on Sunday and go home to what I was doing before I got there. I want change, and that will take work.
Here's what Jesus said, "Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock."-Luke 6:46
Coming to Jesus is relatively easy since it is an act of faith and we can't see Him-YET.
Hearing Him takes a little more work. Of course there is hearing and there is hearing. One just takes the sound vibrations into our ears(no effort at all), the other is to take those sayings and apply to our lives. By the way, if we are still talking about Jesus here, we don't get to cherry-pick the ones we like and forget the rest. Doing those sayings will take a lot more work and lifelong dedication.
And we're just two commas into the first sentence. Phew!!! wipe your brow
Doing the above, Jesus says, is like building a house, and every house has foundation, and if not, it's just a shed, hut or hovel. To have any real substance, my house needs a foundation. I could diverge here and go off into all the ways that Christ is the foundation throughout scripture but I won't.
Before you even laid the foundation, you had to dig down deep until you get to solid ROCK.
The ROCK is the most important part but it takes work to get to it. you have to dig, Jesus said, and not just a little. we have to dig DEEP. We can't settle for the shallows such as words alone or scripture memorization and passive church attendance. But, we need to strive for and mine the depths of God.
Only one way to go deep and its all internal, spiritual things.
For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.1 Corinthians 2:10
Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.Psalms 139:23-24
This is the work of digging down deep and getting to the foundation so our house is secure. Allowing God unfettered access to the deepest parts of our heart and soul.
Stop relying on externals and meet God where He dwells, in our hearts by faith. I don't want just the theological knowledge of these truths, I want the experiential know how. I want to live out of my heart more this year. I want to meet God there and look deep and long into His things.
Happy New Year
