So today I want to get a little serious on you. Yes, even I can be serious. This weekend I've been deep in thought over some issues that hold us all back and so I'm going to take this time and share.
Before I talk about this, I want to clear up some confusion. Do you know the difference between being a "Believer in Jesus" and being someone who makes Him "Lord of your life?" People in their Christianese language talk about this all the time, but often don't explain it. Being a Believer means you perhaps believe Jesus does in fact exist. You Believe He is the Savior of the World. However, making Him Lord of your life takes it a very important step further. When people use terms like "Born Again." What they are referring to put simply is they have declared they have died to self, praying they want to lay down their life, and want to be born again in Jesus. An example prayer might go something like this:
"Lord, Jesus, I confess on my own I am a sinner. Today I want to lay those sins down at the foot of your cross and die to self. I ask for your forgiveness of my sins and thank you for dying on the cross as punishment for them. In it's place I want to give my whole life to You and to let You take the lead, continually leading me from sin and closer to You, Lord. In Jesus' Name. Amen."
Now you can do this all by yourself if you've not done it before. But I would encourage you to do it w/ a friend. Another believer, who will pray with you and encourage you to continue on this journey that is only beginning. I promise you my friend, it's a great journey. It doesn't mean you'll never have another mountain to climb, but it does mean you'll never ever go it alone again.
33"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33 New International Version of the Bible (NIV)
My whole life I believed in Jesus as my Savior. I never doubted His existance. But it wasn't until about 11 years ago that I gave Him my whole life. Turned it all over to Him. And oh, what freedom that has brought. If you're a skeptic. I'm ok w/ that, humor me and read on as I talk of the freedom this brings and how this has to do w/ getting in shape and taking better care of yourself.
I want to share with you what got me thinking a great deal this weekend. It started w/ a friend sharing her testimony with me. While she was a faithful follower of the Lord, like all of us in one way or another, she continued to have to fight sin in her life. My favorite part of her testimony is that she can see how God never stopped pursuing her. Why you ask? Because He loves us. Sins and all. He doesn't request come to Him clean. He requests come to Me and I'll clean you up. He desires us to come to Him as we are and He'll take us from there.
I thought hard on the idea of Jesus pursuing me sins and all. When I was in my twenties I did everything on Julie terms. I was a good person on the worlds' terms. But I decided for myself that God was all about love and so He'd love me no matter what. True. But with a flaw. A big hurtful flaw. He did love me. But He loved me so much He wanted me to let go of the sin in my life. That sin that no matter how I tried to justified it was harmful to me. Yes, I could have a sleepover at my boyfriend's house. Yeah, I could hope to find real love w/ that boyfriend or a new one. But like most sinful behavior it always left me hurting more. And each time I'd sit in my hallway of my apartment crying out to the Lord. Saying something like, "I know you are walking with me, God. But I can't feel it right now. And if in fact you are taking this boyfriend from me because he's bad for me, then please take the feelings for him, too." Sure, I believed in the Lord. Still I did not let Him take the lead. Following a prayer like that whoever the boyfriend was would come back and I would go right back to searching for love in the wrong place. I'm not someone I would consider lived a very promiscuous life. In fact, I was loyal, way too loyal to bad boyfriends, but it was still wrong. More importantly it would never satisfy. Even when I found myself dating men who were actually very kind to me, I still found I idolized finding love in another person and it never worked for it never satisfied. In fact it wasn't until I completely gave my life to the Lord asking him to take the lead in my life that I did in fact find healthy love with Scott. Scott was someone who loved me, but loved Jesus first. My brother-in-law put it best in our wedding sermon when he said, "There are three persons in Scott & Julie's marriage. They choose to keep God in the middle." Let me tell you, the best of marriages are hard sometimes. The Lord is what keeps us loving even the days when we don't feel like being loving.
The freedom I found in making Jesus Lord of my life is so big. It helped me to see myself more through the Lord's eyes and less through my own. If you see yourself as unworthy. It's not surprising you might sabatoge your own attempts to take better care of yourself. I could write a whole blog on feeling unworthy. But I promise you holding onto your own view of yourself will only continue to sabatoge your geting in shape. You won't feel worthy and that saddens me for I promise you - you are worth it!
This is just a little bit of my discussion on how I found freedom as I feel it would do it an injustice to share it all in one blog, but I want you to know. This is simply one example of giving up the world and it's sinful ways to make life simplier and in turn to start to feel better about yourself. Its a start to bringing freedom from Bondage of the past. Not having that freedom can cause all kinds of roadblocks in your life.
Is Jesus Lord of your Life? If he's not and you want to talk w/ me about it, I would love to talk w/ you. I would love to pray with you.
My friend always felt God pursuing her. I'm not sure I was as aware of His pursuit while going through it, but I can look back now and see He was always there. There in that hallway when I desired to cling to Him when I felt hurt. For years He pursued me. He's pursuing you, too. Give Him your Life. He loves you so much.
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