God in Me

I grew up with a book in one hand, a pen in the other, and, though I seemed to have forgotten this for a while, Jesus sitting right next to me.  Once I fully realized this awesome and amazingly splendifferous fact about myself, I stopped making apologies for who I am- a Child of God- and what I do- walk my life like Jesus is walking with me.  Why do I say that?  Because it seems these days that many people who believe in what they call "a higher power," seem hesitant to truly stand up for that belief because in doing so they exclude all other options.  So, in an effort to fit the mold in this politically correct (PC) world, they say something along the lines of, "Well, you know, I really don't think I'm OK with that, I'm sorry, but it's no biggie, you do what you want..." Then they give a shrug of some sort and a facial twist that supposedly conveys remorse.

Admittedly I used to do this facial twisting, but now, now I know better.

Ephesians 1:4 tells us that, as Christian believers, we are chosen before Time began:

"Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved." (New King James version)

OK, for just a moment, let me pause to allow you to come to terms with what that truly means.

Got it?  If not, please allow me the sublime task of spelling it out for you. 

I don't know what you believe in- if you've given your life to Christ or if you have, as many have, given into the PC belief of "Evolution"- I only know what I know and that is this: before Time began- that is, before God said, "Let there be light," before TIME itself- you were chosen.  I was chosen. We were all chosen... or not chosen as the case may be for you.  The kicker is that you don't know if you're chosen until you come to the realization of it in the present time.  (If you follow, we were before time, now we are during time...)  As my pastor was talking about in my Sunday Morning Bible Study (SMBS) class this morning, he unpacked John 6:29 (Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”), saying that the work of God is to get you to believe in His Son. How? By causing you to believe, working in each life individually so that what brought me to believe, might not be what brings you to believe, might not be what beings Jack or Sally to believe.

I say all of this because it's why I no longer make apologies for who I am.   Would you?  Let me ask you this, if your father was, oh, let's say the President of the United States, or some famous chef (people have to eat, right?) and someone commended you on your stellar political predictions or the absolute perfection of your chocolate sufflée.  Would you not, as most are wont to do, give a little plug for the person whose very knee you learned at?  Would you not say something to commend, in turn, the person who taught you every.single.thing.you.know?  Here's the short answer: You would.  You would wax poetic on the highs and lows of learning at the the mixing bowl of the great Chef So-and-So.  You would talk your listener's ear off about the time your daddy,  The (ahem) President of the United States of America, took you to the UN address with him and you got to have high tea with the Queen mum and Prime Minister.  You would milk it.

The question that I try to live under now is, why should my Walk with Christ be any different?

I don't make apologies for the color of my skin, or the color of my eyes.  I don't apologize for the coined colloquialisms I pick up from my mother like "redi-teller" for ATM, or the occasional "like" that slips in as a space filler in conversations, completely betraying my Southern California childhood.  I don't apologize for the fact that I can barely add 6 and 4 off the top of my head without counting my fingers under the table (there's a reason I let you tally the check).  And I definitely don't apologize for the fact that I don't meet most people's shoulders in the height area.

So why? Why, why, why, why, why would I ever make an apology for believing as I do: that I was chosen for a specific purpose before the word Time was even a concept.  Before there was light and dark, stars in the sky, and the first two babies in Eve's belly, GOD chose me.  Little me.  Just because He loves me and so that I might begin to learn how to love Him in return.  And, as Pastor said today, it's all about GOD. You can't take credit for this!!"  He does the choosing.  It's up to us to do the listening and the changing.

Would I apologize for something I didn't do?  Because I didn't have the power to save me.  Only God did, and He is not going to waste His breath apologizing for doing it.

So I don't apologize.  I listen, to God speak to me in that still, quiet voice, that silent whisper and I walk as He tells me to walk, growing more every day.  Sometimes I think about life as learning how to live "on the fly," making it up as we go along, and it's just a matter of asking God the right questions.  Please, allow me to share what He says with you.  I'm not promising answers, not at all, but I  will be as frank as I know how to be, plus a little silly in the bargain.  Here's to us learning together!

Blessings to you and yours!

Sydnie