The Religious Part In Me That Still Lingers...

This is a confession of sorts - a confession of what I still find going on in me from time to time. When I read this passage of scripture, what I found was incriminating. It marked out something in me that is not of God, and drew me closer to Him that I might be changed more into His image. This is what I read... John 5

Here's the story, short and sweet. A little time after Jesus healed a man's son who was close to death, Jesus went to Jerusalem. There was a pool there, where the disabled would lie and wait. They would wait there because from time to time an Angel of the Lord would stir the waters, and the first one in the pool would be healed. Among the disabled people was an invalid who had been there for thirty-eight years, unable to make it into the pool before anyone else. Yet, he still waited there hoping to be the first one day and be healed.

Jesus saw him lying there, and learned how long he had been there, and told the man "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." Immediately he was healed, so he picked up his mat and walked.

But! This took place on the Sabbath, and the Jews told the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath, the law forbids you to carry your mat." Yet, the man simply told them, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.'"

...

Here I will stop the summary, and let you in on what was going on in my heart. Here we see the power of God, taking pity on a man and healing Him, and all the Jews can do is focus on one detail and ignore the big picture. The Jews were too concerned about doing no "work" on the Sabbath and were unable to grasp what God was doing. They couldn't rejoice with the man, who after thirty-eight years of lying by a pool, had finally received from God what he had been hoping for. They couldn't recognize God at work, all because of one detail.

And I find that I too have this religious part in me, that can take hold of one thing and cling to it, ignoring the beauty of what is happening around me. I am too proud and confident in my own knowledge and discernment too often, and when I am invited to partake of the glory of God and to rejoice in what He is doing, it is the small things that I can get hung up on.

So here I am, finding myself falling short of the glory and righteousness of God... kind of.

But here is the beauty of this place. I am unworthy, and if I look at my ability, I fall short every time. I cannot achieve His perfection. But yet, I am not condemned, for Jesus is my righteousness. His blood has cleansed my heart and covered my sin, and God looks at me and sees the righteousness of His Son, His own righteousness. Even when I disagree with someone on just one point, and for that reason shut myself off from what God is doing, He still looks on me with love and full acceptance because my hope is not in what I can do. My hope is set fully on the blood of Jesus.

And that religious part in me, that plagues me and becomes a hindrance, will be fully put to death one day. Until then, it is the mercy and kindness of the Lord that draws me to Himself, that allows me to "boldly approach the throne of grace, that I might find mercy and help in my time of need." And I am very needy - in need of Him. I know that in this body of flesh still dwells a sin nature, and am in need of His grace day by day that I may come boldly into His presence, to see Him and be changed.

This is where I am, and I know there are many other issues to be dealt with in my flesh. While He takes care of those impurities, I will continue in the things He has given me to do, for by His grace I have been made righteous and am not declared guilty for my shortcomings. Thank you Jesus!