Sunday, July 9, 2017

One Last Ride



Life is just like riding broncs' it's a battle
Then he rolled his cigarette with shaky hands
Son I'd gladly take ten seconds in the saddle
For a lifetime of watching from the stands
~Chris Ledoux Ten Seconds In The Saddle~

Some people are content standing on the sidelines.  Others grab each and every opportunity that is presented to them with enthusiasm.  I tend to usually be the one standing off to the side.  I'm guessing that I don't want to be around when, as Murphys law tells us, things will eventually go wrong.  See, going after each opportunity which is presented to us takes a special type of personality.  This is the type of person who is willing to not only accept the victories in life, but the failures as well.  Sure, there have been many stories of those who have defied all odds to step up when those around them stepped back.  These are the risk takers.  That's not me.  I just seem to have a personality that is content with playing things safe.  I have friends in my circle who have from time to time wondered aloud just how I could survive this way.  Still, I manage to carry on.  Now, I would say that perhaps I need to change something about myself, but do I?  Do I need to change, or do I simply need to recognize that which is already in me?  Can it really be that simple as we ourselves not seeing who we truly are inside?  Am I a passive personality...or a risk taker just waiting for the opportunity to see my true self?  This may be a bit difficult to see for some, I know that it was for me.  For the longest time, I truly believed that I was somehow seperated from my Lord and savior.  For this is what I had been told.  I was simply a sinner saved by my Lords love and grace.  All the while, Christ Jesus who had given Himself in my place was at the right hand of the Father in heaven watching down on me...seperated from the one He died to save.

20“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
Galations 2:20 NKJV

It wasn't until I realized that there was something more to this truth of Jesus that I began to see that I was not seperated from Jesus, or God, after all.  As the apostle Paul tells us in his revealing of this truth in Galations 2, we live AS CHRIST today.  I have realized that it is that Spirit of Christ Jesus who is now in me.  So, what else is there about my Fathers child that I haven't yet realized?  Am I content with being the man which my heavenly Father has already revealed to me?  Or do I continue to look inside of myself, waiting for Him to reveal something more?  For it wasn't until it pleased God that Christ Jesus was revealed to Paul on the road to Damascus {Galations 1:15-16}.  So it was that when it pleased Him, that His son was also revealed in me.  Am I to assume that God is now done revealing what He wants me to see?  Not by a long shot!  Who knows what things my heavenly Father will reveal to His child, but I trust in Him that His plans for me are good {Jeremiah 29:11}.  So, are we in need of change, or do we wait on our heavenly Father to reveal who we truly are?  Who knows, I could be one of those people who live in for the moment and take hold of every opportunity life presents me.  I will indeed, if this is what He chooses to reveal in me.  Like that old cowboy on one last ride.

 13For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. 14And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 15But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, 16to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood.
Galations 1: 13 - 16 NKJV

~Scott~

No comments: