We offer our lives to God for His service and secretly hope that we are not tested nor tried too severely. We say, “God is faithful and God is good,” when life turns out well. “God is sovereign” is the response when life ends. But isn’t God good and sovereign all the time?
The Path
Whether your path this day is smooth and straight or marked by sharp rocks and steep ledges, consider not so much the condition of the path. Consider instead the goal of your pursuit. Is it to have a nice life or is it life in Christ? In our flesh we would choose the path of least resistance – the easier way. Perhaps that is why we face circumstances in which we are not afforded the choice.
The Pursuit
Knowing Him. Loving Him. Living Him.
We go from glory to glory in relationship with Christ ascending unto the heights of the mountain of God. His Grace invites us…who calls [us] to his own kingdom and to his glory (1 Thessalonians 2:12).
Life in Christ is death to the flesh. It is an anti-flesh paradigm: To live is Christ; to die is gain. If we may know Him more deeply on the rock face or in the grassy field, it makes no difference to the one who seeks lockstep with Christ.
This is the life of the bondservant.
Grace is the empowerment.
Flesh weakened from trial and suffering, Grace is strength to continue.
Grace is the forward movement.
The upward call requires an upward climb; Grace is the acceleration.
Grace is the call.
Pronounced by God, voiced in Christ, Grace is the dulcet tone of the Holy Spirit.
Grace is the sustainment.
Heard in the clarion call from the peak and in the steady confidence of the rear guard, Grace’s truths rally courage.
The Press
“I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” ~ Philippians 3:14
Apart from the Grace of God, the bondservant of Christ is not equipped to traverse the narrow, rocky ascent nor skip on smooth and verdant path. For it is Grace alone that empowers, moves, calls and sustains us.
In Grace, we are pursued by and in pursuit of Christ. Regardless of the condition of the path, we press on.
(photo by Dan Dorsey)
© Melanie Dorsey 2011
