Originally posted on March 19, 2008...
Do you ever let little things crowd God out of your attention?
Lately, being a mommy it seems consumes so much of my time and energy that I end up giving God "leftovers" of my heart. I don't spend time seeking Him through His Word and prayer and I am exhausted and tired from trying to do it all in my own strength.
The Christian life is such a balancing act I've come to realize.
The biggest balance beam for me lately has been striking harmony between grace and truth. In John 1:14, the Bible says that Jesus was full of grace and truth. But wait-- aren't these things kinda opposite?
Grace is getting what we don't deserve, unmerited favor. Lavished on us not because of what we've done, but because of who God is. And He decided to lavish it on us.
Truth is the law. It's the rules. The realization that we're not good enough. Never will be good enough. That we'll always fall short.
I guess in some ways these go hand in hand-- because of truth we realize our need for grace. And we can only accept grace when we know truth.
But fleshing this out is tough. Where's my balance between grace and truth? How much do I live by grace? Is that freedom to live however I want? Is that my license to do as I please? (Pssst-- the answer's no!) But then how much truth do I live by-- those rules and habits and disciplines that make me godly. They won't get me into Heaven, but don't we have to do certain things to be godly?
Whew, sometimes my brain hurts trying to wrap itself around these things.
But I find when I'm down and feeling like I've been doing it on my own, diving into the heart of God's Word and just soaking in it makes me feel totally refreshed. The cares of this world seem to melt away as I meditate on Him. I wish I could wear God's glasses all day-- how much better would I live if I saw things as He sees them?
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
2 comments:
First of all, I wanted to say thank you for the comment =) I really appreciated it! Also, I am DEFINITELY going to stop by on Thursday for the cloth diapering info =)
Secondly, this is a lovely post. I guess it's natural to let some priorities fall by the wayside when parenting (or engaging in anything else time-consuming), but it's nice to be reminded of where we should/would like to place more attention, and more value.
Awww..."God's glasses"...how often have I prayed to see things through God's eyes. Including myself..especially on those days when the difference between grace and truth is mingled in my own life.
Thanks for a great reflection.
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