I realize that I haven’t written too often about what the Lord has been teaching me during my time in India. That is not because I haven’t learned anything of interest – actually quite the opposite – God has been unbelievably faithful to me. I have been overwhelmed by the amount of things He has been showing me and have not known how to express it through blog entries. I want to try and communicate at least some of what I have seen during my time here.
First and foremost, I need to say thank you to those who prayed Psalm 143 for me at any time over the past six months. Words can’t express how thankful I am for the lessons I have learned which are directly related to this Psalm. Be assured that the Lord answered your prayers in abundant ways. As the Lord so often answers our simple prayers – Far beyond anything we can ask or imagine. He has overwhelmed me with His grace.
One of the things I would like to share with you is based on something that Mallory said to an Australian pastor from a visiting team and me one morning at breakfast. 2 Corinthians 4:16 says something to the effect of “Though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” At breakfast that morning, Mallory said that it seemed to her that the opposite was true for many Americans. “Though inwardly we are wasting away, outwardly we are being renewed day by day.” In a culture as blessed as ours, we have so many of our needs, and even wants, provided for. Outwardly, we can make things look pretty good. We can choose to ‘rest’ in that outward renewal, and avoid what is lacking on the inside. Even in my Christian life, I have found that it is easy to make myself believe that I can be responsible for bringing about change in my heart. Maybe if I just really focus on a negative aspect of my character, I will be able to make myself righteous - the whole time neglecting that I am not my own.
This kind of legalistic effort has often left me frustrated. But something else Mallory said a couple of nights ago perfectly illustrates this problem, “We were not meant to carry our own sin.”
Let me throw out a few quotes here:
“I escape the force of spiritual ‘gravity’ [the desire to be my own god] when I begin to see myself as a sinner who cannot please God by any method of self-improvement or self-enlargement. Only then can I turn to God for outside help – for grace – and to my amazement I learn that a holy God already loves me despite my defects.” – Philip Yancey
“Grace teaches us that God loves because of who God is, not because of who we are.” – Yancey
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.” – Titus 2:11-14 (thanks Dan this came at exactly the right time)
There is only one who can reverse our American reversal of 2 Corinthians 4:16 – Jesus Christ. We have been bought with a price. He alone can inwardly renew us day by day. Rest in the knowledge of His Amazing GRACE.
meg
