Real life

Have you thought much lately, even those of you who think yourself sinless (oh, you know who I am talking about and/or to), about your life, your goals, your thoughts, your actions?

I mean really thought about it. Had you let your thoughts, goals, life, actions propel the way you vote, the way you live, the way you go about your daily life?

Really?

Oh, you're Christian. No doubt about it. You've got your ID in your pocket, your seat in your pew on Sunday morning, your tax receipt for your giving. You've got it all down pat, right?

At the possibility that you don't, read what the Apostle Paul wrote about living a "Christian" life: 

"Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.

"And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That’s a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God."

Think that through before you answer. A life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God. Whew. Hitting close to home, wasn't he, isn't he?

It seems to me that the No. 1 thing we, those of us perfect beings, must fight against is this notion that what we feel is what we do.

I feel apathetic today, so I don't need or want to pray.

I feel like buying my way out of this feeling, so I put it all on a credit card.

I feel like _________ you fill in the blank.

The more we struggle, the more we lose. Because we do whatever we feel like it instead of doing what Jesus would have us do.

This notion that we never need God to forgive us is the worst of the worst, and yet we give some a free pass because they're "telling it like it is."

I pray we wake up this morning and turn away from the notion that we can and should do whatever we feel like doing. Instead, let's live a life shaped by God, run by God, given over to God.

Then your real life, the new life, the sanctified life will appear and you will help heal this nation instead of divide it.