Seeking His Righteousness (repentance as pesticide?)
Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be yours as well. — Matthew 6:33
My current theory (or insight) is that the tiny, sap-sucking things are very like the “secret” critic that often infests the places that Jesus means me to live in fruitful unity with my brothers and sisters. The tiny holes it pokes into my esteem for and acceptance of others are injected with the poison of judgment and infected with the virus of comparison.
I am perfectly comfortable “esteeming” others, so long as I come out on top, and I easily accept other believers so long as they do not violate my “scriptural standards.” EEEK!
That does not look like the Jesus I follow… Is that what who I really want to be? Is that how He treats me?
If I really am following Jesus every day in the everyday, I need to get those “leaf-hoppers” out of my head! Jesus says, “I am the Vine; you [all] are the branches.” As long as I let my judgment and comparison go un-confronted, I am not caring for His branches! The life is being sucked out of them. The beauty we are meant to display together in the world is warped and malformed.
And when that happens, the fruit the Father longs to see … doesn’t.
What does the Father provide as a pesticide for His vine?
Repentance: a change of mind about what I have been doing that brings me into agreement with God’s thinking.
I cannot do it on my own. Even the desire to think differently comes from Him through the Holy Spirit.
All I can do is express my willingness to have Him change me, and turn my focus away from myself and toward Him.
Faltering, but following Jesus every day in the everyday,
Christi
P.S. Take a look at some cool new art from my young friends on the Music and More page! Let me know what you think.
0 Comments