Dependence

"We need to keep reminding ourselves that without the Lord we can do nothing. It needs to become a habit of mind with each of us to tell the Lord as we tackle each task, ‘I can'’t do this without your help, please help me’, and then to expect to be helped because we have admitted our helplessness, given up self-reliance and are now looking to Him.”" J. I. Packer

Sent to me from the Graced Again website, graced@gracedagain.com

How oh so very easily I fall into the category of either thinking I have it all together, I have arrived, or I can now coast the Christian life. I don't exactly say those things out loud, or even say them in my head, but oh do I begin living them out. Then, I fall. I am then hit between the eyes with my sin, and realize that I thought I could do this all by myself.

I was hanging a mural on my wall at the lake house. That sounds impressive doesn't it. It is basically a glorified poster. It is really cute. It has a black lab puppy, and a blonde lab puppy playing on the beach together. Bama started barking at it as Bekah, Karen, Margaret and I were putting it up on the wall. Ken suggested I take it to the frame shop and let them put a small piece of wood around it on the back. He said it would hang better and look less like a "poster." Well, my first thought was, "why can't you do it?" He was going to be busy in Charlotte and if I wanted him to do it I had to wait. I don't like to wait very much. Today, I decided I could do it all by myself! Ran to Lowe's bought the wood. It didn't work. Then I decided to try velcro, that didn't work either. I am not going to confess all my sin here, but, I will say, that it is on the wall without wood, or velcro! Karen said, it might look better if I put some kind of frame around it. I say all this because I had to "do it myself." I get that way in my Christian life too. I have a victory, and that victory in my mind turns into a "do it yourself project Christian life." Then God lets me fall, and it hits me, that I was just tooling along not dependent on Him at all.

"Do it yourself Christianity" is non-existent.

Falling and confessing again...............Lynn