Friday, August 30, 2013

Save us, Lord; we are perishing

And the demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.” And he said to them,“Go.” Matthew 8:31

This is the “even the winds and the waves” section of the story of God Walking Among Us.  The leper, the heathen soldier, the didn’t-even-seem-to-ask-person-lying-in-bed, the shoving crowds, those of little faith, and yes, especially the demons turned to Jesus and He replied, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.”

And then there’s me.  

Yesterday afternoon, as I was driving Shaun/Jinching home from a moderately successful day at school, I considered my prayer list as of late.  And really, I was reflecting on the very check, check, check tone about it.  God has been faithfully moving beyond my paltry expectations.  Actually, it is more like the “¡Pum!  ¡Pum!  ¡Pum! ¡Corrían para arriba!  ¡Corrían para abajo! excitement from my Cat in the Hat skit for my Spanish classes.  He is on the move.  This is the good news all around me.

Ah, yes, and then there’s me.  

Who sometimes is guilty of that very lack of awareness which called down Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 

Repent.  Mr. Spurgeon vigorously delineates this call to “Repent and believe ye the gospel," even as Christ spake to the waves and said, "Be still," and they were still, and to the winds, "Be calm," and they were quiet, so when we speak to your proud heart it yields because of the grace that accompanies the word, and you repent and believe the gospel. This command, while it has an immediate power, has also a continual force. "Repent ye, and believe the gospel," is advice to the young beginner, and it is advice to the old grey-headed Christian, for this is our life all the way through—"Repent ye, and believe the gospel."

The good news.  May I believe and live in the truth and presence of the gospel today in joy and gratitude. Awareness. A continual force of repentance. Of turning and seeing life as it really is, beyond my harried shuffle.

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