The Exhausting Life

This past weekend our pastor had a great message that I REALLY needed to hear.  I keep saying throughout this busy season in my life that I want to be more connected to Christ.  Whenever life kicks in to high gear I find myself focusing more and more on myself and less and less on God.  This has been a constant prayer request and desire of mine, yet I continue to find myself failing in this area.  

Well, Pastor James talked about the Exhausting Christian Life this past Sunday.  So many of us read the Bible and then pray that we would be more loving.  Then, we feel convicted about sharing our faith, so we start praying for that, and the list gets longer and longer and we keep trying and trying to be a "better Christian" and it's not working.  Quite frankly, I am pretty sure this is what non Christians see when they look at Christians- they see Christians trying to be a better person by following all of these rules - and that turns them off from God.  And I have to be honest, I'm sure I've portrayed this throughout a lot of my Christian life. 

The key is "Christ in me."  Pastor James said something that really stuck with me.  As Christians we're not trying to be a "better version of ourselves, but we are striving for a better expression of Christ in us."  God doesn't want to just save us from the penalty of sin, but the power of sin. 

So how does this happen?  We focus on Christ, confess the sin in our life, ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and believe that we are.  We are constantly listening to God's promptings in our life.  So, even when I'm busy, I'm still listening to God.  I desire to be so filled with God that I'm no longer controlled by my own actions but by God.

I'm very thankful and blessed by our church :)