The Cabinet (or, THE GRIND)....(or, THE PAPER CLIP)

I've used this analogy lately, and I have no idea how I came upon it, but it will not go away.  So often we take God and we put Him into our lives like you might put a spice into a cabinet, instead of recognizing that God wants to make you a new cabinet to put new things into.

Our lives are not about being bad and then taking this bad thing and making it good.  In John chapter 3 we are called to become a new creature, a new creation.

So why is it so hard to live that way?

There is a subtle, but definite difference between living as a new creation, and trying to fix your old self by becoming morally good, following a list of do's and don'ts in order to "rebuild" ourselves, to self-repair our brokenness.

Nothing you do will ever fix you brokenness.  You can't heal.  You won't get better.  You'll just wither, and die.

But....


God can restore you.  And just as Jesus said to the afflicted man who told Him that He could heal him if He willed...God is willing to save you, to redeem you, to make you born again.

And that's where I constantly find myself.

So often I feel like I'm grinding through my life, pushing a cart with no wheels, wondering why its so difficult. Its because I've been trying to do it myself, trying to fix, trying to control, trying to accomplish my agenda, telling myself that I can read the bible from my own perspective, to sharpen my own perspective, so that I can act, think and speak from my perspective...

...so that I can become a moral man and, in reading the bible to fix myself of my "immorality," I will save myself.

If you try to fix yourself, you're less like Jesus and more like a dog "fixing" itself.

Sound ridiculous?

Doesn't sound as silly and misguided as when we treat God and His Bible like a bike tire patch kit instead of our Lord, our Savior, our King.

God loves you, and calls to the deep that He made in you.  He calls out to you, and you return to Him like an echo of His voice.  He is not your conscience that you might take His call as, good advice.

God isn't trying to give you good advice.

He's in the business of saving souls.



So examine yourself and see if God is God in your life, or if he's simply your spiritual paper clip.