This following Jesus thing is quite the journey.
What is very challenging about it is just how seismic the transformation is from who you are before following Him to who you are working towards being when you start following Him.
I became very much aware of the culture I was in, the culture I was used to and the change of culture that’s needed. Jesus within doesn’t just change morals, He changes the outlook on everything and the challenge is to be faithful to working to that change and being aware of the cost of that for the rest of life.
The culture of the church is a great community to practice this new lifestyle and exploring all things new. Just as, however, the individual growth is made of falls and mis-steps, so the community journey can often be fraught with mistakes. However, just as the individual journey depends on recognising where we fall, getting up and doing what’s right, so it is the process for that to happen on the corporate level too.
The challenge of the journey intensifies when we fall into bad habits and become less wary of how they affect our progress in the journey. After a great start in the journey the sheer busyness of things can lead people to overlook things and let some things creep up on them. Those mechanisms we develop to cope without relying on God as much. Those traditions that we give a lot more time for, rather than remembering who it is that saved us and the purpose of it.
It’s good then on a regular basis to have a thorough check up. Not to beat ourselves up over what we’re not doing, but just to be about the business of recognising where we fall, getting up and doing what’s right.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 