Psalms 106-110 & "I am In Christ"

I have been listening to more sermons than doing Bible reading lately.  Yesterday, I did both.  As I read Psalms, I was struck by the pattern of forgetting God, consequences from God, repentance, and blessings from God.  The phrase that stood out to me was, "for my name's sake".  Things really aren't so much about us as we like to think.

Later, I listened to the second sermon in Mark Driscoll's sermon series on Ephesians.  These were my absolute favorite quotes:

If you don’t understand that Christ is the essence of your life, that your hope, your future, your joy, your power are in Christ, you will either become arrogant trying to be a trunk, or you will become discouraged knowing that you can’t change your life, and you can’t do all that you’re supposed to do and be all that you’re supposed to be. But if you understand that your identity’s in Christ, then suddenly you understand that your hope is in Christ, and your power is in Christ, and your fruitfulness is in Christ, and that gives you great courage, and it also gives you great humility. “I can change by the grace of God.” Are you in Adam or are you in Christ?


But so oftentimes, our activity becomes our identity. Things that explain us start to define us, and the result is, invariably, they fail us.

1 Chronicles 6-10

The majority of this passage was lists of Isrealite families.  It is not the most interesting read unless you are researching some obscure family relationship or searching for baby names. :)  Sometimes I wonder about little details like, why families are listed out of birth order or why obscure women are listed.  It all reminds me that God is a detail man and values family relationships\heritage.

There was a passage toward the end of my reading about King Saul.  1 Chron 10:13-14 tells us that Saul died amd lost the kingdom because he did not obey God and because he consulted a medium rather than inquiring of the Lord.  It is interesting to me that God singled out this one issue.  Saul did lots of bad things, but this one issue showed his lack of trust in God.  It struck me because I am guilty of a very similar act: gossip.  I am quick to vent to my mom or facebook or whoever I think will see my point of view.  I am slow to trust God to hold my heart when it is hurting, mad, or frustrated.  Slow to talk to the person that I am upset with--strange since I used to do the opposite.  I have been working on this lately and it is getting better, but this was still very convicting and I have a long way to go.

Eternity

A family member of friends recently died.  He was unsaved and that has made the grief that much more intense.  I sat and thought\grieved for the man who did not know God as his savior and the punishment he is enduring.  As I thought about it, I grew angry that he would have to endure that for eternity.  I felt good that I would not face such a future.  I felt almost proud that I did not deserve eternal punishment.  That is when I stopped. cold.  I DO derserve that future.  I am no less of a sinner than he was.  The only reason my future is any better is because of Jesus.  Life in heaven is NOT what I deserve.  It occurred to me, how comfortable I am with the idea of my salvation--to the point of entitlement.  It devestated my heart to realize this.  I am a church brat.  It was humbling to have a little heart check and refreshing to experience heartfelt thankfulness for the gift of my salvation.