Monday, January 7, 2008

Religious or Relational?

What is your status with God? To be more specific...is it religious or relational? Our message at church and in Sunday school went hand in hand yesterday as they dealt with our status with God. Where do you stand?

I fall in both categories. I have a growing relationship with Jesus, but I find that I fall into religion quite often. You know, the "do's and don'ts" of being a Christian. I have mentioned before and I will mention again that I have a religious code. It's called "The Deanna Code" and it is my own rules and standards that I have created through the years that have been my guideline for living. What did I use to form these rules and guidelines. I don't know. Or maybe I do. Maybe it has been all the "How To" books that I have read through the years (How to: pray, be a good wife, mother, pastor's wife, leader, Bible study teacher, organizer, meal planner, blah, blah, blah). I have only wanted to do things the right way but somehow came up with an impossible standard to live up to. My intentions have always been that I wanted to be more pleasing to God and more effective as a wife and mother and everything else that I might be involved in. The "Code" has been my own personal standard and my worst critic.

But God has made it so clear to me this year that no matter what I do, I DO please Him. My behavior may not be stellar, but I am always loved and accepted by Him. I will be a disappointment, at times, to those I love and who love me. I will blow it, stick my foot in my mouth, sin, fall short, but my Jesus who died on the cross for me will never be disappointed in me. I am valuable to Him...period. His Word is the only standard that I need to live up to...period. Oh what freedom I feel as I write this!

I love that and I love Him for continuing the work He began in me 30 years ago.

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