4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Romans 10:4
That which once satisfied, satisfies no longer. Write these words on a napkin, neatly fold it, and place it away deep in your mind. The world is zealous for our attention. It is a living organism with millions of parts working day and night to capture our hearts and our minds. We make it easy for the world as all here are descended from Adam and therefore we are descendants of the Fall. We are fallen. We were once separated from God’s righteousness and now we must sojourn back to Him. So, we journey back to Him.
There is an intrinsic part of us that lusts. We lust over so many things and we seek always to consume. As a matter of grave fact, we are always busying about mending tears in our heart – all collateral rending from Adam’s disobedience .
I was righteous and I operated with this righteousness in my life with the same authority a goldfish has to swim from its bowl to the sea. My experience is from a godly perspective that what I once did not see, I see clearly now. However, I still find voids in my heart and as I try to patch, I can see clearly. Seeing is the opportunity for godly growth. I am assured I am not yet perfected. Knowing these voids creates godly discernment. We can see the end and the means at one time. It is His wisdom in us showing growth or lack of growth. Do not turn a blind eye and disparage opportunity
My vision now is clear: this is not about a attacking voids that appear on the surface as addictions. It is about empty parts in all of us that are places of inner battles in our heart. Some are inflicted more than others. But surely no one is perfect without a struggle to confront.
The patching of holes is the busyness of filling a need at any given moment in time. We have hurt feelings, greed, lust, loneliness, pain, poverty. Without God in our life, we frantically pace, back and forth, in wringing angst. This cues the enemy to provide a dessert tray of all sorts of delightful treats. In each treat there is a lie proportionally bitter as the treat is sweet. Unfortunately, the bitterness lingers. Our sorrowful soul scars and our trust wanes.
O how we try to stop this cycle in our walk. We are so easily distracted. It is a cycle because we seek God, repent, pray, grow lethargic in our seeking, find a hole, start patching, seek. We are wired to be masters of finding new ways to patch and the world is a master provider of ways to fulfill our quest.
I walked a walk of self-righteousness once. With me I had an army of friends always in step with a single direction to nowhere. I knew a direction to travel and it was good. I let others opine and grafted opinion into my own theories. Together we contrived a world. Actually we invented the heavens too. Personal invention – as if we are creators? I invented the heavens and God. It was great as I paved my path, I could easily know the route forward. But alas, the road is short and too soon I wallowed in sorrow and pity. If we are on that path of self-creation, we must turn to God or turn back to God. Surely, remember Him.
To remember God you must first take steps to know Him. Once I did, I found a life not much different except at one point: I had eternal hope on a straight and beautiful path forward. My perspective widened and my prayers turned to intimate conversations with the Lord. This is bliss now. My heart tears and scars no more. The touch of our healing Lord is everlasting. I can see and I can know in a way allowed through the grace of our Lord.
We reach the end of our self-righteousness and become righteous through God’s way. Our inventions of heaven and earth are all but a flash of light. Our visions of a path forward are meticulously planned – unique for each of us. Unique for me and you. The sorrowful heart changes. The tears of old are healed. We are welcomed into God’s righteousness, justified by the blood of our Savior.
Jesus.
The end of our sorrow is the beginning of our bliss. Believe this and all sorrow turns to Light.
Rick Stassi
November 22, 2012
revision 12/28/2012
Jesus, Light of the World 