This is the last week of lent. Next week is holy week. We have been preparing for this upcoming week for five whole weeks. Doing this series has made me be a little more intentional in my devotions and streamlined my journaling process as well. Writing helps me really understand what is going on in my head. Plus, bloggers have an incredible platform to take risks, be brave, and share our faith.
This week has been an interesting week in the readings. Jesus is continuing to make waves in his travels and miracles. One thing I have noticed though is that the people that are against him already have faith. They have faith in the Jewish tradition. They are clinging to their truth in the old testament. Their belief for so long has been that this radical king was coming to save him. Then when he is right in front of their eyes - they can't see - they don't believe.
The people though whose lives are changed, who believe, who are going out and spreading the word about what they heard and saw; these people had no faith before or believed in something completely different than the Jews.
This got me thinking about the church today. I have always cried such ugly tears when people share their amazing testimony. The greatest testimonies and most evangelical believers seem to be those who have gone through the most intense hardship and struggle in their lives. Their stories are moving, completely 100% life changing, heart stopping, full of love, devotion, transformation, and worship. Then I pause. My testimony looks nothing like that.
I am a cradle catholic, raised in the faith from birth by the most incredible, faithful, loving parents. I grew up memorizing prayers, reading the bible, saying the rosary, lighting advent candles, going to church every Sunday + holy days. My family in NC is made up of people my parents met through church, since our blood family all reside such great distances away. Most friends I know who grew up in the church have since drifted away too. A sad reality in our current world.
I question if Jesus were right in front of me like he was to the Jews would I be willing to surrender all my history to follow him? The people in the bible who dropped everything, those who share their stories and alter their course of their life - they did and do every single day.
Just because I was raised in faith doesn't mean that Jesus hasn't done his fair share of molding and changing me within but thinking about the Pharisees has me thinking. I want to choose Jesus over everything else. I want to believe when I see him right in front of me. I want to be willing to surrender it all for His transformation of my life.
How has surrendering altered the course of your life?
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