A hard and good and worthy journey

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Christianity is a call to die.

Jesus not only saves us from the penalty and power of sin, He also saves us from the presence of sin in an ongoing process of teaching us to die to self and find life in Him.

Transformation begins with a root of fearing God- recognizing that He is worthy to rule and reign and have His way in my life.

Fear of God leads to a deepening humility as I see Him rightly and then see myself rightly as the subject of my King.

As I humble myself daily I learn to surrender- to crawl back on the altar as a living sacrifice, day by day.

This continual self-sacrifice demands perseverance through a lifetime of unanswered questions and suffering and the high and costly call of true discipleship.

And finally, transformation bears the fruit of true gratitude - the sacrifice of praise - contentment in His presence no matter our present circumstances.

Following Jesus is not an easy path. It is a hard fight - a good fight. A hard and good and worthy journey.

{Reflections from Author Gary Thomas’ The Beautiful Fight}
“I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ... Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”Philippians 3:8,12

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