Dying of the Flesh....

After my post yesterday just came across an interesting post by Kate McDonald (www.katemcdonald.wordpress.com) so thought I would share it with you guys. If you are an avid blog reader like me it would be worth your time following her blogs.

How can this be wrong when it feels so right?
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Feels so right it can’t be wrong
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I know that nothing can’t be wrong that feels so right
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…the above lyrics are just three examples of from the 45 google pages you will unearth if you search “lyrics + wrong + feels right”

Sunday at church I had a splitting headache. It had begun the night before and carried right on through until the morning. The longer I sat, the more I tried to focus my eyes to read from my Bible, the more I felt like my head was going to explode. I tried to rub my neck and press pressure points.. in fact, after church my friend Andrea said, “you looked so miserable I was tempted to come up and sit behind you and just give you a massage”.

So when I say that something Pastor said went straight into my heart, I want you to understand just how much that took given the circumstances. 

I left church with just one sentence scrawled down in my journal:“does it feel good or does it feel right?”

For as many songs as there are that rely on the logic ‘if it feels good, then it cannot be wrong’ hence a thing is right to the degree that it feels good there is another whole set of songs that mirror’s Joss Stone’s position on the matter: “I’ve got a right to be wrong”

Ok, Joss… go ahead and lay claim to that one.

Christians are often more suave and guarded about holding onto their ‘rights’ and making decisions based on how good something feels. It sounds more like, ‘I just don’t have peace about__________’ or ‘__________ just honestly doesn’t feel right in my spirit’.

It doesn’t feel right? ….or…. it doesn’t feel good?

BIG DIFFERENCE.

This morning the Lord is bringing to mind a lot of right things that probably didn’t feel good. How about Abraham taking Isaac up to the mountain? As I parent, I cringe at that story. And… Joseph? He does the right thing by fleeing from his boss’ wife, only to end up in jail. No warm fuzzy feelings there. Moses was terrified to go and speak and be leader. It was the right thing to do, but it didn’t feel good. Can you even imagine how much David wanted to kill Saul in that cave when he had the chance? That probably would’ve felt good, but wouldn’t have been right. So he spared Saul’s life and continued to spend his fleeing his foe. Ruth probably didn’t want to obey her mother in law, but she did it anyway. Daniel probably would’ve had a lot more “peace” about not being thrown into the lions, right? The disciples likely would’ve been more comfortable not being martyred. Paul might have enjoyed writing letters from somewhere other than prison.

Not to mention Jesus, right? Who was tempted in every way as we are, but not because He couldn’t have escaped the flesh if He wanted to…who was rejected by His own… Who, the Bible said, was hated and despised…who endured the fickleness of His own creation… and ultimately who took on the sin of us all and died in our place, to make all things RIGHT.

So, if doing the right thing doesn’t necessarily (or often) feel good, what does it feel like?

Can you take a few minutes this morning to think about some times in your life when you’ve done the right thing? Can you give yourself the space to remember instances of obedience?

Go ahead.

Does it have a twinge of dying in it?

It has occurred to me this morning after having done some of my own personal inventory, that the sensation I associate with the hardest, most deep obediences of my life is feeling of death. Now before you all going getting cute, don’t be thinking of me like David with a sword above my head ready to slay something or someone…. well, other than me, that is.

The smell of death that clings to those memories, is the fragrance of my flesh passing away. It is the memory of my will and my desires and my claims and my rights decaying in the light of His Will and His Desires and His Claims and His Rights.

Abraham laid down his right to his own son- his flesh and blood- his Promise from the Lord. Joseph had to accept that doing the right thing didn’t mean he was going to get a medal or a pat on the back or even believed! Moses had to die to his insecurities. David had to let go of defending or avenging himself. Ruth lost the life she had known. Daniel died, time and time again, to his right to fit into his culture. The disciples gave everything up to follow Jesus- livelihood, families, and ultimately their own physical lives as well. Paul didn’t spend his life being the scholar of high position that he could’ve…

There is something appropriate about death being combined with obedience. Just as Jesus died to make a way for us to be righteous, when we seek to do right, we will find it requires a death for us.

love, peace and happiness

Tau