Head Trips

I admit it. I can live in my head.  That is, I can "think it" and falsely believe that I have "embraced it." In example, I played a terrific "air guitar" in high school and imagined myself as a sought after (read "by girls") rock star. Truth is - can't play - can't sing.

We all know God loves us. For most, this stays as "head knowledge." A great fact but of little comfort. In order to know the love of Jesus, we have to know him. In an intimate, friend-we-get-in-trouble-with, fight-and-make-up-with, totally-like-us-yet-constantly-surprising, share-your-secrets-with, tree-house-building, do-each-other's-hair, friend.

The hardest, longest part of the Christian journey comes when we move off of the safe (but not as Godly as we think) ground of being an upright, moral person. Truth is, we mostly do this without God's help and in order to curry God's favor when we need help. If I try really hard to be moral (I do,) I kind of expect God to do his part when life takes a turn for the worse. Funny, he did not do that for Jesus, why would he do it for me? What Jesus did have, however, and was all he needed to be alive (even in death,) was an on-going, developing, wildly-in-love relationship with the Father.

Today, will I head down the safe path of self-salvation by being a moral person who expects God to notice? Or will I be a broken, but trying to do my best, person who really wants to know God and will settle for nothing less than to look him in the face with what little I do have? I pray I opt for love.

 

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NIV)