real stuff...

So I was reading Holly's latest blog entry this morning, and I got to thinking how seldom it is these days that I post anything of any real quality that has anything to do with real issues. For people who these days I only communicate with through MySpace or my blog, they know very little of my life. So I figured it was high time to talk about some real stuff.

My quiet time this morning, which I actually did today, was in the first 6 verses of John 15. It's the part about Jesus being the vine and us being the branches. I've read it a million times, but today it was different. (I love days like that!) How 'bout this verse that's thrown in the middle of this passage that I've never noticed before: "3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you." Where did that come from??!! Why haven't I seen that before?! I love it though. Christ has already made us clean. It's not something we're working toward. We (as Christians) have already been justified to God through Christ. He has spoken His word over us, therefore it has become Truth. We are clean because He has declared us so.

The other key issue I pulled from this passage today is that our life HAS TO BE derived from Christ. It's not an option. We're Christians, so we ARE the branches He describes here. The branches CANNOT continue living apart from the Vine. This passage reemphasized the same thing that God was speaking to me last Thursday at Fusion, as well as a few Mondays ago at Bible Study. The idea being that I must hunger and thirst after Christ. Not that I just want Him; I need to need Him. He needs to be my very existence. He needs to be my life blood, my air. So often I think I live as though Christ is just a convenience or a benefit that I am afforded, rather than living like my very existence depends upn Him.

So those are my thoughts. This is what I'm working on in my life right now.