Danger!! Thin Ice!!

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Danger!! Thin Ice!!
Category: Religion and Philosophy

I am sure you have all seen movies where something rolls out onto a "frozen" lake, then the ice cracks and it proceeds to fall through into the water below. And, if any of us saw a sign posted that read, "Danger! Thin Ice!", we would walk pretty carefully around that spot. The moral being that it wouldn’t take much for the thin veneer of ice to crack and then you would literally be up to your ears in trouble.Well, I never cease to surprise myself. And, even though that is usually said in a good way; I say it in the sense that I never cease to surprise myself how close I am to cracking! I feel like I ought to wear a "Danger – Thin Ice" sign on my head as I walk around. That is really disappointing as a Christian. You devote your life to the calling of Christ; to the learning of His ways; to hopefully bring your life into line with His values and His love; only to have all of that crash into a thousand shards when a little pressure is put on you. If you don’t know what I am talking about at this point; think about when you are driving, is there anything that makes you want to cuss the person in the other car? Are you ever in line at say The Cattle Crossing, I mean Wal-Mart and it just peeves you that everything is not moving faster? Have you ever called a "customer service" line, and about had steam coming out of your ears before you had finished your conversation? Whatever it is that makes you "lose it" sometimes, that is when you are "thin ice".I said earlier that the thin veneer of ice breaks and then you are in trouble. I hope that our Christianity is more than just a veneer over our lives, but it really concerns me (if I am being truthful with myself) how easily I am drawn into totally un-Christ-like behavior. The other day I actually lost my temper over a VIDEO GAME! I mean, what’s up with that, anyway?! Of course Michael, with his unerring insight into things heard me ranting about this and said, "So, if you are a good Christian, you are frozen solid and totally cold-hearted!" Ok, you know what I mean… Anyway, I think this is what Paul was talking about in Romans when he said:

Rom 7:14-25
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-- this I keep on doing.20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?25 Thanks be to God-- through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.(NIV)

Is he basically saying, "The Devil made me do it"??? lol Well, I don’t know why the Old Nature seems to be so close under the surface sometimes, but I guess we just press on, and continue to try to become more like Christ. I think that is why we have to "take up our cross daily", because it really does take a fresh commitment every day to keep from slipping into our "old mode". Maybe the times when our ice gets too thin and ends up cracking will get farther and farther between as we grow more like Him. And, yes, Michael, maybe one day I will have a totally frozen, cold, heart!!! lol