The artichoke flower.....

Last post I shared with you a picture Tim had taken of an artichoke just about to bloom...well, Tim took another and this is the beautiful flower of that pokey, onion-layered artichoke. Amazing, eh?

With all those layers to open and pull apart, who knew that all that work would give way to this awesome, intricate flower? Think about THAT when you eat another artichoke heart! Interesting how they call them "hearts"! Mmmmm.

Ahhh, God's beauty revealed. Uncle Bob shared a good comment last post....I'd encourage you to take a look at it (and I think I got it, Uncle Bob!).....sometimes the Holy Spirit gives us the energy, courage and joy to do the things we "don't" want to do by giving us the DESIRE to do them and by the power of the Holy Spirit...we do them! And then there are things we really don't want to do because our sinful nature tells us we don't and we end up not doing what we should.....it IS like a toilet seat (thank you, Uncle Bob!)...up, down....up, down....such an inner struggle. There is no one righteous according to Romans 3:10! Even our most "righteous", good acts cannot give us the identity of a "righteous one".....we are inevitably evil......APART FROM GOD! That's where we are redeemed.

It's not that God doesn't care or require us to be holy as He is holy.....it's that when we accept Jesus as the only way to salvation and admit we suck, God sees us covered in Jesus and calls us righteous...just like He called Abraham in Genesis 15:6, which says, "Abram believed the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness." When we believe what God says, He covers us with His Son's righteousness and we are covered....redeemed. So when we do what we don't wanna do and we don't do what we wanna do, there is mercy, grace, forgiveness....we fall down in sin and when we repent, God picks us up in righteousness. Wow.....what an incredible gift. What makes a Christian different from the world? We KNOW our sins are forgiven, our debt has been paid and we can live without guilt, without fear.....we can be "right" with God through repentence.....but He does require something from us....a heart transplant....a desire to no longer sin....to love Him more than the world. He saves, but He is a holy God and will not tolerate sin.

Take a look at John 8:1-11. Jesus meets an adulterous woman about to be stoned and gives her grace. Mercy. He SAVES her from certain death as a punishment of her sins. He does not condemn her, BUT He gives her a command. He says, ""Go now and leave your life of sin."(vs. 11). That's what He calls us to do.

I am so glad we are under grace and so often I struggle with leaving my sin behind, but since I've known Jesus, sin is no longer my life, He is my life. And my heart desires to sin no more...... The blossom beneath the prickly artichoke petals.
Be blessed and keep those comments coming!