Am I now?

"Beware if in sharing your personal testimony you continually have to look back, saying, 'Once, a number of years ago, I was saved.' If you have put your 'hand to the plow' and are walking in the light, there is no 'looking back'--the past is instilled into the present wonder of fellowship and oneness with God (Luke 9:62; also see I John 1:6-7). If you get out of the light, you become a sentimental Christian, and live only on your memories, and your testimony will have a hard metallic ring to it. Beware of trying to cover up your present refusal to 'walk in the light' by recalling your past experiences when you did 'walk in the light' (I John 1:7)."
--Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

This is something that hit me square between the eyes the other day. It does not matter what good I have done in the past. What matters to God, and what should matter to me, is where I am in my relationship with Him NOW. A Christian's life isn't gauged by where he's been, and he cannot measure it by where He's going (for that would be an invisible ruler to his eyes). Instead, it is a day by day endeavor. I should not brag about the good I have done, as if I have filled my quota for life. I must be good (a.k.a. be with God) today.

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." (II Cor. 4: 16)
Day by day.
Every day anew.

The Child Metaphor

I have discovered what I have come to call "the Child Metaphor." It is a simple exercise of spiritual interest that requires little: Watch children. It is amazing how much one can learn about the relationship between us and God when you watch the relationship of a child with his/her parents. Try it out. Next time you're watching a little child play or cry or whine, ask God to show you how it relates to you and Him. You might be surprised at the truth you discover.
I'll have more to say about children soon.

Who is "good"?

Here is a question to consider:

If a good man falls, is he still good?

I would say it depends on from where he is deriving his sense of goodness.

For a man is not good because the man says so.

A man is good because God says so.

So perhaps a good man is not one who does not fall, but rather is one who gets back up--

--one who knows that walking is not about how long he can stay up on his own, but about how willing he is to let God lift him up...

higher than he could ever be of his own ability.