Starflyer 59 ...& slivers of gold

At this moment, I am listening to "The Brightest of the Head" by Starflyer 59 **highly recommended!

Now, I'm going to turn it off and give you my full attention, because you deserve at least that much.

Breakthrough!

Sometimes when I have a breakthrough, I write it down and somehow think it will change my life. I look back on those breakthroughs and NOTHING really happened.

For example:

1. False breakthrough -I thought I would forsake my lazy habits and be productive if I just stated a goal in my mind and determined to complete the task at hand.

    It didn't last.

2. another false breakthrough - I learned that who I was at home would shape who I became to the rest of the world around me. So I decided I would be a completely polite and generous big sister.

    Ah... I'm still working on that. As of today, the best I've done is realize where I mess up and then apologize. In the words of my little brother, "You say sorry a lot."

BUT HERE WE GO AGAIN

and let's hope this one is a winner. I think it is.

True? breakthrough - The Lord led me to therebelution.com and on a blog titled "Lukewarm Complacency," I was challenged to answer the question, "What symptoms of complacency do you see in your life?" One person had described complacency as settling for "good enough." Well, good enough has never been good enough for me. But, I look back on what I could've done better and I beat myself up for it. This gets me depressed and in a habit of self-condemnation which provides no motivation for improvement. I was tempted to leave it at that; to leave it at my weakness, but the Spirit pressed me to ask why. Why do I condemn myself consistently for things I could've done better? How can I seek to do better without feeling despicable if I don't? BREAKTHROUGH - For those of us who are in Christ Jesus, our value is not in what we do, but in what He did on the cross. I've been judging my worth by the things I do, instead of seeing myself through the eyes of God.

Romans 8:1 There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

The point, as I see it, is not to judge our value (for that is secure in Christ and cannot be changed by our action or lack of). We need not worry about that. Instead, we should judge our actions apart from our worth.

OUR WORTH IS SECURE IN CHRIST! *Let us not judge our value by what we do! Our identity is tightly bound in the blood-stained wood of the cross and the brutally torn flesh of our Savior.  There is nothing we can do to earn the sacrifice He paid and there is nothing we can do to be out of God's reach.