It's Always Been There

This past Sunday, my family and I joined some friends for a short hike through some woods that ended at a little creek. While I was the only one who had been raised in this area, I was completely unaware of this beautiful spot we were exploring. In fact, our friends who took us out there aren't even from Texas, yet they had already made the trek to the creek and enjoyed it's beauty and fun.


I've been thinking about that adventure ever since we left to head home. That spot has always been there, even though I never knew it and hadn't visited it before. This is how I've felt the past few years in my Christian life, and therefore life in general. For so long I've lived as a "Christian." I've faithfully done all the things I thought I was supposed to do (i.e. read my Bible daily, prayed several times a day, always attended church regularly, talked to others about my faith, etc.) but it wasn't until a few years ago that I started to experience the beauty and fullness of life in Christ.

It's not that Jesus hadn't already given me His life and the fulfilled the promise of abundant life, it's just that I hadn't ever visited it before. I grew up in the general area, just never realized the life I was missing out on, but I knew I was missing out on something.

I had "lived" under the guise of law, instead of liberty. I thought God wanted so much from me, expected me to always do the right thing and if I ever gave in to sin (which was more often than I ever wanted to admit), I would have to work hard at repented and proving how sorry I was. Other times, I thought I was doing so well at doing the right things that God just had to be proud of such a special part of His creation. At those times, I thought that He just had to use me, after all it'd be a shame to waste such talent.

I've realized how messed up those views were and come face to face with the incredible and satisfying grace of God. Jesus has done all work through His Spirit whom He poured into my spirit at salvation, making me a new creation. I can now abide in this beautiful land of freedom, grace, peace, life, love, joy, wholeness, and perfection...even when the things I choose aren't perfect.

I now see how wonderful it is to be alive in Christ, that it's not just a catchy phrase, but it is crucial in really living. He is life and He's made me alive in Him. For that, the adventure is always worth it. I get to abide in Him by depending on Him in each moment.

This life has always been there in me ever since salvation, I just never realized it until recently. How thankful I am for that realization, it's made all the difference in my life.