Free to Leave - Purity 804

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning! Happy Monday! Today's photo of the public beach at Scroon Lake comes to us from yours truly as I spontaneously found myself further north than I would have ever dreamed Saturday and decided to make the most of it. Shortly after reporting Saturday that I didn't have any "have-tos" to take care of on Saturday, I received word that that the Word of Life Inn and Conference Center in Scroon Lake was sold and the organization was giving away furniture and other things away to the public. Imagining Christian resources, books, uh, wall hangings, and usable furniture for the taking, my curiosity and the lack of any other plans got the best of me and launched me into action and on a spontaneous journey an hour north of my already northern countryside home. There was quite a bit of traffic going into and coming out of the lodge by the time I got there, so the pickings were slim, but in the spirit of the frenzy, I was influenced to grab something and ended up grabbing a blue armchair that I imagined I could use in my bedroom to read, relax, or watch TV in. I tested it out yesterday and yesterday afternoon, and although it takes up more space than I would like, it will meet its imagined purpose, and it could give my wife a place to sit in my room other than my bed, as I only had a single office chair in the room before. Although I got the chair, I was disappointed because there was nothing else like I imagined. Uh, the only books that they were giving away were Bibles that had been in each room in the inn. And I have plenty of Bibles already. Yeah, my imagination of Christian resources was a false expectation as I discovered that the lodge was more or less a hotel, and the offerings would be what you would expect from any hotel giving away its old furniture— uh, beds, nightstands, lamps, armchairs, low-height dressers. Uh, but I didn't know that when I left at a moment's notice and went barreling up I-87 to I-87 to get there. So now that I realized that I was at Scroon Lake with nothing else to do, I decided to make the most of my hour and 15-minute long drive and Googled public swimming. I carry a bag in my car with a towel, swim trunks, and other clothes to be prepared for spontaneous fun or unexpected trips or overnight stays. So I was ready, uh, for some spontaneous swimming fun. And discovered the public beach would be opening at 11 and was only a short drive away. So I got there at about a quarter of 10 and figured I would read or something until the beach officially opened. But shortly after I parked, I saw other people setting up their beach chairs and then going to the water. So even though there were no lifeguards and the beach wasn't officially open, I headed down the grassy embankment that encloses a small beach and set up shop on the grassy plateau that overlooks the beach. I'm not crazy about sand, and my elevated position on the grassy plateau gave me a little privacy and distance from the beach below and gave me a nice view of the whole scene. After I set up my camp chair that I also keep in my car at all times for spontaneous fun, I was soon loving my decision to make the most of my impromptu trip as I immediately broke the rules and was enjoying the cool but not cold waters of Scroon Lake. I had never been there before and I would definitely recommend it to my friends. But I would encourage you to follow my example and go early because the beach is small and it filled up pretty quickly after 11:00. Let's see, I would also recommend being careful if you decide to follow my example and decide to stay on the grassy hill that surrounds the beach. There is a reason why not many people joined, uh, joined me on the perfectly level, level grassy plateau. After my maiden swim and an hour of reading and enjoying the sun, I got thirsty, so I made the trek back up to my car to get some water I had left behind. There was a sunbather nearby, so I decided to take a different route up the hill and was shocked to discover what appeared to be cat or small dog poop all over the grassy hillside. I was disgusted and wondered what kind of people would be so thoughtless to let their pets relieve themselves in a public park to such an extent that the grassy hillside was a veritable minefield of poop. So although I did go back to get to my spot and went swimming a few more times and stayed another hour, the growing crowd, suddenly appearing flying insects, and the fact that I now knew that the entire hill was covered in animal feces was combined to cause me to leave. After telling my wife of my, um, after telling my wife— let's see, I hate when I scroll too fast— after telling my wife of my misadventures at Spooner Lake, she shared her knowledge of living up north and shared that what I took for pet droppings left by irresponsible owners or strays was in actuality goose poop. Apparently, unlike most birds that I am familiar with, geese poop is much larger. Anyway, I guess I share all of that to encourage my friends to be spontaneous in life, to make the most of your opportunities to experience something new, but to also be aware of your surroundings. Apparently, there is always something new to learn, and sometimes the lessons we, we get aren't always pleasant. Another thing that I would point out from my experience is that we can have good experience in less than ideal circumstances, but when we discover the unpleasant truth about the place we are in, it doesn't mean we necessarily have to stay there. As the circumstances surrounding my beach day started to go south, I had a decision to make. I could get over my, quote unquote, get over myself and stay, and decide to just focus on the good, or I could leave. And I did leave. For me, maintaining the peace and joy of my life wasn't beach-centered, it's God-centered. And the great thing about God is that he doesn't— he goes where I go. The beach had given what I needed to experience, and I decided to go when the going was good. So as someone who encourages others to experience the their freedom in Christ. One of the lessons I teach is that we are free to leave negative circumstances, places, and people behind as we follow the Lord. When we decide to follow Christ, not everyone will be walking with us, and the Lord may call us to go rather than to endure. Yes, a good deal of living as a disciple of Christ involves being good. Kind, faithful, gentle, and patient as we endure through bad situations and deal with difficult people. But make no mistake, who the Son sets free is free indeed. And as we walk with him, we will discover that the Lord calls us to leave situations, people, and places behind to answer another call or to maintain our life in the spirit. From the beginning, Abraham was called to leave his family and all he knew to follow the Lord. Moses led the nation of Israel out of Egypt, and Christ told his disciples to shake off the dust of a town that did not receive his word. So listen to what the Holy Spirit is calling you to do, but if it's time to go, go. So as we enter into a new work week, fight the good fight of faith and try to live peacefully where the Lord has brought you as, as you answer his call on your life to be the best worker, parent, manager, or whatever that the Lord has made you to be. But if you— if things— but if things— you— if you discover things— but if you discover the circumstances have gotten to be untenable, remember that the Lord has also given you the freedom to leave. And if we decide to leave, we necessarily— we don't necessarily have to scream from the rooftops just how unpleasant things were on the way out the door. As much as I may have been tempted to scream, "Hey, that hill is covered in poop!" I didn't, because I didn't want to point out the negative. I didn't want to take away someone else's joy. And just like when we share the gospel, often people don't hear or understand what we say, or don't listen to us anyway. And some things we have to experience for ourselves. So keep walking and talking with God and keep pursuing the meaning and purpose he has for your life. That may call you to stay or may call you to exercise your freedom to go. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is 2 Corinthians 5:17, and it says, this means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun. Today's verse testifies to the spiritual reality of a brand new life that comes to all who put their faith in Jesus Christ. The biggest stumbling block to experiencing our new life in Christ is our failure to pursue the life we have been given. Instead of being transformed by the renewing of our minds with the Word of God as the Bible directs, we continue to stay where we are. And do the things we have always done. If you are perplexed about why you don't feel like a new creation, it is probably because you have misunderstood the gospel that tells us that there is nothing to do but put your faith in Christ to be a child of God, and decided that there was nothing to do with your new life in Christ, and thus have remained doing, uh, remain doing what you have always have done. When we are saved, we are saved from God's wrath. But what are we saved to? We are made children of God to represent His kingdom and to give Him glory. What exactly in your life before Christ was doing that? Probably not much. So if you saw the need for a Savior for your salvation, why would you assume that the way you were living before you came to Christ was just fine? The call for Christ— from Christ is the call to everlasting life. But it is also the call to repentance. We are made new the moment we make Christ our Lord, but that doesn't mean that nothing needs to change. A Christian life is a transformed life. So if you don't feel like you have been transformed, you need to believe that you are and make the transformation a reality in your life by changing the ways you think and live to be in line with God's word. So rejoice over your new life in Christ and seek his wisdom and ways to see it manifest more and more as you make the decision— daily decision to follow him. As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we are continuing the share from chapter 11 of Clinton Arnold's Powers of Darkness, and the section we're sharing, short section, is spiritual— well, it's not that short, I guess— spiritual warfare as resistance. And so if you want to know how spiritual warfare relates to resistance, go to mt4christ.org and look at the today's blog post to see that resource. As always, we share them for educational purposes because there's a lot of great Christian books out there, but we don't know which ones there are And we could, you know, so I share books I have found meaningful or good or useful for our Christian life, not just spelling out, you know. And I guess the Lord can use all kinds of different Christian books for our good. I was about to name certain things, but then, you know, I pulled back because just because I've already studied that stuff doesn't mean someone else has. So I'm not going to necessarily tell people to avoid a certain study because it didn't find it fruitful for me. The great thing about our personal relationship with God is it's highly personable, and whatever you put before your eyes could be used by the Holy Spirit to build you up in your most holy faith. So as much as I was about to say a certain type of study that I didn't find too helpful, I pulled back because I don't want to Just like not screaming there's goose poop on the hill, I don't want to tell you that I considered certain topics to be goose poop. You know, some things I— or maybe it's just because I heard that, I know that, but you know, you don't know that. You haven't heard that. Maybe it'll be impactful like it was for me initially, but you know, has since lost its luster. Um, you know, things fade over time, so I might be like, well, that wasn't a very great study. But at the time, I probably thought it was awesome, you know. Um, why? Because it's new and there's so much to learn, um, you know, about our faith. There's so many different dynamics, um, how we are related to the Lord. So pursue all those things in Jesus' name. And that's what we're doing here at the podcast and the, uh, the YouTube channel and the blog. Is to encourage your seeking the Lord and living like a disciple of Jesus Christ. Things are going quick, so I'm gonna pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you for all you've done for us. Lord, we help you— we pray for you to lead us to where you want us to go today, open our eyes to the things you want us to see. And Lord, we're just praying for the people who might be listening today, uh, Lord, that they'd be built up in the most holy faith and that you would come alongside them in their prayer request. As they enter into another work week. And it's going to be a hot one out in the area, Upstate New York, Lord. So we ask you to help us, guide us, and maintain us and our peace as we, uh, we face the challenges of another work week. Um, because, Lord, there's nothing we can't do without you, and we need your help. So we pray all these things in your mighty— in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.