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<\/a><\/div>\nThis sweet time of solitude for the last 3+ weeks has given me great insight on \u201cdoing Christianity versus being a Christian\u201d. I really needed this time of focus for wisdom and direction \u2013 not to mention, clear out some of the cobwebs in my thinking. <\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been a gal who has relentlessly pursued God most all of my life. I think my thinking became somewhat skewed because I thought that the more I did for God, the more I read His Word, the more times I attended church, the more I gave and volunteered, the more I knocked on His door for answers to my prayers and needs — the more I would receive His favor. My daily walk seemed to be more about striving — to do more and be more. But God wasn\u2019t asking me to do, do, do. He was offering me a life of abundance for simply BEING His girl. <\/p>\n
I think about a marriage\/love relationship. Out of the love we have for each other, it\u2019s just natural to be loving, caring and considerate of each other. The more we love\u2026.the more we aim to please \u2013 not out of necessity, but out of the sheer enjoyment of bringing pleasure to our loved one. We complicate it when we disconnect from each other and become careless and we get sidetracked on things that distract us from cultivating the love. That\u2019s when our relationship gets complicated. It\u2019s then about a score card \u2013 not about that mutual love and respect for each other.<\/p>\n
I love Zig Ziglar\u2019s quote: \u201cWe are human BEINGS, NOT human DOINGS.\u201d And I\u2019ve been one of those over-complicated responders to God. Don\u2019t get me wrong. I love my Lord and I love the relationship I have with Him. Seriously, I thrive in the knowledge of knowing who I am and Whose I am. But rather than BEING with the One 24\/7 Who loves me most and just living each moment of every day in the knowledge of my trust and complete devotion to Him, I complicated things by giving myself rules of engagement with Him. Look at His love words I read yesterday: John 15:4-5 4 \u201cAbide in me, and I will abide in you. Just as the branch cannot produce fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who abides in me while I abide in him produces much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” I got it. The crux of my relationship with Him isn\u2019t about do\u2019s and don\u2019ts, about have to\u2019s and have not\u2019s\u2026..it\u2019s about a lifestyle of BEING and ABIDING, being grafted into the vine. When we abide in Jesus, He becomes more than a Sunday God or when-in-trouble God or when-we-think-about- Him God. Abiding in Him means He’s our Monday through Sunday — our 24\/7 Lord Who we are involved with every moment! <\/p>\n