Chosen & Choosing
An idea that has had my attention for the past couple years is the realization that I didn’t really do anything to earn my salvation. There’s a line in a song I like that concludes, “we got the gold without digging any holes.” Like I said, I’ve been thinking about that for years and what it actually means. Steph’s idea on individualism helped me on Sunday in coming into a better understanding of what faith means and the role that I play in living it out. We can’t put our hope in our own strength. God hasn’t made us these rugged cowboys--even if we might want to be.
I think that when we reach the conclusion, that our faith isn’t earned, bought (by us), nor is it something we arrive at through our own strength, we can find solace in not having to rely only on ourselves. God brought us here and he meets us right where we are. There isn’ts a treasure map we are given to find it. No X marks the spot. There isn’t even a clue that we can look for on our quest to it. We’re a chosen people, not a choosing people.
However, although we haven’t earned our covenant relationship, I think we are required to choose how to live and sometimes those choices aren’t always what we want.
In a briefer picture, it is easier for me to have hope because I don’t have to rely on my own strength. I didn’t work to get this, but I have specific choices to make in how I live it out.
I can choose to live my life by surrendering it.
I can choose to live my life in a state of worship.
I can choose to live my life collectively in my church body acknowledingly that I am not alone.
I can choose to have hope even though it may ask everything from me.
Steph started off the sermon with a quote from Tennyson. The quote goes, “Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, 'It will be happier.'”
Tennyson also tells us “to cleave ever to the sunnier side of doubt.” I think a lot of times we are a people prone to doubt. We are prone to wonder. In spite of all the miracles we see, like the Israelites, we suffer disbelief. We can choose to have different perspectives--to go against our natural dispositions. We can choose to be hopeful for better times.
I find it comforting to realize that I wasn’t saved through my own strength. This means, to me, that I don’t have to live out my faith through my own strength. I think we all put immense pressure on ourselves when we don’t always have to. We do a really great job spinning our wheels when we don’t have to. I know I need to do a better job not choosing myself to rely on.
There’s a lot of choices we make and a lot of choices me should make. We can choose to be rugged individualists only relying on ourselves or we can choose a different path. We can choose to have hope. We can choose to not rely on our strength, but to rest in the hope that we can rely on His strength.
-Tim
Tim lives in Cortland with his wife Christen. They have 2 dogs. Tim teaches English at Bristol High School and helps lead Regen's Youth Ministry.
