Life; ah life, oh ‘c—p’, I never seem to get life right, I always (at least it feels like always) seem to ‘pooh’ in my pants when I try to grasp ‘life’ by understanding ‘it’, and then, living ‘it’ by reducing the mystery of ‘it’ into a system of ideas about ‘it’, ideas I can manage…oops!
“I’m trying to reduce what you’re saying to ideas I can understand and, more importantly, to ideas I can manage. The clarity of this disturbing realization seems to release a pure longing I’ve never before felt so powerfully, a desire to ride Your reasonable words (about life) into a reality that reason can’t reach.” Larry Crabb
“So don’t you see that we don’t owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There’s nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is to give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God’s Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!
This (wholly new and mysterious) resurrection life you received (not a life understood or reduced into ideas about life you can manage) from God is not a timid, grave tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms (this is received by faith, every moment of every day) who we really are. We know who he is and we know who we are: Father and children (this knowing is the heart of the true Gospel).” (Romans 8:12-16, The Message-emphases and parentheses added)
“If what you know to be the Gospel isn't completely filled, (to the brim without mixture of fear, self effort & condemnation) with GOOD NEWS (the Good News that life, the new resurrection life that embraces a Father and child relationship)....then, you haven't found the real Gospel, yet” (Linda Holland with some Ron Ross thrown in)
This new life; which cannot be understood, which must not be reduced to a system of manageable ideas, is the essence of receiving, by faith, the Gospel of Grace! If this Gospel doesn’t produce a knowing that all things in life work together for good, then we haven’t embraced the true Gospel. His new life will produce a daily knowing.
“And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through (When Christ, who is our life, appears in our knowing, each and every moment). If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!” (Romans 8:17 The Message, emphasis and parenthesis added)
“Life is mysteriously simple...perplexingly boring, yet vastly profound and beyond fantasy in its reality. The paradox of the mundane emptiness being right in the middle of exhilarating fullness will never cease to force me to reach for more understanding of the God who came up with this mysterious story of life.” Misty Edwards
“The Christian life may be like a ship tossed in a storm. Nobody on board may be aware that the ship is making any headway at all. Yet it is sailing on at great speed. Great winds and storms help fruit-bearing trees. So also do corruptions and temptations help the fruitfulness of grace and holiness…corruptions and temptations develop the fruit of humility, self-abasement and mourning in a deeper search for the grace by which holiness grows strong. But only later will there be visible fruits of increased holiness.” John Owen
My new resurrection life has at its core, the freedom to be loved by Me, and to then love like Me. Even in light of failures, disappointments and frustration are you to receive a new life that is immersed in forgiveness and atonement. Only the washing of the blood of Jesus in our moment by moment communion with Him can provoke and provide the impetus to take another step in life.
“Gospel freedom means to neither indulge your whims nor keep My rules. Whim-indulgers and rule-keepers are slaves to the corruption within them that demands a kind of satisfaction My Son will not provide for you in this life. My Son has set you free to love, to believe I am good and that the good story I am telling is unfolding under His control. Faith in Me and hope for tomorrow frees you to love today. And loving with divine power releases a kind of joy into your soul that nothing else can bring.” Larry Crabb
Authentic faith produces a deep and abiding knowing! A knowing that, by faith, becomes adrenaline to your soul, your ‘true’ core self, the ‘Kardia’, the new heart and My Holy dwelling. The adrenaline of the new resurrection life gives you the courage to face each new moment, anchored in the hope of Christ in you! Live His new life nurtured by His Grace Gospel of resurrection life!
In the grip of resurrection life! Ron Ross
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