Sacred Spaces 215 – The Host (the need for the 2nd part to the Sermon)
5th October 2009
So I’m almost finished reading The Host by Stephenie Meyer (Author of Twilight Saga) and I got this thought... this similarity idea:
The basic plot of The Host is of a human body that has been taken over by a “soul” who inhabits the body. The twist is that the human “personality and memory” of that human body has not left the body. So the tension and joy of the story is hearing (reading) the internal dialogue between the new inserted soul and the previous human memory. In the raw sense: 2 people sharing one human body. (Got it yet?)
The book started off slow but I have actually ended up really enjoying it. I thought of a similarity between The Host and our very own lives.
When we become a Christ Follower (Christian) we accept Jesus to be Lord of our lives. We’ve heard other Christians say: We ask Jesus into our lives. Or Jesus enters our hearts.
So the truth is: Jesus does come and inhabit our body and mind and soul.
So I guess the “battle” of the Christian life is to surrender to Jesus within. It shouldn’t be a battle, but if we’re honest we all struggle with “handing over” our lives to Jesus. The idea of letting go is pretty scary for each of us.
I do like these 2 appropriate verses:
Proverbs 4: 23 “Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.”
I like that a lot. Jesus lives in our hearts. What a beautiful treasure we have within. And what lengths are you willing to go to protect your heart and more importantly live from your heart? And let Jesus be your guide?
1 John 4: 4 “You dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”
This verse reminds and affirms us that Jesus is the greater power that lives in each of us.
I then had a thought today whilst sitting in a small church.
I’ve heard lots of sermons (you too probably) about: how we must be living sacrifices for God (Romans 12:1, 2), slaves to God (Romans 6: 22), seek first His Kingdom (Matthew 6: 33) and serving one another (John 13: 16, 17). Yes, we need to surrender our lives and our wills to Jesus, but you and I need a part 2 to that sermon. What does that look like for you, everyday?
(Care to share your ideas with me and others at my BLOG: http://darrelblog.blogspot.com/
Leave a comment below my posted Sacred Space)
How do you live out this Christianity in your life?
As a teacher, artist, engineer, accountant, receptionist, shop assistant, home keeper, student, unemployed, businessman, journalist, surfer, musician, lonely, confident, a mess, scared, or someone brave or anybody else not in these mentioned categories... how do you live out your faith?
How do you daily surrender to Jesus? How are you the slave to God and living sacrifice we are called to be?
That intrigues me... I want to know of our Jesus being relevant in 2009. What do you do to surrender to Jesus? This is the Part 2 of the sermon that I’m talking about. I’m so often tempted to stand up or raise my hand, and ask the preacher, how he proposes that we surrender to Jesus in our everyday lives. (And turn the one way sermon into a group discussion – a sort of cell group atmosphere. Instead of being spoon fed, the people of God who begin to wrestle with mere Christianity)
You and I need something practical.
I do have some of my own ideas of how I include Jesus in my everyday life. (I am far from having it altogether, but I do press on and try my best.)
I wake up, quietly thanking God for a new day. On the way to the dining hall, I look up at the sky and just admire God for his beauty. I be positive and not swear around my colleagues. I treat the guests that we deal with each day with excellence. (If I can, I help them overcome their fears of height.) I read a little daily devotional each day. I say a little prayer before starting off my day. And I constantly talk to God throughout the day.
These are some of the ways I surrender to Jesus. How about you?
We need the part 2 of the sermon. We need to let Jesus be the Lord of our lives; because I know it will be worth it.
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”
(2 Corinthians 4: 7-9)
