After reading the last blog a friend of mine commented that sometimes you can't be bothered having a shower in the natural when you are down, let alone worrying about the spiritual cleansing. I believe that is a true comment on what it can be like for us.
Interestingly God doesn't seem to take this into account too much in His way of doing things. He is very black and white - "if your eye causes you to sin pluck it out, if your hand causes you to sin cut it off". There does not seem to be a lot of room in here for our emotional state; what we are feeling at the time. In the story of the "Rich Young Ruler's" encounter with Jesus there was not a lot of room for misinterpretation of what He said. I know that in the Bible there are many areas open for debate but I think the basics are very simple and very clear. Love the Lord your God with all your Heart and Love your neighbour as yourself (paraphrase)... ..........Then He goes on to say if you love Me you will obey My commandments. Not much room for error in these statements. When we think back Jesus was speaking directly to an audience that was largely illiterate, so the message had to be direct. In the middle ages the basics were simple enough to paint in pictures around churches, so the ordinaty folk could follow, because they couldn't read.
There is one thing the Devil and God have in common: they both want kill us in one way or another. The devil just wants to kill us; God wants us to die to our flesh so that we may truly live. It sounds so easy, as it rolls off the keyboard but is in essence a painful process, which I believe God does incrementally, if we let him (and sometimes even if we don't). It must be easier if we cooperate!! Surely!!
Simple but not easy!
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