I can't believe how long it has been since my last, real post! Although, in my defense, the events since then have been quite unexpected (in a very good way), and mixed with going back to school and work, have put a bit of a strain on my time. However, I am having a beautiful snow (ice?) day today, and am enjoying all of this extra time to not only meditate on and pray over Scripture, but share about it too!
I have also been seeking to start my scripture memorization back up in the last couple of weeks, and this morning the verse I was meditating on was Psalm 34:1- I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
I read an excellent devotional on this verse a few days ago, and was challenged about the praise-or lack thereof- in my life. The question posed to my heart was "How can I praise God, if I don't truly know Him and how worthy he is of it?" Any praise that stems from my own efforts, will fall so very short of the praise that my Savior deserves.
And then I wondered, "How can I know and praise Him, if my gaze is so intensely focused on myself and my shortcomings, that I cannot see His beauty and grace?"
It was as I was praying about this, that God brought to mind some verses in Colossians that I would never have connected on my own.
If then you were raised with Christ,
seek those things which are above,
where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on things above,
not on things on the earth.
For you died, and you life is hidden with Christ
in God.
-Colossians 3:1-3
I am dead... Me, myself, and my flesh, are all dead! My life is no longer about this world, and about my sin- although that is a struggle I will have until heaven- but it is now about 'things which are above'. I have been poking around the ashes of my old self for too long, hoping and waiting for life to spring from them, when the fact is, that Christ is now my life! And because Christ holds and hides my life, I must look to Him to truly and fully live!
There is so much to praise and thank Him for when I at last look up, that I feel a bit like repeating the Psalmist: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
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