Two Songs

Close enough to feel the warmth of the fire, far enough away for me to hide....I was offered resurrection, but I settled for the grave. Jesus At A Distance - Casting Crowns....Jesus, how can I be sure that I will not lose my follow through between the altar and the door? Between The Altar And The Door - Casting Crowns I fear the lyrics of the above two songs describe far too many of those who profess to follow Him and who sit in church week after week. Maybe, in some areas of our heart, we do as well. How much of our life fits into the lyrics of the first song. How many of us come close enough to Christ to feel the warmth of the fire that is His heart and life. We come close, but never close enough to be consumed by that fire. We're part of a crowd looking at the fire, hearing about the fire, even feeling some of the fire, but we never come too close. We stay just far enough away to hide. We like the light and the warmth we feel from the fire, but never so much as to come completely out of the darkness that hides us. We're attracted to Him, but never strongly enough to throw ourselves completely upon Him. Our hearts warm to the message of His resurrection life and all that He offers us in that life. But never enough to leave the grave of our self-life. In the end, our flesh's fear of the death of our self-life keeps us at a distance from Jesus. Then there are the words to the second song. How often have we come to an altar of prayer, intent on yielding all to Him, of inviting all of Him to ourselves? We're sincere. We want what we're praying for. We're turning everything over to Him. All our burdens, cares, habits, even our sins. All of it. We give it all to Him. It's out of our hands and into His. Then we leave that altar, that place of surrender, and somehow, between that place and the doorway out.....we take it all back. We don't just take back the "stuff," we take back our control. It is all out of His hands and back into ours. The victory we thought we had won at the altar of prayer...is lost. Lost in our follow-through. It's a familiar story. How often has it been our story? What part of it is our story now? How much longer will it continue to be? Two Songs. Will the gap, the distance that we've kept between us and Jesus Christ just keep widening, or will we cease our running and hiding and just throw ourselves upon Him? If we dare, we'll find that He was always right before us. For Him, there was no distance between us. Then, will we at last truly pray through to Him at the altar of prayer. Will we fully release all that makes for our life into His hands? Will we at last really enter into the life that He died and rose to give us? When we come to that "door" that will surely be there, will we go through into the fullness of life He's promised us? Will we, in the face of His offer of resurrection, go on choosing the grave? Blessings, Pastor O