rubbish

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, continue to teach me how to empty myself of all that is not you, so that I can be filled to overflowing that all that is you.  Amen.

Scripture: Philippians 3:7-11

Journal: What are you desperately hanging onto that keeps you from stepping into a deeper relationship with Jesus?  Will you let it go, so that he can give you himself in some new and mysterious and beautiful way?

Reflection: All the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life.  Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung.  I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. (Phil. 3:7-8)

Life with Jesus always challenges our addictions.  It asks us to let go of the things and the patterns and the ways we have grown used to and familiar with, in order to receive something new and beautiful from him.  Most people, in fact, miss the new because they are unwilling to let go of the old. 

Help us, O Lord, to drop any plans and agendas and comforts and preferences that keep us from be fully and completely yours.  Help us to consider them rubbish—dog dung—compared with the surpassing value of knowing you.  For how can I ever expect to be made new, if I am unwilling to let go of the old?    

Pray

Closing Prayer: "Lord, deliver me from the small loyalties of habit or tradition that would keep me from the larger loyalties of the Spirit." ~John Killinger