Wisdom from Galations...

Galations 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.

3:2, 3, 4
This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you reaceive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?
Did you suffer so many things in vain?

4:8, 9
However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods.
But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and beggerly things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?5:1, 13, 16
It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

6:8, 9
For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life.
And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary.

If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, Who gives to all men liberally!

God is so faithful, now and always, to take us in His arms and give us the answers to life's deepest questions. Thank you, Father! You are so good to me.

I am afraid that algebra is difficult and that I am lazy. My professor can cover a chapter in 20 minutes during class, and then it takes me a full 2 hours at home studying to learn the lesson. It's ok, I only have 5 more lessons to study before Tuesday :)

I am curious about the difference between holiness and righteousness. An acquaintance wrote an email to me expressing his opinion/ position. The more that I study Scripture, the more what he said is confirmed to me as true. Here is some of his response to a questioning email:

In your email, you stated that according to your
understanding of Romans, you are wholly righteousness
apart from your actions.  Because Christ was made sin
for us, we are righteous through Him.  That
righteousness (or holiness), being perfect, cannot
increase or diminish.

As long as you don’t let this become an excuse for
irresponsibility, I have no disagreement.

Your second point was less clear.  You asked about the
essence of Holiness/Righteousness.  As you put it, “Is
holiness not the Complete Total Entire separation
from/ absence of sin?”  Welllll…sort of.  Holiness and
righteousness are two related, but very unique
concepts.

Holiness is separation—not just *from*—but *to*
something.  It means being set apart, not just from
sin, but set apart for a purpose.  In II Cor. 7:1 Paul
exhorts us to “perfect” our holiness.  Later he tells
Timothy that women should “continue” in holiness.  All
of which suggests that holiness is a lifelong process.
Righteousness, on the other hand, is right standing
with God.  And as you correctly state, in God’s eyes a
Christian is just as righteous at the beginning of his
life as at the end.

Christ was perfectly and unchangingly righteous and
holy, yet Scripture describes Him as “growing” in
wisdom and in favor with God.  Saying that He was the
same at the end as at the beginning, while certainly
true of His divinity, is certainly false of His
humanity.

I find it very interesting that Paul “beseeches” us to
present our bodies to God as a holy sacrifice (Romans
12:1).  In the next verse he tells to be transformed
by the renewing of our minds.  Both of these imply
that for Christians, holiness and transformation are
ongoing processes demanding our attention and effort,
and resulting in what I would describe as “growth.”

My point is that while there is true that our
righteousness must come only from Christ, personal
growth is something that we very much have a hand in.
And I should certainly hope that my friends will see a
different (better?) Quinton at the end of my life than
they do right now.  You could describe that process as
conformity to an inward reality, but I find it much
more useful (and less cumbersome) to describe it as
growth, pure and simple.  That’s my take.  If you’ve
got a problem with any of it, let me know.

So what do you all think?  I do not agree 100%, but the explanation
of the difference between righteousness and holiness I found very
useful during Bible study.

do you ever?

This is a tad revealing, but do you ever just want to kill someone- or something?
Oh. Yeah, I don't either.
It's not really that I'm violent, I just have so much energy pent up... I am probably the most intense person I know. That's somewhat embarassing. Why can't I just be like normal people~ "ohh, how nice!" "ohh, that's sweet!" "ohh, honey! i'm so glad to see you." "ohh, no~ i've been mis-understood. welll, that's all right, everything will be fine in the end." I guess, though, that if I were more passive I would not recognize my Intense need to rely upon Christ. To RUN to Him, not walk. To Throw myself at His feet, Desperate for Him, not politely request His aid. Have you ever gone to bed so emotionally exhausted that you are nearly gasping for air? Not physically, neccessarily, but spiritually? And you haven't read the Word since that morning, or maybe you have, but you still feel like you are so thirsty or hungry that you just have to devour the Scripture until you begin to breathe normally again and you start praying and just talking to God, and then curl up with your Bible and turn out the light and fall into beautiful, peaceful, spiritual sleep? Anyway... God is near to those who seek Him. And I realize that I have been really selfish lately. I haven't realized it (isn't that the point?), but it was very obvious today. If you happen to be reading this and have been around me or affected by it, please forgive me. I am very sorry and commit to allowing the Lord to work on me. I get so proud, and mean. I am so excited to see my big brother!!!! He graduates from OCS on 12/2 and my family will be there to pick him up!!!!
Love you all!!
H.M.
(can you guess??)

I love you Jesus. So much.

but for Christ

let me not be bold, but for Christ.
let me not be good, but for Christ.
let me not care, but for Christ.
let me not love, but for Christ.
let me not give, but for Christ.
let me not be virtuous, but for Christ.
let me not laugh, but for Christ.
let me not smile, but for Christ!
let me not be happy, but for Christ!
let me not be angry, but for Christ.
let me not be jealous, but for Christ.
let me not sing, but for Christ.
let me not cry, but for Christ.
let me not dance, but for Christ only!
let me not study, but for Christ.
let me not seek wisdom, but for Christ.
let me not make friends, but for Christ.
let me not speak, but for Christ.
let me not keep silent, but for Christ.
let me not shout, but for Christ!
let me not work, but for Christ.
let me not rest, but in Christ.
let me not share, but for Christ.
let me not hope, but in Christ.
let me not worship, but for Christ.
let me not know, but Christ.
let me not be known, but Christ.
let me not be known, but of Christ.
let me not be seen, but Christ.
let me pray, for the Father Himself loveth me.
let me not live, but for Christ.
let me not breath, but for Christ.
let me not be, but for Christ.
In Christ alone I live, and breathe, and have my being.

I was driving home yesterday evening and just began to speak to God and to enjoy His fellowship. This prayer just came out- let me not be bold, O God, but for Christ! Then I considered what that meant and began to pray and let the Spirit flow through. I realized that all character is void but for Christ- except when for Christ, and in Him and through Him. Eternal value is stripped of anything I do or am- but for Christ. The prayer became intense, God doesn't mind it that I'm intense- it is by Him and for Him! Worship flowed through my heart as I prayed and I ended up singing praises to Him the rest of the way home. Now why do I ever turn on my radio?

amazing

wow y'all, i'm afraid that words cannot begin to describe the past few weeks. sometimes life seems difficult and discouraging, and we choose to rejoice in the Lord through it. but sometimes, life is so exciting and wonderful and fun that you're barely holding on and you Just Can't Stop praising God! believe it or not, the centre/ starting point for the excitement has been the OTC- Oklahoma Training Center. yep, it's true. several weeks ago a large group from the tc went to sonic. on the way home rebecca linzey, jonathan jessup, and i split from the group and walked around the downtown for several hours. rebecca and i had not explored the area at all, so everything was new to us, and jonathan was our able guide. returning to the tc we found most of the rest of the group awake and sat down with them for 2-3 hours of conversation. since that evening we have repeated the basic schedule over and over... except the jaunts and following tc lobby/dining room conversations have grown to 6-8 hour sessions. the groups tend to varry slightly each time, at least for a while, but we've kept the 'becca, shannon, jonathan core- we are hoping that calvin will continue to join us. anyway, we laugh so hard so often it makes all of our sides hurt. yup, we're hurting All of our sides. how Good it is to worship God together!!!! ~loving every minute