Dirt

Tomorrow morning I will be leaving to begin a summer of work at church camps. The task has been daunting and the idle time I have spent at home has sometimes seemed like degeneration. I truly believe that the worst thing we can do with our lives is be idle. At least if we are making mistakes we have the opportunity to learn from them. When we are idle it takes the grace of God through a thump on the head to get moving again.

With all the idle time, I have been consumed with the idea of preparing for the ministry that is before me. It was only a year ago that I was a camper, how can I expect to be Christ to these kids? I will playing the drums all summer but it is more than playing the drums, how do I play the drums for God and not get in the way of other people's experience? How do I stay humble through it all when pride is one of my biggest weaknesses? How do I have the energy to get up everyday for the rest of the summer and be enthusiastic for these people? How do I invest in someone with a totally different background than me? How do I memorize all the good scripture necessary? How do I live like the shining example of Jesus Christ that I am expected to?

All these questions lead me on a spiral downward. I begin to look back at all the "dirt" in my life. I look back at times where I hurt others, where I said something stupid, where I tried so hard to fit in that I broke my own values or someone's heart, where I struggled with lust, where I lost faith that God even existed? The path leads me through a house of horrors that features the worst of my sins. These sins present me inadequate for the task before me. I'm sure everyone reading this has been there before. How could such a fallen creature hope to bring glory to a perfect God?

Then I saw this video. Please watch it all the way through to the end and listen to the lyrics. It is truly powerful.

 

I know this summer is going to be amazing because I trust that God can do amazing things through me. I will choose not to take into account my dirt because God chooses not too! It is such an amazing thing to understand that the greatest heroes of the faith had their own dirt and that it was only through their faith in God, not in themselves, that they were able to bring Glory to him and do great things on this earth. God washes away our dirt and grime and gives a new identity. That Identity is in Christ Jesus.

Jesus lives in me, and though I have my dirt, he does not see it. My chains are broken and I must remind myself again that the key to victorious living is understanding that Jesus Christ has already won.