In the Sixth Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, we hear the following: " . . . Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him . . . " (Romans 6:3 ff) I would imagine that just about all of us have been in the position at one point or another in our life where we had the feeling that we had hit "rock bottom." Perhaps it came when we had lost a job unexpectedly. Maybe it came about when we struggled with a difficult project that fell apart and had to start all over again. Maybe it had involved health issues or the death of a family member or a close friend. Nonetheless, whatever circumstances we can think of, I am sure that most of us have had the feeling at one point or another that our world came crashing in on us. I know I have felt that way a time or two in my life. I have found myself struggling with some issue and everything seems to go wrong all at once and I feel like the whole world is crashing in on top of my head. But then afterwards I moved forward and the world brightened. In other words, I had to go through the darkest hours in order to finally see the light of dawn ahead of me. And then everything seemed to improve and things got better and better and better . . . . . Sometimes, as I say, we have to hit rock bottom in order to move forward. Sometimes by struggling and going through the darkness, we are able to get stronger and learn from our difficulties. We become strong through our struggles, it would seem. We learn from our mistakes . . . . or at least we should learn from our mistakes. When I look back on my life, I realize now that it was the struggles that made me a stronger human being. It was the times when things seemed the worse, that I was able to move forward and grow stronger. Although we may not want to admit it, it seems like the best "teacher" is to learn from our mistakes.
This is what we are also hearing from today's passage from the Epistle to the Romans, that through death to sin we are able to live again with Christ. It is through dying to self that we can live with Christ. It is through dying that we can live. We must never forget that Christ did not experience Easter Morning without first carrying His Cross to the hill at Calvary. The same is true for us. We can not truly live in Christ until we have died to our sinful ways. And for most us, this is painful whether we want to admit it or not. As human beings, we want things our way. We want people to do things the way we want them to be done. We want to be comfortable. We desire our wants and we want them right now. We focus on our own needs and desires and forget about what God wants for us. Most of us, quite frankly, only go running to God when we need Him for something. Other than that, we go our own way in life. But sin is a barrier that keeps us away from God. Sin is like a brick wall that we keep running into time and time and time again. We have to remove the brick wall of sin in order not to run into it again. And once we do this. Once we die to our sinful selves. Once we do all we can to get rid of the sinful desires in our life, it allows us to focus more and more on God and less and less on ourselves.
Join the Anglican Church of the Holy Spirit on Sunday, July 12th, 2015 as we gather together to worship Our Heavenly Father. Join us as we listen to God's Word found in the King James Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. Join us as we receive the Most Precious Body and Blood of Our Blessed Saviour at Communion time to nourish us and sustain us in our Christian journey.
St. Margaret of Scotland worships at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis. Mass begins at 9:30 AM.
Holy Spirit worships at the beautiful, historic First Presbyterian Church , which is located at 116 W. South Street, at the corner of South and Pennsylvania Streets in Greenfield, Indiana. Mass begins at 1:00 PM.
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