Easter

At the end of this week we will be celebrating Easter, my personal favorite of all the holidays because of its significance.  What makes it really nice too is that there is far less fanfare and materialism demonstrated during this season.  You don't have to spend a month or more preparing your house or your shopping list or your wallet for this particular day.  Yet, to celebrate it well, you do have to prepare your heart. 

Over the weekend, while Doug has been away at a men's retreat, the Lord has been doing just that with me.  I would be doing some of the most mundane things such as folding clothes, washing dishes, sweeping, or whatnot, and I would hear a still small voice in my head make a comment about the thought that I'd just been thinking.  "Kim, that was a very judgmental thing to think," the voice would say.  Or, "Kim, did you hear how impatient you seemed in that thought?" Or even, "Kim, did you just hear how you sounded?  That was not a very loving thing to consider."  Mind you, these weren't even words I'd spoken.  They were merely thoughts which had not even left my lips.  The Lord was there and was picking through them one-by-one. 

When He says that we're to live above reproach, we're to love as He loves, we're to be holy because He is holy, He really means it.  Just because we don't express our evil thoughts or we don't act on our sinful impulses doesn't mean that we're free from fault or sin.  Christ told us that even if he harbor hate or malice or lust in our hearts, we're still guilty. 

I'm beginning to see that the Lord is ruthless when it comes to getting me to live like Him.  He wants me to really and truly love those around me, regardless of whether they deserve it or whether they appreciate it.  I am to love because that's what He did and does.  Being a Christian is not going to church (though it may and should include that), and it is not wearing a cross around your neck (though I personally do), and it is not having a quiet time daily reading the Bible (though it does play a huge role in how your walk looks and how you become transformed). 

Being a Christian is knowing the Lord Jesus and clinging to Him.  It is loving Him with one's whole heart, mind, soul, and strength.  It is confessing Him as not just Savior but as Lord.  Being a Christian is not knowing the right answers but it is knowing the right God.  It is putting Him and His desires first in one's life.  Does He get that from you? 

May you discover who He is in this season.  He's so worth knowing.....

Blessings, kim