The Measure of Progress

The Lord has been waking me up in the morning with ideas. I surely know that something is coming. The what and when are unclear but all that matters is the fact that its coming. And what to do in the meantime? Love Him with all of my heart,soul, mind and strength and love my neighbor as myself. Live a life of love. Write down what He tells me. Go where He is leading. Do what He is doing.

In times of uncertainty we need know only this one thing. We need to always be where God is because wherever He is, is where change will be. The God who changes not has the keen ability to change us and the seasons and the circumstances we find ourselves to be in. In that promise, we find hope and all we'll ever need.

Sometimes we don't see what needs to happen until we have a purer form to serve as pattern. When we see that example to go by, we understand how deeply in the depths we have settled and subsequently gotten stuck. Wheels that spin are not the main objective. For whether traveling a thousand miles, or being stuck in mud tires will spin the same. We sometimes look at our lives and see the spinning wheels as progress. And so we pat ourselves on the back. But progress is not the spinning of wheels. Therefore they cannot be our measuring stick. It is the way of the heart. Have we learned what it is to truly love? Have we learned to give selflessly to others? Have we learned that our word is our bond? Have we remembered the psalm that we are to keep our oath even when it hurts (Psalm 15)? Do we love, serve, teach, obey, lead and follow?

That is what measures progress. Sanctification is about one day at a time. If we are not closer to the likeness of Jesus today than yesterday, we have made inverse progress. We regress.

I once heard it said by a friend that true love is the desire of your heart while counterfeit love settles and justifies problems. Too many problems have been justified. Too many instances have been "settle for"s. Who determines what amount is too many? One justification is too much. The rest are bonuses. For this is the only justification we need:

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5:1-5

Movement cannot be our progress. Our own justification cannot be our righteousness. We cannot be our own stability.

We need Jesus.

This is why any relationship or circumstance that employs these tactics must be examined carefully. Any place these means are used is attempting to replace Christ and His grace with a human means of adequacy. But they could never be adequate. Because we need Him.