Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Be the Possum...

...and Die that You Might Live! Along with the help of a few short clips from the movie "Over the Hedge" that was the message of my sermon on Sunday. Here are a few of my favorite lines from it that impacted me...

"After all death isn't exactly something we typically look forward to. It’s hard to picture any of us longing to sit down and have a cup of coffee at Starbucks with the Grim Reaper…we often fear it, do all we can to avoid it, and rarely are we truly ready for it. Death often creates grief, sadness, despair, even loneliness. It doesn’t make the Travel Channel’s list of Top 10 vacation destinations yet it is exactly what Jesus calls us to…"

"...when we are buried with Christ we come up out of the waters with new garments on…the wardrobe of compassion, kindness, humility, discipline, peace, and love. They are clothes that may not compare to the latest trends or create considerable buzz in fashion circles, but they are Christ’s clothes and God longs to tailor us that these clothes might continue to fit as we grow."

"The ironic (even crazy) thing about it all is that we live in ways that allow our fear of death to shackle us, when all along Christ’s message of dying to self would truly bring us freedom!"

"Sometimes our dying to self is nothing more than a performance for others to see. However, the last thing we should want to do is make it about putting on a show for others because in the end it’s still about us. We haven’t really died to self. We haven’t fully done away with our old way of life. We can’t stand by and allow the world to run us over and flatten our witness!"


Dying to self is something I have to continually work on each and every day. It can be very difficult and painful but the life that follows the death is worth the struggle. I only hope that as God works on this piece of clay more and more, I too can share in Paul's words..."My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me."


May Christ's life be evident in mine as I continue to learn how to die!

2 comments:

Stephanie said...

"May Christ's life be evident in mine" . . . it is, Michael, it is.

You are a blessing to everyone who knows you.

Anonymous said...

Echo to what my mother said...and I'm sure if possums could be blessed, you'd bless them too!

Love ya pal.

Tell Sara to update her blog PLEASE!