Twilight

Up early, as is my ritual… but as I sit this morning reflecting, I’m unsettled…
Do you ever feel pushed, pulled, dragged along by inertia… riding atop the ripples in the water and worse yet, knowing that you were the one who created the movement with your own hand… and now, you are powerless to stop it. I know you have been there too.

We all experience that familiar visit from Doubt. Doubt quietly, comes unassumingly, pitter pattering up the walk and gently tapping at the door. Without a thought or voice of objection, we choose to entertain him. We say, “Sit down and be comfortable here on my couch. Let me fix you tea and a tray of sugared nuts”… And before the kettle has begun to sputter, Fear, his close companion, is banging on the door… loud, brash unsettling and demanding to be let in. Of course, we let him in as well, saying once again, “please sit down next to my good friend and be comforted”, as you run for cup and tray… bustling about in the kitchen, in a terrible frenzied, frantic hurry. But then you notice as the tea is barely steeped, that the colors have all but faded, quite subtly in fact… you are groping in the dark, gray, mist of twilight.

Like the sky before the dawn
While the night is holding on
Sun and moon together in the gray

So my soul is shared by two
The worst of me, the best of You
Saint and sinner mingle in my veins
And I pray You’ll end this twilight

Twilight, twilight
I’m torn inside my soul tonight
The dawning Day, the dying night
Oh rid my soul of twilight
Oh rid my soul of twilight

Living the life of a Christ-Follower, at times is confusing. I admit. After we make the commitment to reject the old ways, turn, repent and then covenant with Christ we become new, a new creation, but deep down, we still expect it to be easy. We know the old dies and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17) which means change. But we commit and begin wholeheartedly; we and God… start the process of weaning from the world. We reject the old notions of safety, comfort, stability, ease and security but sometimes as we go along when it’s really hard and we are sick or tired or both, we find ourselves in the twilight, longing for the light of day to dawn. “When will the light appear”, we beg in our prayers. “It should have come by now… Did you forget me Lord?

No, He hasn’t forgotten…I have.

We have comfort and safety and security in our Lord. The verse tells us, reminds us… reminds me, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come”
(2 Corinthians 5: 17).

To be “in Christ”, means to be united to Christ as the branch is in the vine – that is, so united to the vine as to receive ALL nourishment and support. “Every branch in me” (John 15: 2) must “abide in me, and I in you. The branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me” (John 15: 4).

To be “in Christ” also denotes such a close union, bond that ALL strength is derived from Him; and further, that we take on His fullness as the branch receives the strength and vigor of the parent vine. “We put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph 4: 24). The idea is, that we are so renewed as to become “like” God, or the divine image of God is restored to our soul. The idea is also given in Colossians 3:9, we are “renewed in knowledge after “the image” of Him that created.”

This new man is created, out of confusion and emptiness, by God’s power and His mighty arm, whose workmanship is truly excellent and beautiful. We put on the new self created after God, in imitation of Him, and in conformity to that grand exemplar and pattern. The loss of God’s image upon the soul was both the sinfulness and misery of our fallen state; and that resemblance which it bears to God is the beauty, the glory, and the happiness, of the new creature.

So what does this mean…. And what are we to do with these unwanted and obtrusive guests making themselves at home in the house, in God’s holy temple… we must throw them out; out the door, they must go! We are in Christ. We are a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come…

Good I love but evil’s done
Good intentions come undone
Good to know I know the One
Who saves me from myself and

(chorus)
Oh Lord, paint my heart a solid hue
The shade of You
Oh Lord, break this dreadful in between
Inside of me
Oh let it be morning

I know the sun is coming up
Oh, the sun is coming up
Yes, the Son is coming up
In me, in me
“Twilight” Shawn Groves