Soul Oxygen

 

"I can’t expect any other person to be my soul oxygen..."

That's how the online devotional I read this morning starts. Interesting, but where is this person going?

The link to the full thing is below - take a look! It's from Lysa TerKeurst. I've not read any of her books, but Vanessa has, and thinks HIGHLY of her and her writing. I've heard heard on a podcast as well and ALWAYS enjoy it!

But this one's not for me, right? I am not 'dependent' on others for my 'soul oxygen,' right?

Well...

I want to pull this out...

"I don’t like to ache. In any way. One of my aches is from my deep Italian fondness for anything pasta. I mean for real, I love pasta, but it does not love me back. So, I have to make the choice not to risk the temporary pleasure of my taste buds for what will surely be hours of rebellion in my stomach. My flesh begs me to believe that short-term happiness is worth the long-term misery.

But I’ve discovered something about defeating the flesh. If I fill my stomach with healthy foods before being tempted with the pasta, I can say no. It’s so much easier to turn away a dish of pasta if you’re completely full already. But if you are desperately hungry, a dish of just about anything is hard to turn away. Our souls and our stomachs are alike in this way."

Okay - wow - yes, Lysa T., that's for me. No, not the food reference, LOL, but the fact that if I don't guard my heart and make sure it's filled with HIS love and guidance that I will tend to go off on my own, and we all know what happens when man is left to his own devices... See Adam, Cain, Lot, et al.

She also says, "When we have Christ, we are full — fully loved and accepted and empowered to say no.   This is true on the days we feel it and still true when we don’t feel Jesus’ love at all." Wow - what a reminder... It's like the preacher said during one of his latest 12 minute talks (LOL - inside joke there), the WORD is true when we feel it, and it's true when we don't feel it (okay, I'm paraphrasing). The fact that Jesus loves us is true at all times, and it's a belief and a knowledge, and NOT dependent on emotion or 'how we feel' that day.

So are you full? Or are you stuffing your soul trying to GET satisfied?

Toward the end, she writes...

"There is power in really knowing this. This isn’t dependent on what you’ve accomplished. Or on another person loving you or accepting you. Nor is it because you always feel full.

You are full, because Christ brought the fullness to you."

There it is! That's the crux of it! Just like Salvation itself, Christ brought it to us - it's a gift from Him - we just have to accept it. Easy? Not necessarily. The flesh is constantly at war with the spirit, but it doesn't change the simple truth!

God Bless YOU, gentle reader...

Full text here