How do I go on?

How do I keep on
when my good works aren't good enough
when my spirituality isn't spiritual enough
when my heart is breaking
and everyone's a critic?

Comments

LouAnneL said…
You remember the One who dances over you with singing
the One who views you through the rose colored lens of salvation
not through a critical lens of judgment

You remember you are the apple of His eye
He will complete the work He began in you
and no one
no thing
no human frailty can keep Him from it

You remember while all the earth gives way His love remains steadfast and sure
a shelter in the storm

You remember what you already know and walk by faith
not by sight
Ancoti said…
Grace. It is all we can look to, and fortunately, more than enough to meet our needs and get us through.
Betsy Markman said…
You cling, and cling, but remember that even when your grip fails, you are held up by the Everlasting Arms which were underneath you all along.

You pour out your grief, knowing that it's inevitable that Eliphaz and his cohorts will show up and judge you, but God will deal with them for their wrong counsel. When He comes in His whirlwind and meets you face to face, it will be you that He addresses directly, not them. And in the light of His face, all will become clear.

You remember that NO ONE's works are good enough, NO ONE's spirituality is spiritual enough. But it is only those blessed by God who get to see that reality. They are the ones He rescues from self-sufficiency and inducts into the secret place of His sufficiency. You will find rest there, in His time.

He loves you.
Andi said…
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Eph. 2:4-9

Consider Jesus who is the Author and Perfecter of our faith. And "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful." Heb. 10:23
Karin said…
Excellent answers by all those who wisely commented. I have nothing to add! JESUS and He alone is enough!
Kent Island Red said…
Dear Laurie,

The first response that came to mind was this passage of Scripture:

"Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."
Matthew 11:28
Laurie M. said…
Thanks for all the words of encouragement - all of you.
haithabu said…
No scripture, just a few words from a chorus:

He is all my righteousness, I stand complete in Him, and worship Him...
Kerri said…
Laurie, I have battled this my whole Christian life, the voice of the accuser in my ears bringing up my sins to me-some that are real and I know all to well and some that he made up to keep me off balance and constantly looking inward to myself and not to Christ. I hesitated to answer your post because I almost felt like I could write you a book, err, well, at least a blog post... Maybe I will... Hmmmm..

Anyway, the first thing for me is to ask GOD (not the accuser, not myself)if there is something specific for me to ask forgiveness for, and to give me the grace to repent. If nothing SPECIFIC comes to mind and there is just this general feeling of condemnation, I tell him to go away. I start worshiping and praising God and not looking at myself because that is the opposite of his goal. It usually dissipates.

If there is something to repent of, I pray, ask forgiveness and try to restore the relationship with my Father and then go on.

In the face of reoccurring sin that I am struggling with (and I have plenty) I remind myself of Micah 7:7-9

"Therefore I will look unto the Lord: I will wait for God my Savior: My God will hear me. Rejoice not against me O mine enemy: Though I fall, I shall arise, when I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me. I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He plead my cause and execute justice for me: then will He bring me forth to the light and I shall see His righteousness."

I don't want to pretend that I know all about what your going through but if it is something like what I have gone through realize that it is a spiritual warfare thing and the goal is to rob you of what ever treasure you have in Christ and destroy your ability to destroy your role in the Lord's kingdom. I know this may seem a little radical-really, I'm, well, kind of normal. But I have found in dealing with the enemy's voice it is best not to play around.

Blessings! :)
Wendy said…
Laurie,
You have stood up for what is right. You have shared openly and honestly.
I just linked back to a post of yours, and came here to let you know.
Thank you for bringing light to places that can't be dark any longer.
Laurie M. said…
Kerri,
That's not so radical really. In fact, I follow much the same practice. But first I have to recognize what's going on, which I don't always do right away. Sometimes it takes several days to realize it.

One thing I know is that "conviction" is always focused. When it comes I know exactly what I've done and what I need to repent of. "Condemnation" is not like that at all, it's this vague all-over thing that no soul-searching and nit-picking can remedy.

The other problem is when the critics are real voices of real people, either voices speaking in judgment now, or remembered voices of judgments made in the past (my own or those of others). "With the judgment you pronounce you will be judged." This is a warning to legalists - and having been one I can speak to the truth of this statement.
Laurie M. said…
Living Creatively,

Thanks so much for stopping by, and for leaving words of encouragement.

When I wrote this little poem, if you can call it that, it was really just rhetorical. (At my husband's encouragement I'm experimenting with different modes of expression.) The last thing I expected was such a response!

God has blessed me with lovely friends.

Popular posts from this blog

in which I discuss the unthinkable

I forgave you a long time ago...

"It is finished!" ...and I am free...