Ron Paul, Rage and Ripped Workouts

Ok.  For the record.  I like to exercise.  Some who know me may scoff at this because I haven't done it much in the last year.  But I do.  The burn.  The sense of accomplishment.  The stress relief.  Winning.

However today I reached a whole new level of pain.  Matt, also known as The Man Who Will Murder Me.  Or TMWWM.  Humm.  That's long.  How about....My Certain Death.  MCD.  Perfect.  So MCD and I had our first workout today.  By workout I mean fitness test.  And by fitness test I mean torture.  I'm joking around here clearly, but not being able to go down stairs tonight with out saying some choice words is no joke.  I had no idea how out of shape I was.  Matt says that he can turn me around in 4 weeks.  I believe him.  That man has muscles in places God never put them.  MCD is not going to cut me any slack though.  In order to get where I'm going I am gonna have to hurt.  And work.  And if I don't put in that work I'm not gonna see results.

How easy is it to see the metaphor here? 

This week I had a situation arise in my life.  One that's not super new.  It's kind of repeat.  Not in the terrible effects of the lives it touches, but in the nature of what it is.  I have to be vague here because it's not my story primarily to tell.  The point isn't the story though.  The point is the immense and consuming rage I feel.   Here's the truth.  Every human being is broken and needs Jesus.  Especially those of us who call ourselves his people.  Being rescued doesn't make us better or holier.  Than anyone, be that each other or people who don't know God.   Christians who act like they have got it together and their check list is longer or their church is better or whatever make me sick.  I have never seen the rottenness at the heart of it so clearly as I have this week.   You guys have heard me rant and rave against legalism before so this is not new.  But every situation shocks me with the new depths of self delusion that go into working your way into heaven. 

Here's the deal.  Jesus says:  A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. (NLT Luke 6)  If a person who calls themselves a Christian is not putting in the work of self denial, repentance, love and relationship with God it doesn't matter what size the church is or how many verses they know or how many 'Good' things they do.  The rottenness at the core comes out eventually.  The results spring from the effort put in.  I rage because I've seen too many lives hurt.  Too much damage done by those who call themselves Kingdom people.  They are blind guides who lead others into more blindness. 

So this week I've been trying to master my rage over the situation that has made itself known to me.  My speaking off the top of my head is not usually beneficial to anyone.  See last week's Ron Paul comments. God gave me this yesterday morning:

Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them.  Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”(Isaiah 30)

So I'm waiting to hear the voice behind me say this is the way.  But I'm gonna sprint in it.   Being that I'm gonna be in shape and all. ;)