Today's discussion centers on the concept of transformation in our lives as we explore the theme "Quit Making Mud Pies." Drawing from 2 Corinthians 5:17, I emphasize that anyone in Christ becomes a new creation, leaving the past behind and embracing a fresh start. We often limit ourselves by clinging to old habits and attitudes, but this episode encourages us to let go and seek a deeper relationship with Jesus. Through insightful quotes from C.S. Lewis, I highlight the importance of moving beyond superficial faith to experience the fullness of life that God intends for us. Join me as we reflect on these changes and strive for a life of irresistible holiness and joy.
Takeaways:
In Christ, we become new creations, leaving our past behind, and embracing a fresh start.
True holiness is not dull; rather, it is an irresistible way of living that draws others to God.
Pursuing a deeper relationship with Jesus leads to unexpected joys and spiritual novelties in life.
Building a friendship with Jesus requires intentional effort, similar to nurturing any meaningful relationship.
Letting go of worldly distractions allows us to truly embrace the rich spiritual life God offers.
As we exchange our mud pies for a life of purpose, we find true joy and fulfillment.
Hi, welcome to the Hobo Soul podcast of road advice from the Bible and from me, Yvon Prehn, someone who's a little further down the road of life. I'll talk to you every weekday for about five to 10 minutes, with periodic longer talks on serious Saturdays.
Let's get started with our topic today, which is episode 39, Quit Making Mud Pies.
Our verse for today is 2nd Corinthians 5:17 in the Phillips translation, and here's what it says.
"If any man, in other words, any person, male or female, is in Christ, he or she becomes a new person altogether. The past is finished and gone. Everything has become fresh and new.
All this is God's doing, for he has reconciled us to Himself through Christ Jesus and He has made us agents of reconciliation."
Easter's come and gone, and with it we're starting a new series and a slightly new format for the Hobo Soul podcast.
I'll begin each episode with a key verse, perhaps a quote, and then straight into some comments on it. Now, the mud pie exchange that I'm talking about comes at the end of this episode, so do please bear with me.
As I said yesterday, the first couple of weeks of content that I'll be going over are inspired by the poem the Fasting Life that encourages us to make various exchanges in our Christian life, from the negative to the positive attitudes and attributes we can have as followers of Jesus and those who share in his new life. But before I start, I've got some of what I hope is really inspirational motivation for you as I encourage all of us to make these changes.
Change is never easy, and sometimes a bit of additional inspiration and encouragement helps. The inspiration that I'll be sharing comes from a collection of three quotes that motivated me from a C.S. Lewis book I recently treated myself to.
I really didn't need any other books and I told myself that. And then I heard about this one and I couldn't resist.
But it is a newly published collection of excerpts from his correspondence entitled Letters on Living the Faith. I am enjoying it so much and I wanted to share some of them with you. So here they are.
The first quote is from an excerpt entitled True holiness is not Dull, but Irresistible. It goes on to quote Lewis, who said,
"How little people know who think that holiness is dull when one meets the real thing."
And then in parentheses he says sadly, "and perhaps, like you, I've only met it once. It is true holiness that is irresistible."
This quote both inspires me and rebukes me.
I've talked at other times and in other podcasts about how holiness, true holiness, means being set apart for God and should be a really beautiful thing. But I admit that when I was talking about that, I was focused on it in a kind of selfish way.
Lewis reminds us that when we're living the life, truly living the life we were created to live, set apart for God in a beautiful, freedom, productive, joyful and peaceful way. And that is what defines holiness, that it is irresistible. It isn't just for us to bask in and enjoy.
It should have an outward focus to it beyond all our arguments and lessons, simply living that kind of life where we become an irresistible representative of Jesus. That's the primary reason God, God makes us holy and wants us to be holy.
And that's, as I thought about it, what I'm really praying that this upcoming series of podcasts will help us to be. Now then, his second quote is a great reminder of how continuing to grow and mature is a natural part of the Christian life.
A good reminder that no matter how great our experience of the new life of Easter, there's always more. And here's what he said.
"How little they know of Christianity who think that the story ends with conversion.
Novelties we never dreamed of may await at every turn of the road."
I love that phrase, novelties we never dreamed of. And that can be so true of the Christian life.
But I don't think it's a guarantee if we just grab the goody of salvation and hoard it in secret until we cash it in upon death as sort of a ticket to avoid hell, and then don't really get to know the Giver of our salvation other than this first introduction or give an honest try to try to find out the life that he planned for us, we condemn ourselves to really rather dreary lives.
This isn't so different from our experience in any relationship.
I think God designed all of life as a sort of a template, a hint of what experiences can be like with Him.
And I think getting to know a person, which is really much easier, than getting to know God, teaches us how to do it, how to get to know him better. We get to practice with people, you might say works like this.
If we meet someone for the first time and for many reasons, often because of mutual interest, we decide to become friends. But for that relationship to into a friendship from a mere acquaintance won't happen if we don't intentionally work on building a relationship.
We have to spend time together. So we talk, we talk some more, we spend more time together. Eventually we get to know the person we know what they like or don't like.
We get to go to events that are important to them. We meet their friends. We find out about their favorite things and what they don't like at all.
If we ignore them, or if we aren't honest, or if we refuse to go to any sort of event with them, our relationship won't grow. The analogy to our relationship to Jesus is obvious.
We've got to talk to him in prayer, listen to him through His Word, and be involved in activities he cares about with his church and his people. And when we do that, we discover that he is a friend like no other. And as C.S.Lewis says, our relationship will then give us novelties we never dreamed of.
These can be insights into His Word that we've never seen before, or in events in our lives where it's obvious that God brought about an outcome or an encounter that we couldn't imagine happening without his intervention. But we need to show up in the relationship for this to happen, and we need to be willing to exchange perhaps an attitude or a way we spend our time.
Or maybe we need to redo a personal priority for the truly wonderful to happen. The final quote by Lewis is an encouragement when we're hesitant to do that, to do this sort of thing, to make these kind of changes.
And here it is, he says,
"When we speak of detachment from worldly interests, we mean it, of course, as only a preliminary for attachment to spiritual things. All the Christian demands are, in the end, positive-- to receive, take, embrace something. And the negative is only a means to that.
As one might say to a child, stop making that mud pie and come for a holiday to the sea."
Making mud pies? Isn't that a great description of what we do in much of our lives?
But Jesus has far better plans for us that we'll explore in the next few days as we talk about some great exchanges. Join me as we set aside making mud pies and work to build a life of irresistible holiness and joy as we develop our friendship with Jesus.
That's all for this podcast, for transcripts, links to related material, and much more to help you learn to know, trust, apply and teach the bible. Go to www.Bible805.com.
For now, let me end with this benediction and prayer.
May you walk each day surrounded by the gracious love of the Father, guided by the gentle wisdom of the Holy Spirit, and conscious of the astoundingly real presence of Jesus, who will walk with you until you're no more a hobo soul, no more a transient wandering ark. But at home in the kingdom prepared for you with your God forever. Amen.
