Cling to Christ

Wow, what an encouraging read today on Desiring God by Rachel Pieh Jones!  Being a woman in the midst of diapers, pregnancy, and training clinging is about all my brain can handle at times.  I'm pretty sure her points could fit for any stage of life but in particular the article is talking about the early child rearing stage.

Her first two points based off of Romans 7:

In a sense, we are obligated to obey the whole law, and to obey perfectly.

In our own strength, we are totally hopeless, unable to do the good we want to do.

Hit me hard, as a parent and as a mom with a diabetic kid.  I want to perfectly obey Christ in the raising of our children; I want to control Marian's blood sugars to give her the best care possible for her health and her ability to grow as a child of Christ (high and low blood sugars tend to make obedience even more difficult).  The past two days have been rough, with both my children.  A feeling of total helplessness has crept in.  Which in so many ways is so good for me!  My tendency in sin is to control and want to see kids that love Jesus and perfect blood sugar numbers achieved on my own (not really possible, just an fyi).  

Her last few points from Romans 7 point to the Cross and Christ:

By faith in the gospel, we are united to Christ, we have died with Christ, therefore we are dead to the law and, by the grace of God and the power of the Spirit, now treasure Christ.

By faith in the gospel, we are united to Christ, we have been raised with Christ, therefore we can begin to bear spiritual fruit.

Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord! — we are justified from the guilt of our sin.

Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord! — the power of sin to rule over our lives is broken.

And yet I live a divided life in the tension between what I want to do and what I so often do or fail to do.

Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord! — who will one day liberate me completely from the presence of all sin!

Thank you God for the chance to Cling to Christ! 

To read the entire article:
Diapers, Nursing, and Clinging to Christ