What does it mean to "cling to Christ"? It's a common phrase that all of you use, but rarely "unpack" (another common one, right up there with "preaching the gospel to yourself"). I asked Christian about it the other day, and now I'm going to take a stab at putting it into my own words, to see if I really have any sort of grasp of what you're all talking about.
I gave it a quick shot in the worship guide, saying, "He promises that if we submit ourselves to him, trust in him, grab hold of him as the one thing we can't live without, he will take care of the rest. He knows what he's doing. He will not fail us." Is that it? Grabbing hold of him as the one thing we can't live without? And then everything else starts to fall into place...
How do you grab hold of (or cling) to someone who seems so far away? I know Jesus is a person, that he's as real as you and I are, but like Thomas, I have a hard time getting a grip on it without the "My Lord and my God!" moment. Also, it's hard not to try to do it just so that things will start to fall into place. We're back to the motivations thing again.
He has to reveal himself to me. That's the bottom line, right? And I just have to keep asking, and looking for the answers, however unlikely or unexpected they may appear to me. But I can't do it by myself. He has to step in and change my heart. Isn't that right? I can't just "cling to Christ" because I feel like it, or because that's what people tell me is the key to my moving forward in my faith. The ball's in his court. I just have to keep waiting, keep asking, keep trusting, looking, listening, repenting, submitting... And one morning the light will come on, and I'll understand what you've been talking about all this time.
Is it a process, or a transformative moment? Or different for everybody? Will I know it when I see it? Will it slip away just like all the other moments God has shown up and then vanished again? When I find it, how do I hang onto it? Is every day going to be this hard? I know that faith is a daily thing, that (like love, supposedly) it's a decision you make each morning. But does it ever get easier? Maybe a better way to say it is, does it get more natural? More like breathing and less like beating your head against the wall?
That's a lot of questions, and they don't all require answers. I just need someone to bounce all these ideas off of before my head explodes.
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I think the essence of what it means to "cling to Christ" is when you believe with your heart that he is present in the midst of your hardship. It means choosing to believe that he is good and that he is with you and that he is doing something in you through whatever hardship you are facing.
ReplyDeleteWhat does it mean practically? It means that when you are going through hardship, you resist the temptation to cling to other things that give you comfort - like staying in bed, like moping, like drinking (or whatever else you seek comfort in instead of Christ). Instead you seek Christ by serving others, by letting others in, by praying.
Hope that helps a little bit.
Now, this answer is tremendously helpful and practical. Thank you for taking the time to comment.
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