My last post was Easter and it's nearly Christmas. Perhaps I am becoming like the folks who attend church twice a year. Today I received a comment on my March 2007 blog entry from someone I do not know. It was encouraging to me. But the fact that I need encouragement certainly distinguishes me from someone like Jeremiah. We say that our hope comes from the Lord but all too often we rely on human response to be our measure of personal worth. The irony is that positive human response to our efforts, which we seek even if subconsciously, necessarily creates a stumbling block in our relationship with God by feeding our self-inflating ego. But if I seek to rid myself completely of the need for human response and succeed (although impossible in reality) I have created another stumbling block: the awareness of a personal success. Apparent victory over sin creates another sin.

The obvious answer to the questions raised by these thoughts is that we cannot look within for certainty or comfort. Once again, the cross looms--the judgment on every supposed success and our failure to perceive the loss in our success. Small wonder that Paul determined to preach nothing but Christ and him crucified.