I’ve changed living spaces. I have a bit more room, but less for the drawers that actually held my clothing. So, I went searching for another solution to clothing storage that wouldn’t take up precious floor space.

That’s when I remembered a friend who ditched his drawers and started keeping his clothing on a book shelf. It makes perfect sense. It’s the way we look through clothes in a store. Everything can be seen at a glance. Everything is accessible, and there’s no danger in overstuffing the drawers. Plus, shelves are easily enclosed in a closet, meaning you get more of your space back.

I say we go ahead and retire the chest of drawers. What advantages do they really even have? None, that I can think of.

This comic comes from Hoom!, a sidebar comics blog. It is originally posted here.

I thought this comic was pretty good. The idea that there is that ‘perfect someone’ out there is common in our culture. People believe this. The social reality that most people aren’t that great, and therefore probably won’t end up with someone that great should be enough for people to agree that if they want love, they’ll have to put up with imperfections and be willing to improve themselves. But it’s usually not. Zoom out far enough logically though, and the idea of that perfect someone actually existing anywhere nearby is just stupid.

Love is great, but it’s hard work.

James 3:16:

“…where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and ever vile practice.”

We ask ourselves about some chronic sin, ‘why do I keep doing this?’, we look at our churches and say, ‘why don’t we look anything like the faithful depicted in scripture’, we look at our culture and our corporations and wonder, ‘why does that happen?’.

‘That lawsuit is just greedy.’

‘She hit me with her car, why is she yelling?’

‘Why isn’t he there for his kids?’

‘Why can’t he spend even one night without getting drunk and passing out?’

Sin has its roots in our personal and pervasive commitment to our own ambition. From the very first sin beneath that tree, it was only considering ourselves that lead us to neglect God and the purposes he had designed for us. And it continues today in every country, culture, people group, family and individual. Even the church. It is the personal commitment to self and our ambitions that leads to ‘disorder and every vile practice.’

I’ve often spoken to people frustrated by their inability to stop sinning. I sympathize because in so many ways, I suffer the same frustration.

The total message of James, and the frequently overlooked solution, I believe is this: We must see and trust God’s grace, and we must meet that with our own personal commitment to selflessness.

James 1:27:

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans, and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

As we know from the whole of scripture, by trusting God’s grace, we have the power to live a religion undefiled before God, and by our own commitment to selflessness, our actions, by the same grace of God, begin to fall in line with those of God’s desire.

Of course, that is all much easier written that worked. It’s a good thing grace is the much greater part, no matter what it’s contrasted with.

The above image is from the daily fact blog, Learn Something Every Day. Frankly, some of it is pretty funny, but you have to wonder if it’s all true.

Regardless, the above image caught my eye. Some times Americans think we’ve developed a golden system that is impervious to institutional corruption. As if it would be impossible to elect someone into office, leading to the loss of our freedoms.

But we forget, Hitler was elected into office by the people. And from the inside, under his leadership, many adored him.

We can’t assume that our system is fool proof and intrinsically defends our freedom. It doesn’t, we do. And when we stop knowing what our freedoms are, and being willing to stand up for them, that’s when we’ll be ready to elect our very own Hitler. And worst of all, we probably won’t even realize something is wrong. Especially since all the people who do realize something is wrong will probably have disappeared in the night.

Boy, that sounds grim. Maybe I should start hording canned food and guns.

Philippians 3:12

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”

Paul has just finished talking about the perfection we will achieve when we come into glory with Christ. He’s speaking about sanctification. And he’s made it clear that he’s not perfect. He’s admitting his imperfection and his own proneness to sin.

He hasn’t already obtained it, but he’s trying. Imagine that.

But it’s that last bit that I forget. Sanctification is an ongoing process of which we are co-workers with God. God shapes and forms us in all kinds of ways, meanwhile we attempt constantly to mortify the flesh. But why? Because Christ has made us his own.

By Christ’s blood, we were purchased and invited into the family of God. We are objects of mercy, which God is taking great care to conform to his own image. But what motivates us to fulfill our part is the constant and growing knowledge that we were bought with a price, that we are not our own. That we were plucked from the pathway of doom, and placed down in the seat of mercy, in spite of our widespread infection of imperfection.

It it is gratitude. It is our striving to live a life worthy of the Gospel. It is the child who knows his father loves him and does not want to disappoint him. Of course we will. And for that, there is grace too, yet again, feeding the motivation and desire to stand and reflect God’s glory back to the world.