Holy Baby

Ron Block is one amazing musician. He plays banjo for Alison Krauss who, for the last 10+ years has been one of my favorite female vocalists and fiddle players (now Sara Watkins joins those ranks). Bluegrass is an aquired taste, but once you are hooked, it opens your world to a wealth of musical talent. That's how it was for me once I discovered Ron Block. Not long after, I found out that he was a Christian, and I started reading some of his articles and thoughts which I appreciated so much. The following thought I found on the Andrew Peterson website. I have posted part of the article and you can read the rest of it by clicking on the article title below!

The Holy Baby
by Ron Block

"The Baby of Bethlehem was born so I could become right with God - and not only right with Him, but indwelt, directed, and empowered by Him. That infinite inheritance is available in the here and now - Christ is now our peace, our patience, our holiness, our love, our life. He is our all in all. But in order to access that inheritance, we have to let go of the mindset of self-effort, of self-improvement, of self-actualization. I don’t at all mean our actions shouldn’t be good actions - but what we must recognize is:

at the heart of our inner being, Christ lives, and we are complete in Him, holy, and acceptable to God. We don't start at the bottom of the mountain of holiness and start the climb; God has put us at the top in Christ.

All that remains is to rely on the indwelling Overcomer. That is why Paul could say both, 'I no longer live, but Christ lives in me' and 'I press forward to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.' 'When I am weak, then I am strong,’ and 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.' We are to trust violently in the indwelling Spirit, always reaching to trust more fully. We 'cease from our own works' but 'labor to enter His rest.' We move over from self-effort to putting our concentration on inner reliance, from trying to be good to living from His indwelling righteousness."