For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by name, I name you, though you do not know me.
I am the Lord and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none besides me; I am the Lord and there is no other.
I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things. - Isaiah 45:4-7
Lately, I've been sitting at a fork in the road - a time in my life where my decisions could very well determine the rest of my life. There is a desire deep in my soul to throw off all the things that are holding me back from following Jesus, but I haven't been giving that desire the fuel it needs to burn, the air it needs to breathe. In denying this desire, I am denying myself; in suffocating this desire, I am suffocating myself.
God is calling me by name. I have no doubt about that. But there is a fear in me. What's to come of all this that I have been given? What's to come of me? Can I really leave it all behind without looking back? Just a few days ago I was standing on a balcony at the 14th floor of a beachfront hotel, and thinking that following Christ would be similar to jumping off that balcony without any knowledge of what would happen next. Both actions guarantee suffering and both require forces beyond myself to get me out of harm's way. In these moments of my life I am finding out if I have the courage and the faith to leap.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
Life Gone Wrong
Lately, almost everyday has been filled with breakdowns. It never fails for something to cease to work the way it was meant to. When an object (or a person) does not do what I know it is supposed to do, I get frustrated, and - on the right day - down right mad. I can't seem to get a grip on anything because I can't make plans based on how things are supposed to work.That same way of life repeats itself in the people and communities around us. People fail us, and we fail them.
There is only one remedy that I have found for all of the avoidable malfunctions in life, and that remedy is me. I am not putting myself ahead or in place of Christ. That is not the point that I am trying to make. What I am trying to say is that in laying down my life for Christ's sake, I can pick it back up again because of His redeeming love.
John 10:17-18"For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father."
Often times, I think we fail to do more than tell God our sins and feel guilty about them for awhile. Those actions are good responses that have biblical roots, but they can easily turn into a meaningless, Godless cycle. All we do is lay our lives down before God, and leave them to fall apart in the dust. Basically, we just dump everything on God, and then try to enjoy the freedom of salvation. We're only imitating Christ halfway. We desperately need to take our lives back up and find ways to boldly impact the communities we live in. And we need to do it all for God.
Jesus knew how badly out of shape the world was, so He provided people with a way to get their lives back. He called it being born again - a chance to live life over and live it right. So what I am saying is that when both everything and everyone fails us, we don't have to fail them. We know the way to live because of Christ, and living like Christ means saving the world.
There is only one remedy that I have found for all of the avoidable malfunctions in life, and that remedy is me. I am not putting myself ahead or in place of Christ. That is not the point that I am trying to make. What I am trying to say is that in laying down my life for Christ's sake, I can pick it back up again because of His redeeming love.
John 10:17-18"For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father."
Often times, I think we fail to do more than tell God our sins and feel guilty about them for awhile. Those actions are good responses that have biblical roots, but they can easily turn into a meaningless, Godless cycle. All we do is lay our lives down before God, and leave them to fall apart in the dust. Basically, we just dump everything on God, and then try to enjoy the freedom of salvation. We're only imitating Christ halfway. We desperately need to take our lives back up and find ways to boldly impact the communities we live in. And we need to do it all for God.
Jesus knew how badly out of shape the world was, so He provided people with a way to get their lives back. He called it being born again - a chance to live life over and live it right. So what I am saying is that when both everything and everyone fails us, we don't have to fail them. We know the way to live because of Christ, and living like Christ means saving the world.
Jesus
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." - Jesus (John 13:34)
I love Jesus. I love how He speaks to people, how He teaches them. I love how He looks deep into our eyes, and forces our hearts to burn, to yearn, and to break. I love how He prays for me, and how He literally cries out for mercy to be given to me. I love how He loves others as much as He loves Himself. Jesus makes me cry. Makes me dream of tearing down walls. I love how Jesus saves - how He makes prison chains fall into the dust. But I love Jesus more than I love how He does things. I love the Savior more than His salvation. I haven't always done that. You see, I made a terrible mistake for many years. I loved mercy and grace more than I loved the God Who gave them to me. Because of that, I couldn't really love God when the hard times came. When all the walls came down, I cried out for rescue instead of Jesus; but to know Jesus is more important than having Him rescue me from daily problems. My life is not about avoiding messes or getting out of them. My life is about walking with Jesus Christ, and following Him through the messes and the problems of this world. Jesus loves me for who I am, not for what I can do for Him. I need to love Him in the same way, and then carry that same love into the lives of everyone I come in contact with.
I love Jesus. I love how He speaks to people, how He teaches them. I love how He looks deep into our eyes, and forces our hearts to burn, to yearn, and to break. I love how He prays for me, and how He literally cries out for mercy to be given to me. I love how He loves others as much as He loves Himself. Jesus makes me cry. Makes me dream of tearing down walls. I love how Jesus saves - how He makes prison chains fall into the dust. But I love Jesus more than I love how He does things. I love the Savior more than His salvation. I haven't always done that. You see, I made a terrible mistake for many years. I loved mercy and grace more than I loved the God Who gave them to me. Because of that, I couldn't really love God when the hard times came. When all the walls came down, I cried out for rescue instead of Jesus; but to know Jesus is more important than having Him rescue me from daily problems. My life is not about avoiding messes or getting out of them. My life is about walking with Jesus Christ, and following Him through the messes and the problems of this world. Jesus loves me for who I am, not for what I can do for Him. I need to love Him in the same way, and then carry that same love into the lives of everyone I come in contact with.
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