"Since God has so generously let us in on what he is doing, we're not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job just because we run into occasional hard times. We refuse to wear masks and play games. We don't maneuver and manipulate behind the scenes. And we don't twist God's Word to suit ourselves. Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open, the whole truth on display, so that those who want to can see and judge for themselves in the presence of God.
If our Message is obscure to anyone, it's not because we're holding back in any way. No, it's because these other people are looking or going the wrong way and refuse to give it serious attention. All they have eyes for is the fashionable god of darkness. They think he can give them what they want, and that they won't have to bother believing a Truth they can't see. They're stone-blind to the dayspring brightness of the Message that shines with Christ, who gives us the best picture of God we'll ever get.
Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we're proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. It started when God said, "Light up the darkness!" and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.
If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at. We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus' sake, which makes Jesus' life all the more evident in us. While we're going through the worst, you're getting in on the best!
We're not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, "I believed it, so I said it," we say what we believe. And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. Every detail works to your advantage and to God's glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise!
So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever."
Amen & amen! That's from the Message version. Love the wordage. Paul encourages God's people not to miss out on His brightness and beauty that is in us, His unadorned pottery. I love that imagery. We are simple clay pots that have been formed by the Potter and that have within us a supernatural greatness.
God has been giving me an ever-increasing passion to teach people about this new life He has freely offered to us through His Son. Going through the Judgement House (a drama that reveals the ultimate truth and reality of life after death) it always reminds me that YES heaven and hell are real and very important, but we so often forget to tell about the fullness of life here and now that Christ has purposed us to live! He says that He makes us new creations, all of the old things have passed away, behold, everything has been made new. Everything! And that by accepting Him, we are given His glory and greatness by His Spirit that now has made His home within us.
Really... I am easily overwhelmed by all of this. When I have time to sit down and study and think about what He has done and what He plans to do, I am in awe.
It's so hard to see yourself as God sees you, isn't it? Even then as I wrote that, I felt a twinge of guilt, because who am I that this God is mindful of me?! I wish that others felt that way. People too quickly accuse God for "not being fair" or "not caring" or whatever. Seriously? Where do we get off questioning a Perfect Person and His Perfect Will?
I guess that is part of the gift package that we receive when our eyes are opened to the great sacrifice of Jesus. We also see how unselfish God was to share Himself, a completely perfect and pure and good being, with people who blatantly slapped His face when we chose a different way, our way.
Do you understand that part? Do you understand the Cross?
That its not just about what you've seen and heard and been taught; it's not just about those Sunday School songs, even though they are filled with Truth. It's not about what you think about God. It's all about God. And whether or not you have experienced your own cross.
How easy it is to preach a happy Gospel. "Come to Jesus and you will have everything you want!" In a way, yes. But this whole "new creation" thing, it changes everything. You see, now that He resides in our heart, we no longer want what we wanted. Now that He is here, we can no longer do what we once did, because what we once did was killing us. But He has come to give us life. When He says "take up your cross and follow Me," where do you think you're going? Back to the club? Back to your girlfriend's house? Back to where you once where?
If you are, I must tell you this: you aren't following Him.
Paul tells us in another passage to crucify our flesh, kill whatever part of yourself that's holding you back. In the words of Rob Bell, take it outside and shoot it. Don't allow it to stop you any longer.
You are new. You are His. The emptiness inside of you can be filled, even to overflowing.
I try so hard to share what I know, but in the end, I'm not the Holy Spirit. I know so many who need these words desperately, but it's not me who can change them. My whole purpose for this blog is not for you to think of me in any certain way, but for your thoughts and perspective about God to somehow be challenged or renewed or maybe even corrected. I want you to know that He is so deep... that we will never be able to fathom the things of God. But it does help to talk about it. At least for me. So whoever you are, wherever you are, please hear the song of my heart & my life:
You are so extremely and unexplainably loved. And I am sorry if that Love is not always displayed through me, but know that He is there and He is Love. Know that you can be changed, that your mind & desires can be transformed, for I am a living example of that truth. And remember that things are not always as they seem-- anything can be turned around for good.
Amazing grace (undeserved favor)
how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me (whore, loser, rejected)
I once was lost (gone & forgotten)
but now I'm found (saved & rescued)
was blind (trapped, confused)
but now I see (freed from darkness)
so clearly.
I once was fatherless. A stranger with no hope.
Your kindness wakened me from my sleep.
Your love it beckons deeply
a call to come and die.
By grace now I will come
and take this life.
Take Your life.
Into Marvelous Light I'm Running...
My dead heart now is beating.
My deepest stains now clean.
Your breath fills up my lungs.
Now I'm free.
Sin has lost it's power.
Death has lost it's sting.
Into Marvelous Light I'm Running.
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