Christ's Worth.

"For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ." --Hebrews 3:14.

 It is easy to get into the cycle of thinking that every day, when we wake up (when God gives us another day), we have to get straight to our tasks and work tirelessly in our own strength until the end of the day...then we wake up and start all over again.  It is easy to focus so much on the tasks at hand that we forget who gave us the tasks to begin with.  This makes it very easy to quickly work to exhaustion and lose our sense of purpose in what seems to be mundane, but is, in fact, far from it.

God chose to create us the way we are, equip us the way He did, guide us in the paths that He set out for us, make us wait for certain things (for what can seem like an eternity), and invite us to spend life everlasting with Him.  If I were God, I would not want to spend forever with countless humans...I do not see that as an enjoyable experience, based upon the behavior and attitudes of many of the humans that I have come in contact with here.  However, we are His workmanship (masterpiece) and we have immeasurable value in the eyes of our Creator.  We cannot achieve the perfection expected us while we are in this fallen world, but we are called to strive continually to be more like Christ.  One of the main ways that we can strive is through being obedient and faithful to the Lord...and trust Him to keep His promises (which we know He will).  He is faithful even when we are not.

It is encouraging that the Lord has used so many broken and sinful people to accomplish His plan in different situations.  He was fully capable of just speaking a word and making the Egyptians vanish from the face of the earth (which He essentially did, in the end), before the Israelites even had to endure one day of hard labor...but if He had done this, the Israelites would not have come to view Him as their Deliverer.  He used Moses, Aaron, and Joshua to bring the Israelites from a place of slavery to the place of His promise, even though they had no strength to do this on their own.  By placing them in a difficult situation for a time, He brought them into a fuller understanding of His love for them, His desire and ability to ransom them (as He would comprehensively a few thousand years later), His strength to overcome any obstacles, and His grace to them, even when they forgot all that He had done.

"He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to His people, who live in the light. For He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins." -- Colossians 1:12b-14.

 

Willing Like Gideon.

For a reason that is still a mystery to me, the Lord has been bringing me to the story of Gideon again and again for several weeks.  (In fact, I can barely open my Bible without flipping to Judges 6.)  I have been trying to summarize the story of Gideon, hoping that looking at the big picture will help me discover why the Lord is being so persistent.  Gideon is not depicted as a man of great faith in this section of Scripture, though he is listed in the Hall of Faith.  But "faithful" is not the most fitting term for him in this story...I think that he could best be described as "willing."  And I'm almost certain that the Lord wants me to comprehend this attribute about Gideon.

I've been catching glimpses lately of the differences between the future that I have been planning out for myself and the future that the Lord has planned for me.  There is much more potential in the latter, which I know can only be achieved by submitting my future to the Lord and being willing to endure any hardships and discomfort that come with the process...the opportunity of being able to bring glory to God is far greater than any suffering in this world.  It would be easy to just sit idly by as time passes, enjoying the comfortable life that Casey and I have been blessed with...but it is impossible to grow if you don't ever take a leap of faith.  It would be easy to get wrapped up in the drama and stresses of everyday life on earth...but it is impossible to please the Lord without being in touch with His heart, which is not focused on the drama and stresses, rather on His creation and revealing His glory to it.

Probably the best part of Gideon's story is that Jesus appeared to him.  In the Old Testament.  Before anyone was expecting Him to appear.  He was not in the earthly form that He would take on later, of course...but He was there...calling Gideon to be obedient and to trust Him.  Just as He does with us today.  It makes the Old Testament seem not so distant.  

"Then the Lord turned to him and said 'Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites.  I am sending you!'" --Judges 6:14. 

Still learning...