Sometimes we cannot conjure up the will nor the desire to actually work and strive for "the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:14) Of course we want Jesus, we want Him badly, yet many times that desire is but a dream-- a happy notion in unhappy times. What our mind fills with, though, is an inquiry of whether or not that desire is genuine. Well, perhaps that is just an excuse made when our minds ramble aimlessly; but there is a certain screen-- an eclipse, as they say-- blocking us from seeing our Lord. This screen is either one thing or many. There can be many at a given moment, but I have the feeling the many only come up when one is in its place...
Careless, lazy, irresponsible, selfish, proud, self-righteous, unfaithful: All these sins (and more) describe us, yet we look at them as if they're not there. We do this because we don't truly believe. We don't truly believe that life is only possible if someone bares the full wrath of the Almighty God in our place. In our disbelief, we forget the horrors that Christ experienced when He cried "Eli, Eli, Lama sabacthani? My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?" The eternal, pure, and holy relationship cut off, so that undeserving God-haters like us could know the same union that was from eternity past. But thanks be to God because He accepted His Son's sacrifice and raised Him from the dead. Now, "we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens" (Heb. 4:14) Christ: our righteousness, our Mediator. My friends, we need to remember that as soon as we disbelieve the gospel all those screens will come up to keep us away from the pure light of Christ.
To take it a little deeper those screens are the result of looking inward. When we look at life through the lens of "how I feel, what I want, or how bad it sucks being me," more and more screens will come up. The reality, however, is that the only way for us to function is by looking at God. Everything God made is an outpouring of His glory and His desire to be known, so when we set our gaze on ourselves, things will stop making sense. Life is from God, to God and through God, so of course it'll stop making sense when we only look at ourselves. We need to meditate on God, read His word, cry out to Him, and renew our mind in His truth. Then everything will start making sense. We will want to fight sin and gouge out our eyes, so to speak, once we realize sin hinders us from having a relationship with our Lord. We will also see God's unending grace that is there despite our shortcomings. Most of all, we will know Christ. Isn't that worth the effort? to know our Lord and Savior, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the most holy and most high? I am convinced it is.
I want to see! I want to see!
I want these eyes to know my iniquity
Oh, inward gaze how foul thou art
How deceiving and not perceiving!
How vile and sin-conceiving!
May my gaze be turned to God
To truth to light
to righteousness, holiness
to glory shining bright!
All embodied in the Lord
Jesus Christ
Thank you for reading my post. Blessings
Careless, lazy, irresponsible, selfish, proud, self-righteous, unfaithful: All these sins (and more) describe us, yet we look at them as if they're not there. We do this because we don't truly believe. We don't truly believe that life is only possible if someone bares the full wrath of the Almighty God in our place. In our disbelief, we forget the horrors that Christ experienced when He cried "Eli, Eli, Lama sabacthani? My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?" The eternal, pure, and holy relationship cut off, so that undeserving God-haters like us could know the same union that was from eternity past. But thanks be to God because He accepted His Son's sacrifice and raised Him from the dead. Now, "we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens" (Heb. 4:14) Christ: our righteousness, our Mediator. My friends, we need to remember that as soon as we disbelieve the gospel all those screens will come up to keep us away from the pure light of Christ.
To take it a little deeper those screens are the result of looking inward. When we look at life through the lens of "how I feel, what I want, or how bad it sucks being me," more and more screens will come up. The reality, however, is that the only way for us to function is by looking at God. Everything God made is an outpouring of His glory and His desire to be known, so when we set our gaze on ourselves, things will stop making sense. Life is from God, to God and through God, so of course it'll stop making sense when we only look at ourselves. We need to meditate on God, read His word, cry out to Him, and renew our mind in His truth. Then everything will start making sense. We will want to fight sin and gouge out our eyes, so to speak, once we realize sin hinders us from having a relationship with our Lord. We will also see God's unending grace that is there despite our shortcomings. Most of all, we will know Christ. Isn't that worth the effort? to know our Lord and Savior, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the most holy and most high? I am convinced it is.
I want to see! I want to see!
I want these eyes to know my iniquity
Oh, inward gaze how foul thou art
How deceiving and not perceiving!
How vile and sin-conceiving!
May my gaze be turned to God
To truth to light
to righteousness, holiness
to glory shining bright!
All embodied in the Lord
Jesus Christ
Thank you for reading my post. Blessings
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